Latin America

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 06:09 UTC

  Ecuador’s Correa pondering whether to join Mercosur or the Pacific Alliance

  

  President Rafael Correa said that the determining factor for Ecuador to join as full member of Mercosur or the Alliance of the Pacific is the ‘flexibility’ granted in certain admission conditions, taking into account the fact that Ecuador does not have a national currency.

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 06:00 UTC

  Brazil’s next soybean crop expected to increase 9% to a record 89.1 million tons

  

  Brazil’s 2013/14 soybean crop that starts planting in September is expected to grow by 9% under normal weather conditions to a record 89.1 million tons, local crop analyst AgRural said in a release.

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 05:49 UTC

  In Mexico, Latam second largest economy over half the are catalogued as poor

  

  Poverty in Mexico, including extreme cases, decreased slightly between 2010 and 2012, reported the National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy. Official stats show that poverty in Mexico, Latam’ second largest economy went from 46.1% of the population in 2010 to 45.5% in 2012, while extreme poverty fell from 11.3% to 9.8%.

• Tuesday, July 30th 2013 - 03:50 UTC

  “The party is over” for Latam countries China-dependent on their exports

  

  “The party is over” and Latinamerican countries should be concerned since the Chinese economy is slowing down, apparently entering a low growth period and many in the region have become notoriously ‘China-dependent’ after a decade of strong expanding sustained bilateral relations.

• Tuesday, July 30th 2013 - 03:07 UTC

  Uruguay needs ‘a dollar at 25 Pesos’ if it wants to remain competitive warn economists

  

  Uruguay is too expensive in dollar terms and needs to adapt quickly because the adjustment will come anyway ‘and will be painful’ unless inflation is brought under control and costs equilibrium is reached with Brazil with a competitive dollar at 25 Pesos.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 06:18 UTC

  Colombia government and FARC resume peace negotiations despite armed clashes

  

  Colombian government and Marxist-inspired-drugs-funded FARC rebels resumed peace negotiations in Havana on Sunday after a recess of more than two weeks, during which 19 soldiers and a number of rebels were killed and rural protests left four farmers dead and several police injured.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 06:12 UTC

  Rousseff brushes aside a ‘Lula option for 2014’ and ratifies minister Mantega

  

  Responding to claims that former president Lula da Silva ‘is returning to politics’ and thus conditioning her re-election bid next year, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said the former trade union leader ‘never left politics’ and their relation ‘can’t be dissociated’. She also ratified Finance minister Guido Mantega.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 03:29 UTC

  Francis urges bishops to drop ‘princely attitudes’ and go out to the people (and save the Church)

  

  Pope Francis chided the Catholic hierarchy Sunday, telling regional bishops not to behave like authoritarian “princes” and urging them to move closer to the people.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 03:10 UTC

  ”Shake the church, go spread the word of God”, Francis tells 3 million at closing mass

  

  Pope Francis on the last day of his week long pilgrimage to Brazil urged Catholics to reject selfishness, hatred and intolerance to help build a new world.

• Saturday, July 27th 2013 - 20:21 UTC

  Cartes declines invitation from Rousseff to attend Pope Francis Sunday mass in Rio

  

  Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes declined a personal invitation from his peer Dilma Rousseff to attend Francis mass on Sunday in Rio do Janeiro, the closing event of the pope’s visit to Brazil, according to one of his top foreign policy advisors.