Latin America

• Monday, October 29th 2012 - 13:00 UTC

  Argentina and Iran meet in Geneva to discuss 1994 deadly bombing in Buenos Aires

  

  Argentine and Iranian representatives are meeting in Geneva on Monday to discuss a 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid association in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured 300 others, the Argentine Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

• Monday, October 29th 2012 - 12:26 UTC

  With the charisma of Lula da Silva, Brazilian ruling party takes control of Sao Paulo city

  

  Fernando Haddad of Brazil’s ruling Workers Party, a protégé of ex-president Lula da Silva, won Sao Paulo’s mayoral runoff election, according to official results. With 92% of ballots counted, Haddad had secured 56% to defeat his opposition rival and former presidential candidate Jose Serra of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party who received 43.9%.

• Monday, October 29th 2012 - 12:14 UTC

  Piñera and Chilean political system shocked by 60% abstention in municipal elections

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera says the decision by many Chileans not to vote in Sunday's local elections is a “warning sign” that should be heeded. The polls, the first to be held since voting was made voluntary, were marked by an abstention of 60%.

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 21:15 UTC

  Chile places 1.5bn dollar-bonds at lowest financing cost of any emerging country

  

  Chile placed 1.5 billion in dollar-denominated bonds on international markets at historic yields, giving the country the lowest borrowing cost of any emerging country, Finance Minister Felipe Larrain said on Thursday.

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 06:48 UTC

  First voluntary vote at municipal elections in Chile; fears of a low turnout

  

  The Chilean municipal elections scheduled for Sunday 28 October are considered ‘important’ by 55% of interviews according to the primary result of a joint public opinion poll done by Mori and the Chilean Association of municipalities.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 17:51 UTC

  Reflections from our visit to the Falkland Islands

  

  A group of Central American journalists recently visited the Falkland Islands for a week as guests of the Foreign Office together with Bruce Callow from the UK Costa Rica embassy. The following is a first reflection just back from the Islands in Bruce’s blog.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 06:37 UTC

  War on drugs has failed and requires new radical reform, says LSE report

  

  The global war on drugs has failed and international policy requires radical reform to remove outmoded, unscientific thinking, according to a major new report from the London School of Economics and Political Science which has been endorsed by President Santos of Colombia.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 06:34 UTC

  Colombia says FARC has an annual budget of 2.4bn and an army of 8.147

  

  Colombian Defence minister Juan Carlos Pinzón said that the guerrilla group FARC make anywhere from 2.4 to 3.5 billion dollars per annum from the drug trade and estimated they have an army of 8.147 members.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2012 - 21:17 UTC

  Panama and Uruguay with greatest per capita GDP increase in 2008/2012, says Latinvex

  

  Panama was the country with the greatest increase in per capita GDP in the last five years, followed by Uruguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Chile according to a report from the digital publication Latinvex.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2012 - 21:12 UTC

  “Ecuador in the midst of a press freedom crisis”, claims IPI in-situ report

  

  The International Press Institute (IPI) released a final report on its May 2012 press freedom mission to Ecuador, stating that the nation’s private media outlets are being targeted by the government of President Rafael Correa.