Latin America

• Wednesday, August 16th 2017 - 09:10 UTC

  FARC hands over weapons, prepares for the political phase of peace accord

  

  U.N. observers on Tuesday removed the last of more than 8,000 guns once carried by the guerrillas of Colombia’s largest rebel army and collected at 26 demobilization sites around the South American nation under a historic peace deal. The next phase of the peace deal is for the ex guerrillas to organize politically and run for seats in congressional elections.

• Wednesday, August 16th 2017 - 08:12 UTC

  Major Chinese vessel caught poaching sharks in Galapagos Islands Marine Protected Area

  

  Authorities in Ecuador have detained the crew of a Chinese fishing boat suspected to have caught hundreds of endangered sharks in the Galapagos Islands. The Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 was found Sunday in the archipelago, which is a marine reserve, carrying 300 tons of fish.

• Friday, August 11th 2017 - 11:54 UTC

  Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America drops for second year running

  

  The flows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Latin America and the Caribbean shrank 7.9% in 2016 compared with 2015, totaling US$167.043 billion, representing a 17% decline from the peak reached in 2011, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) revealed at its headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

• Wednesday, August 9th 2017 - 08:08 UTC

  Regional countries don't recognize Venezuelan constituent assembly; permanent group to monitor events

  

  On Tuesday, August 8, thirteen foreign ministers from the Americas met in Lima, Peru, in order to discuss Venezuela’s social and political crisis. The result was a signed declaration in which the representatives declare that Nicolás Maduro’s constituent assembly is illegal and illegitimate, as are all decisions that result from it.

• Tuesday, August 8th 2017 - 07:49 UTC

  Latin American foreign ministers will address Venezuelan situation in Peru

  

  Latin American foreign ministers are scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting this Tuesday in Lima to address the current state of affairs in Venezuela, Peruvian foreign minister Ricardo Luna announced.

• Friday, August 4th 2017 - 11:27 UTC

  Latam and Caribbean forecasted to expand 1.1%, but South America, 0.6%

  

  Latin America and Caribbean countries will grow 1.1% on average in 2017 after two consecutive years of contraction, thanks to an international context that shows improved growth expectations despite geopolitical risks, and better prices for the commodities that the region exports, according to a new annual report that ECLAC presented on Thursday in Santiago, Chile.

• Friday, August 4th 2017 - 07:26 UTC

  Ecuadorean vice president stripped of his authority over corruption allegations

  

  Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno stripped his vice president of his authority Thursday over corruption allegations that emerged amid a battle for power within their ruling leftist coalition. In a signed decree, Moreno said he was withdrawing all the tasks that had been assigned to Vice President Jorge Glas since both took office in May, which included overseeing a production council and earthquake reconstruction.

• Friday, August 4th 2017 - 06:45 UTC

  Transcripts show Trump admonishing Peña Nieto for saying publicly Mexico will not pay for the border wall

  

  United States president Donald Trump urged the Mexican president to stop publicly saying he would not pay for a proposed border wall, according to transcripts. Mr. Trump admonished Enrique Peña Nieto for publicly denouncing the wall during a 27 January phone call, transcripts obtained by the Washington Post show.

• Friday, July 28th 2017 - 06:04 UTC

  World Hepatitis Day: 325 million affected; annual deaths exceed those linked to HIV

  

  New World Health Organization, WHO, data from 28 countries - representing approximately 70% of the global hepatitis burden - indicate that efforts to eliminate hepatitis are gaining momentum. Published to coincide with World Hepatitis Day, the data reveal that nearly all 28 countries have established high-level national hepatitis elimination committees and more than half have allocated dedicated funding for hepatitis responses.

• Friday, July 28th 2017 - 06:00 UTC

  Exxon puts Guyana on the world oil map with another major discovery

  

  Exxon Mobil said that it has discovered additional oil in the Payara reservoir offshore Guyana, increasing the total discovery to approximately 500 million barrels oil equivalent. The result increases the estimated recoverable resources in Guyana’s Stabroek Block formation to about 2.25 to 2.75 billion barrels. By way of comparison, the much-heralded Thunder Horse find in the Gulf of Mexico has reserves of about one billion barrels.