Latin America

• Thursday, September 1st 2011 - 02:00 UTC

  Chile will support Palestine state in UN vote but abstains from boundaries controversy

  

  Chile will support the recognition of Palestine as a state in the event Palestine applies for admission during the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in late September, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Moreno, who met with 15 Congress members earlier this week.

• Thursday, September 1st 2011 - 01:55 UTC

  Piñera to address Chilean students’ demands on Saturday in Government House

  

  After much deliberation, Chilean Education Minister Felipe Bulnes agreed to meet with student leaders this Saturday, Sept. 3, to discuss their demands. The meeting is to take place in the La Moneda presidential palace, and will be hosted by President Sebastián Piñera himself.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 19:49 UTC

  US doctors performed STD experiments with Guatemala patients killing at least 83

  

  Medical experiments performed by United States doctors deliberately infected more than 1,000 Guatemalans vulnerable patients with syphilis and gonorrhoea in the late 1940s, killing 83 of them, a US presidential panel said this week.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 19:45 UTC

  Panama has an estimated 900 million barrels of oil in two basins, confirm surveys

  

  Some 900 million barrels of oil have been detected at two basins in eastern Panama, representing a potential contribution to the country’s coffers of 15 billion dollars over 20 years, the National Energy Secretariat announced.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 19:40 UTC

  Venezuela economy expands 2.5% in 2Q, down from 4.8% in first quarter

  

  Venezuela’s second quarter (2Q) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 2.5%, below the expectations of the Government and below the first quarter GDP’s 4.8% rate, probably indicating that the Government’s effort to prop the economy via fiscal spending is losing steam.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 19:37 UTC

  Colombia Defence minister resigns; deep reshuffle in forces anticipated

  

  Colombia's Defence Minister Rodrigo Rivera resigned Wednesday amid growing criticism of the security forces and increasing attacks by the narco-terrorist rebel groups in the country. Last week it was also revealed that the number of ‘disappeared’ in Colombia is almost 62.000.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 09:03 UTC

  Humala becomes Wall Street ‘darling boy’, and S&P raises Peru’s foreign debt rating

  

  Peru had its foreign debt rating raised one level by Standard & Poor’s, which said it expects recently elected President Ollanta Humala to continue policies that support the country’s economic expansion.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 08:56 UTC

  Cuban Ladies in White claim they are victims of (government sponsored) violent acts

  

  Leaders of the dissident group Ladies in White asked the Catholic Church on Tuesday to intervene before the Cuban government to end what they described as violent acts against them and other human rights activists.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 02:11 UTC

  Chile’s oil corporation to drill ten exploratory wells in Magallanes region

  

  ENAP, Chile’s national oil and gas corporation announced it will invest 30 million dollars in drilling ten exploratory wells in Magallanes province, extreme south Patgonia and where the country’s main hydrocarbons resources are located.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 00:29 UTC

  Latam and Caribbean exports forecasted to expand 27% this year, says ECLAC

  

  The value of goods exported from Latin America and the Caribbean will grow by 27% in 2011, which is similar to that of last year according to a report presented in Santiago, Chile, by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).