Latin America

• Wednesday, March 18th 2009 - 08:02 UTC

  Car sales in Chile plunge 55% in first two months of 2009

  

  Sales of new cars and light trucks in Chile plunged 54.8% in the first two months of 2009 compared to the same period a year ago the country's automotive association ANAC said Tuesday.

• Monday, March 16th 2009 - 15:25 UTC

  El Salvador former guerrilla leader Funes won Sunday's presidential election

  

  El Salvador's former Marxist guerrillas, who fought one of the bitterest conflicts of the Cold War, finally won power through the ballot box after a tight election victory over their right-wing civil war foes.

• Monday, March 16th 2009 - 11:25 UTC

  Chavez orders military takeover of ports and airports under opposition rule

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered the military takeover of ports and airports, boosting the power of the central government after his allies lost key states in a 2008 regional vote.

• Monday, March 16th 2009 - 11:21 UTC

  Prince Charles in Galapagos to honour Darwin’s theory on evolution

  

  The Prince of Wales has visited Ecuador over the weekend ahead of a tour of the world-famous Galapagos Islands. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall had their plane disinfected in Quito to prevent harmful organisms and germs being brought into Galapagos.

• Monday, March 16th 2009 - 11:08 UTC

  Colombian presidential hopeful says time is ready to end US aid

  

  Colombia’s Vice-President Francisco Santos said the country does not need any longer United States funds to combat the narcotics trade and guerrillas movements because time is up “and we don’t need them”.

• Monday, March 16th 2009 - 08:58 UTC

  Repsol accepts Ecuador new contract rules for oil sharing

  

  Ecuador’ government owned Petroecuador signed a transitional contract with Repsol-YPF, giving the Ecuadorian government a bigger share of the Spanish oil company’s profits for one year and paving the way for new fee-for-service deal.

• Saturday, March 14th 2009 - 15:01 UTC

  Debate on Chile’s energy options - Faced with climate change, World Bank recommends hydroelectricity

  As evidence of global warming continues to mount, the world community is coming ever closer to a consensus on the issue, agreeing that climate change is very much real and that it must – before its already present effects worsen – be urgently addressed.

• Saturday, March 14th 2009 - 07:44 UTC

  Obama sends Biden and Hillary on Latinamerican offensive

  

  President Barack Obama administration has begun moving on several fronts to repair strained US relations with Latin America. Obama meets Saturday at the White House with Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and he is sending Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Latin American missions to prepare for the mid-April Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

• Saturday, March 14th 2009 - 07:26 UTC

  Lula da Silva, Biden and PM Brown confirmed for political summit in Chile

  

  Under the logo “A Progressive response to the global crisis” Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will host next March 27 and 28 a new Progressive Leaders summit to which top international leaders from Africa, Latinamerica, United states and Europe have confirmed their participation.

• Friday, March 13th 2009 - 16:24 UTC

  Brazil Lula da Silva will talk for Latinamerica in meeting with Obama

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva will urge US President Barack Obama on Saturday March 14 to open talks with governments in Venezuela and Cuba and make aid and development the focus of his Latin America policy. Lula da Silva is the first Latinamerican president to meet with Obama.