Latin America

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:55 UTC

  Venezuela auctions dollars; value is estimated at double the official rate

  

  Venezuelan government foreign currency auction for local importers has triggered de-facto currency devaluation, the second in less than 50 days, analysts said. Venezuela has had strict currency exchange controls since 2003 in an attempt to halt capital flight, under which the government sold limited amounts of foreign currency at an official rate.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 11:58 UTC

  Falkland Islands “close to the hearts” of Chileans, says Punta Arenas British consul

  

  A reception was held at the Falkland Islands Government House in honour of the Honorary British Consul in Punta Arenas, John Rees MBE, who is currently visiting the Islands at the invitation of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:25 UTC

  Chile: Back from UN job Bachelet confirms she is running for president next November

  

  Popular former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet announced late Wednesday that she is running in the 17 November election. Bachelet, the country's first female president 2006-2010, made the announcement at a public event in a southern Santiago neighborhood where she grew up.

• 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.