Latin America

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 16:37 UTC

  Chile per capita expenditure on defence, the highest of Latinamerica

  

  Chile is the second largest weapons importer in the Americas and the 11th largest in the world, a recent study has shown. Chile’s defence budget nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007, the study carried out by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

• Monday, March 15th 2010 - 20:16 UTC

  Uruguay/Bolivia sign agreement to exchange natural gas for sea outlet

  

  Bolivia will gain access to Atlantic ports in Uruguay in exchange for a pledge of natural gas exports to Montevideo in an agreement signed in La Paz by presidents Evo Morales and José Mujica.

• Monday, March 15th 2010 - 19:50 UTC

  Colombia’s former Defense minister consolidates as sucesor of Uribe

  

  Colombian presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos’s La U party is leading the vote count of congressional elections held Sunday, consolidating his position as frontrunner to succeed Alvaro Uribe.

• Monday, March 15th 2010 - 13:46 UTC

  Blackout Hits Most Of Chile

  

  Transformer failure blamed as much of the country goes dark.
  A blackout blamed on a fault in Chile's Central Interconnected System hit nearly all of Chile around 8:50 p.m. local time Sunday night.

• Saturday, March 13th 2010 - 01:04 UTC

  US military have no evidence of Venezuela, FARC and ETA links

  

  The chief of the US military's Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, said during a hearing before the US Senate that he had no evidence of links between Venezuela, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Colombian guerrilla group and the Basque separatist group ETA.

• Saturday, March 13th 2010 - 00:57 UTC

  Colombia’s congressional election Sunday, a test for May’s presidential vote

  

  Colombian congressional elections this weekend may signal how much backing former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos will have as he seeks to capitalize on the success of Alvaro Uribe’s “democratic security” politics to succeed him as president.

• Friday, March 12th 2010 - 23:30 UTC

  Environment degradation threatens Haiti’s recovery process warns UN

  

  The United Nations Environment Program warns Haiti's recovery process will be greatly constrained if the environmental degradation suffered during the catastrophic earthquake is not adequately taken care of.

• Friday, March 12th 2010 - 23:27 UTC

  Cuba accuses Europe of “fabricating patriots out of criminals”

  

  The Cuban government again on Friday blasted the European Parliament for fabricating “patriots among mercenaries and criminals” and for supporting “subversion”, as the regime of the Fidel and Raul Castro brothers calls dissidents.

• Friday, March 12th 2010 - 23:25 UTC

  German Left leader warns on “extreme presidentialism” in Socialist Latinamerica

  

  Gregor Gysi the leader of Germany’s Left considers a serious problem the extreme “presidentialism” of the new left wing governments in Latinamerica and said Cuba was on the wrong track if it believes social justice demands sacrificing liberties.

• Friday, March 12th 2010 - 04:57 UTC

  Tremors cut short Piñera inauguration and decide his agenda

  

  It was to be a grand celebration, the conservatives had defeated the left leaning ruling coalition that has dominated Chilean politics since 1990 and they would be returning to office after more than half a century. But the party was not to be.