Latin America

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:15 UTC

  Falklands’ sovereignty belongs to the ‘whole of Latinamerica’ says Uruguay

  

  Foreign minister Luis Almagro said on Wednesday that Malvinas Islands’ sovereignty belongs to the whole of Latinamerica and as part of Latinamerica and the Caribbean, “we will defend the territorial integrity of the continent”.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:03 UTC

  Uruguay 2012 GDP expanded 3.9% boosted by construction and domestic demand

  

  Uruguay’s GDP expanded 3.9% last in 2012 over the previous year despite a slight contraction in the fourth quarter, according to a late Wednesday release from the Central bank. The bank’s original estimate was 4%. In 2011 the economy grew a revised 6.5%.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:56 UTC

  Argentina prepared to offer suing ‘vulture funds’ a 25-year bond, says Ambito

  

  Argentina plans to offer suing “holdout” creditors a 25-year bond equal to the face value of their debt when the country defaulted in 2002, local financial daily Ambito Financiero reported on Wednesday.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:19 UTC

  China and Brazil sign agreement to trade in their local currencies

  

  China and Brazil signed an agreement to do billions of dollars of trade in their local currencies, as the five-nation BRICS forum of emerging market powers work to lessen dependence on the US dollar and Euro.

• Wednesday, March 27th 2013 - 19:56 UTC

  Brazil’s Dilma seems unbeatable 18 months ahead of the presidential election

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff leads comfortably vote intention according to two public opinion polls published by leading newspapers, which indicate that she would have an easy win in the first round of the 2014 presidential election.

• Wednesday, March 27th 2013 - 19:12 UTC

  Conservative candidate leads polls in Paraguay April 21 presidential election

  

  Paraguay businessman Horacio Cartes a newcomer to politics and the presidential candidate for the conservative Colorado party that ruled the landlocked country for decades leads public opinion polls less than a month ahead of the general election.

• Wednesday, March 27th 2013 - 07:57 UTC

  Francis scheduled to visit Argentina, Chile and Uruguay next December

  

  Pope Francis is scheduled to make his first official visit to Argentina, where he was born, next December ‘to be close to his fellow compatriots’, according to ecclesiastic sources in Buenos Aires. The visit in the first half of December could extend to neighbouring Uruguay and Chile.

• Tuesday, March 26th 2013 - 22:44 UTC

  March-bonus for 7 million low income Chileans, handout in presidential election year

  

  Chilean president Sebastian Piñera signed this week a bill which grants a special ‘March-bonus’ to low-income families and is extensive to seven million people. Each beneficiary will receive the equivalent of 85 dollars which will represent for the Treasury an outlay of 208 million dollars.

• Tuesday, March 26th 2013 - 21:33 UTC

  Setback in New York court for Argentina’s strategy in its battle with bond holdouts

  

  A US court in New York on Tuesday rejected Argentina's request for a full-court rehearing of an appeal it lodged as it struggles to shake off holders of 1.3 billion dollars in defaulted bonds.

• Tuesday, March 26th 2013 - 20:25 UTC

  Malvinas: first time Latam groups at UN work together in support of Argentina’s claim

  

  Regional groups from South America for the first time are working together on the Malvinas question at the United Nations in support of Argentina’s claims, said the Peruvian delegate on Tuesday, something which he described as “very positive”.