Latin America

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 21:51 UTC

  Peruvian economy rebounds and expands 8.76% in first quarter

  

  The Peruvian economy expanded 8.76% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago, the highest rate in the last 17 months, according to the head of the country’s Statistics Office, Renán Quispe.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 18:14 UTC

  Peruvian president criticizes spiralling military expenditure in South America

  

  Peruvian president Alan Garcia criticized spiralling military expenditure in South America, a fact he linked to the recently created Union of South American Nations, Unasur.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 18:00 UTC

  Chile and Peru leaders move to improve “rocky” bilateral relations

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez met Sunday in the lead up to the European Union, Latin American, and Caribbean Summit in Madrid. The meeting represented a big step forward in improving the current rocky relations between Chile and Peru.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 04:46 UTC

  Latam largest economies plan trade accord with most tariffs cut to zero

  

  Mexican Deputy Economy Minister Beatriz Leycegui said the government aims to reach a trade accord with Brazil to reduce tariffs to zero on the majority of goods sold between Latin America’s two biggest economies.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 04:40 UTC

  Chilean officials reluctant to review poverty definition fearing higher percentages

  

  An international conference held last week in Santiago de Chile by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) took a hard look at how poverty is defined in Latin America and gave Chileans attending the event an opportunity to sound off about how poverty is measured here.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 04:29 UTC

  Cuba scraps bureaucracy to help farmers boost food production

  

  Cuba's private farmers will in future purchase supplies directly instead of having them allocated by the state, the government said on Sunday, in the latest concession to demands for more autonomy.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 04:14 UTC

  Chile/EU agree to improve energy cooperation and increase trade

  

  Within the framework of the European Union/Latam leaders’ summit held in Madrid, the EU and Chile agreed to “improve and strengthen relations,” with a special focus on energy and trade, five years after the launch of the Association Agreement.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 01:20 UTC

  Surprises in the genetic makeup of US Hispanic/Latino populations

  

  A new study from researchers at New York University Langone Medical Center found that the imprint of European colonialism and imperialism is evident in the genetic makeup of today's Hispanic/Latino American populations.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 01:02 UTC

  EU 27 and Latam/Caribbean 33 trade reached 140 billion Euros in 2009

  

  Between 2000 and 2009, the European Union 27 exports of goods to the 33 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries grew more slowly than imports: exports rose from 59 billion Euro to 66 billion, while imports increased from 54 billion to 74 billion, according to a Europa press release on the eve of the Madrid summit.

• Monday, May 17th 2010 - 05:22 UTC

  EU and Mexico reaffirm and consolidate “strategic association”

  

  The European Union and Mexico decided Sunday at their fifth bilateral summit, held in the Spanish town of Comillas, to take measures to give concrete content to their relationship, which they have jointly designated to be one of “strategic association”.