Latin America

• Monday, August 24th 2009 - 11:21 UTC

  Peru has adopted the “positive sides” of the Chilean model

  

  President Alan García said that Peru had adopted the “positive sides” of the Chilean model and insisted that Peru will “not adopt a retaliatory or a diminished attitude towards Chile; we simply want to be better than them”.

• Monday, August 24th 2009 - 10:59 UTC

  Cuban press releases pictures of Fidel Castro with Ecuador’s Correa

  

  A new picture of Fidel Castro has been published in a state-run newspaper, apparently showing Cuba's ailing former leader in much better health. Castro, 83 was pictured meeting with the Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, on Friday.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2009 - 11:27 UTC

  Brazilian president arrives in Bolivia with strong tone-down message

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva considers that differences inside the Union of South American Nations, Unasur are more “a matter of form than content” because “our main objectives are compatible and at the same time convergent” according to an interview in Bolivia’s leading newspaper La Razon.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2009 - 11:23 UTC

  Turkey layers in Chile infected with the human A/H1N1 virus flu

  

  Two turkey farms in Chile have been put under quarantine restrictions after fears the birds have caught swine flu from humans. Vets in the country said the A/H1N1 flu virus had been discovered in the two poultry plants in Valparaiso.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2009 - 11:08 UTC

  Lula da Silva suggested to Obama a meeting to discuss US forces in Colombia

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva suggested to his peer Barack Obama that he should meet with South American leaders to address the announced presence of US forces in seven Colombian bases.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 22:17 UTC

  A different perspective on the Mapuche situation in the south of Chile

  

  If Things Are Ever To Improve, Chile Must Follow New Zealand’s Example -
  
  By Eugenio Tironi

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 14:09 UTC

  Allende’s family wants Brazil do declassify documents from 1973

  

  Chilean Member of Parliament Isabel Allende said she will ask the Brazilian government to declassify documents that could shed light on Brazil’s possible involvement in the 1973 coup that led to the ouster and death of her father, elected socialist President Salvador Allende.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 13:16 UTC

  Brazil becomes Chile’s third largest trading partner

  

  Brazil has become Chile’s third largest trading partner, displacing Japan, according to recently released government trade figures. Total July trade between Chile and Brazil was US$547 million, compared to the US$446 million in trade between Chile and Japan during July.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 10:52 UTC

  Venezuela admits contraction; preparing package to re-launch growth

  

  Venezuela's GDP contracted 2.4% in the second quarter of 2009 from the same period a year earlier, the central bank reported Thursday. In the first half of the year, the economy has contracted 1% against the same period a year earlier.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 10:49 UTC

  Mexican economy shrinks a record 10.3% in second quarter

  

  Mexico's economy plunged 10.3% in the second quarter its deepest contraction on record as shrinking exports forced factories to slash production and cut jobs and the tourism industry was knocked out by the A/H1N1 virus flu.