Latin America

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 03:56 UTC

  Peruvian fish exports soar in volume and income: 2.8bn dollars in ten months

  

  Peruvian fish exports generated during last October generated 206.2 million dollars which represents 42.1% more than in the same month of 2010 (145.1 million), while export volume jumped 42.8% from 89.200 to 127.400 tons, the Ministry of Production reported. The increases were primarily due to higher sales of fishmeal.

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 03:46 UTC

  Victory for Chavez in arbitration with Exxon Mobil over assets’ nationalization

  

  An international arbitration panel has awarded US oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp 908 million dollars in compensation for Venezuela's 2007 nationalization of assets, less than 10% of what it sought in a dispute that pitted a top global oil company against one of the world's largest oil exporters.

• Saturday, December 31st 2011 - 18:50 UTC

  The grueling three-country Dakar Rally takes off from Mar del Plata to Lima

  

  The 33 edition of the Dakar Rally got off to a symbolic start on Saturday ahead of a 15-day race that will take 466 registered competitors from Argentina through Chile to a finish in Lima, Peru.

• Friday, December 30th 2011 - 21:17 UTC

  Forest fire in Torres del Pain out of control because of the strong winds

  

  Chile declared on Friday “catastrophe zone” the extreme south province of Ultima Esperanza where a forest fire, so far out of control, has ravaged over 9.000 hectares of pristine flora from the Torres del Paine national park.

• Thursday, December 29th 2011 - 23:29 UTC

  Venezuela has highest murder rate of South America, worse than Colombia

  

  President Hugo Chavez Venezuela is on track to set a new record for murders and to remain South America's most violent country, according to data released by a crime watchdog. The Venezuela Violence Monitor (OVV) said this week that 19 336 people had been murdered in 2011, an average of 53 per day in a country of 29 million.

• Thursday, December 29th 2011 - 23:20 UTC

  Boosted by Brazilians, Chilean received 3 million tourists in 2011, up 11%

  

  Over three million tourists arrived this year to Chile, an 11% increase over 2010. The number also represents a trebling of foreign tourists in the last two decades, according to Tourism Under Secretary Jacqueline Plass.

• Thursday, December 29th 2011 - 23:12 UTC

  Tourists evacuated from Torres del Paine park threatened by forest fire

  

  Twenty tourists had to be evacuated from the Torres del Paine national park in Chilean Patagonia following the outbreak of a forest fire that has extended to over twenty hectares because of strong winds and difficult access for fire-fighters, reports the local press.

• Thursday, December 29th 2011 - 22:59 UTC

  Turkish economist named World Bank new Vice-President for Latin America

  

  Hasan Tuluy, a Turkish national and a strong supporter of inclusive growth, will become the new World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as of January 1st, 2012. Mr. Tuluy will oversee the Bank’s lending, knowledge, and poverty-fighting operations in the region, which totalled 9.6 billion dollars in fiscal year 2011.

• Thursday, December 29th 2011 - 22:54 UTC

  Havana preparing grand ‘brainwashing’ to change the mentality of Cubans

  

  The Cuban regime and the ruling Communist Party are preparing a grand-national conference to try and change the “mentality” of Cubans so that the capitalist-oriented economic reforms and timid political changes sponsored by President Raul Castro are better understood and accepted, according to party sources.

• Thursday, December 29th 2011 - 21:50 UTC

  Dilma in her first year is proving to be an Iron Lady loved by the middle class

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff will be celebrating on Sunday her first of four years in office with a record public opinion support of 72%, based on a sober and firm style in running what has become the world’s sixth largest economy.