Latin America

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 06:50 UTC

  Mujica ‘deepest apologies’ to Cristina Fernandez for the ‘coarse, jail-language’

  

  “My deepest apologies to those whom I might have hurt with my words in recent days” said Uruguayan president Jose Mujica in his daily broadcast on Thursday, the first public apology for the controversial expressions he used last week to refer to Argentine president Cristina Fernandez and her late husband Nestor Kirchner.

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 06:42 UTC

  Maradona launches “Cristina 2015” re-re-election in Caracas next to Maduro

  

  Argentina’s football legend Diego Maradona was present on Thursday afternoon in down-town Caracas at the closing campaign rally of Venezuelan incumbent presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro but with a special touch: a red t-shirt promoting the re-re-election of Cristina Fernandez in 2015.

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 06:19 UTC

  Dairy produce push FAO food price index one percent higher in March

  

  The FAO Food Price Index (FPI) crept higher by one percent in March compared with a month before, driven mainly by an 11% increase in dairy. Dairy products carry a 17% weight among the various commodity prices included in the calculation of the overall FPI.

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 06:15 UTC

  Students take to the streets of Santiago to demand education reform

  

  Chile’s student movement on Thursday offered another demonstration of its clout, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets of the capital Santiago to demand the overhaul of an educational model that dates from the Pinochet dictatorship.

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 06:06 UTC

  Brazil calls emergency meeting to address massive influx of illegal immigrants

  

  The Brazilian government called this week an emergency meeting to discuss measures to curb the influx of hundreds of illegal immigrants along its northern border.

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 05:59 UTC

  Brazil and the US upgrading diplomatic ties and thinking in more bilateral trade

  

  President Dilma Rousseff will make the first formal state visit by a Brazilian leader to the United States in nearly two decades, according to Reuters’ news agency. The trip allegedly will occur later this year likely in October, officials said on condition of anonymity because the White House has not yet announced the visit.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 18:25 UTC

  Maradona joins the Venezuelan campaign in support of Chavism and Maduro

  

  Venezuelan incumbent presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro’s closing campaign rally will have a special guest on Thursday with football legend Argentine Diego Maradona giving a celebrity boost to the colourful presidential elections that will test Hugo Chavez’s populist legacy.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:22 UTC

  Chilean court suspends construction of world’s biggest gold mine in the Andes

  

  A Chilean court has suspended construction of what would be one of the world's biggest gold mines on Wednesday, accepting a complaint filed by indigenous groups on environmental grounds.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:12 UTC

  Margaret Thatcher, an Iron legacy for Latin America

  

  By Rafael Rincon - The following piece tries to explain how Lady Thatcher was seen in Latin America and the reactions her death has triggered in the region. ‘An Iron legacy’ was written by Chilean commentator Rafael Rincon, an expert in international relations and strategy and also linked to the oil industry.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:04 UTC

  Pinochet followers call Lady Thatcher an “extraordinary world stateswoman”

  

  Followers of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinocher published two obituaries in the country’s leading newspaper expressing their condolences on the death of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom they describe as “an extraordinary stateswoman” and friend of Chile “in very difficult moments in recent history”