Latin America

• Friday, April 9th 2010 - 03:01 UTC

  Piñera and Cristina committed to boost bilateral relations and integration

  

  Chile and Argentina pledged Thursday to deepen bilateral relations with visiting president Sebastian Piñera saying that “the best of our relationship is yet to come” and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner anticipating that “ideological differences” won’t be an impediment to keep advancing in cooperation and joint projects.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 23:07 UTC

  Punta Arenas school children receive wood pieces instead of laptops

  

  Chile’s Ministry of Education has ordered an administrative and criminal investigation into the disappearance of laptops to be distributed among school children.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 22:56 UTC

  Latam main ports’ containers activity contracted 6.8% in 2009

  

  The 2009 global slowdown had an impact on the activity of the main ports of Latinamerica and the Caribbean, points out the latest release from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latinamerica and the Caribbean, Cepal.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 18:34 UTC

  Chile’s passion for soccer fading but great enthusiasm with “La Roja”

  

  Chile’s passion for soccer appears to be fading, notwithstanding the national “La Roja” team’s recent success in making it to this year’s World Cup games in South Africa.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 04:25 UTC

  Mujica consolidates close trade and energy links with Venezuela

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered Wednesday to help Uruguay expand a refinery and supply it with crude oil. Chavez and visiting Uruguayan President Jose Mujica signed several accords pledging to deepen trade and energy ties between the two nations.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 04:10 UTC

  Chavez announce rainfall in central Venezuela will help reverse energy crisis

  

  Heavy downpours that have swept away two people and flooded homes in central Venezuela were hailed by President Hugo Chavez as an early start to the rainy season that may mark the end of an extended electricity crisis.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 01:22 UTC

  Ford will invest 250 million USD in Argentina targeting Mercosur

  

  Ford Motor said it will spend 250 million US dollars on its operations in Argentina, where it will start production of a new vehicle for the Mercosur market. President and Chief Executive Alan Mulally announced the plan Wednesday during a meeting in Buenos Aires with Argentina President Cristina Fernandez.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 23:29 UTC

  Chavez hikes basic food prices, including milk, 30% on average

  

  Venezuela raised this week government-set price caps on milk and dairy products as much as 30% in an attempt to boost benefits for producers and head off shortages of basic goods.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 22:50 UTC

  First cholera case in twelve years diagnosed in Chile

  

  The Chilean Antofagasta regional hospital diagnosed an 18-month old infant girl with cholera on Monday. Dr. Antonio Cárdenas, Chief of Paediatrics, told a local paper in Antofagasta that the infant had a virus called Vibrio Cholera.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 22:44 UTC

  Venezuela and Argentina have riskiest sovereign credit, says default-swap monitor

  

  Venezuela is catalogued to be the world's riskiest sovereign credit, followed by Argentina, in the table of countries whose debt is the costliest to insure, credit default swap monitor CDS DataVision said this week.