Latin America

• Wednesday, December 12th 2012 - 18:40 UTC

  Uruguay legalizes same sex marriage and rights by overwhelming majority

  

  Uruguay’s Lower House voted 81 in 87 to legalize same sex marriage on Wednesday, approving a single law for both heterosexuals and homosexuals regulating all kinds of family issues, from divorce to adoption to in-vitro fertilization and how parents can name their children.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2012 - 08:12 UTC

  Latam poised for stronger growth in 2013 pushed by Brazil and Argentina

  

  Latin America and the Caribbean will experience stronger economic growth, despite ongoing uncertainties at international level (particularly difficulties faced by Europe, the United States and China), according to new estimates released Tuesday in Santiago de Chile, by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 21:33 UTC

  Capital controls debate resurfaces as IMF admits temporary measures to prevent asset bubbles

  

  IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on a five day tour of Latin America is expected to outline the lender’s reversal of its decades-old opposition to capital controls, even as Brazil says the new position doesn’t go far enough.

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 18:20 UTC

  EU parliament prepares to approve trade accords with Central America, Peru and Colombia

  

  Spanish members of the European parliament and Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht called on Tuesday on the full house to ratify the association agreement of the EU with Central America, and the EU free trade agreement with Colombia and Peru.

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 18:15 UTC

  Lagarde praises the Colombian economy and its potential support for IMF

  

  The IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde praised Colombia as a member with the capacity to support the multilateral organization with “funds” and “services”, something which in the past was not possible. Lagarde made the comments after meeting with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos in Bogotá where she underlined the “magnificent moment” of the Andean country’s economy.

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 06:01 UTC

  Ecuador does not discard asylum for Syrian president Bashsar al Asad

  

  Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa does not discard granting political asylum to Syrian president Bahsar al Asad and confirmed that a diplomatic envoy from that government recently visited Quito, according to an interview with the Brazilian media.

• Monday, December 10th 2012 - 18:48 UTC

  European Central Bank says it has ‘much to learn’ from Latam robust financial systems

  

  The Vice-president of the European central bank Vitor Constancio said the EU has much to learn from Latin America which has coped with successive economic and financial crises and has managed to create robust financial structures which have made the region’s system even more resistant to outside shocks.

• Monday, December 10th 2012 - 05:37 UTC

  If Chavez does not show up on January 10, new presidential election

  

  With Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in Cuba for his fourth cancer surgery in two years and after naming Vice President and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as his successor if anything were to go wrong, the Constitution of the country contemplates several options, including new elections.

• Sunday, December 9th 2012 - 19:51 UTC

  Chavez to Cuba for further cancer treatment prepares his succession

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was poised to return to Cuba on Sunday for more cancer treatment, having spoken for the first time of giving up power if his condition worsens or he dies.

• Saturday, December 8th 2012 - 04:07 UTC

  Bolivia signs Mercosur incorporation protocol and becomes sixth member

  

  Bolivian president Evo Morales subscribed on Friday the Mercosur incorporation protocol which makes it the sixth member of the regional group. The event took place in Brasilia during the Mercosur summit hosted by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.