Latin America

• Monday, November 23rd 2009 - 11:17 UTC

  Regional conflicts call for urgent meeting of South American Defence council

  

  The Union of South American nations, Unasur, Defence Council will be holding an extraordinary meeting next Friday to address several serious problems involving country members announced the Ecuadorian Foreign Affairs ministry that will be hosting the event in the capital Quito.

• Monday, November 23rd 2009 - 11:12 UTC

  Chavez calls Venezuelans to join Bolivarian Militia; 300 Russian tanks on the way

  

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced the arrival of a shipment of 300 Russian tanks and armoured vehicles and ordered the members of the ruling party, United Socialist party of Venezuela, PSUV, to join the militia and armed groups.

• Monday, November 23rd 2009 - 11:06 UTC

  Chile was next target after Falklands in 1982, admits Argentine Brigadier

  

  The last Argentine dictatorship headed by General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri had plans to attack Chile following the invasion and recovery of the disputed Falklands/Malvinas Islands in 1982 revealed on Sunday the former chief of the Argentine Air Force at the time, Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo.

• Saturday, November 21st 2009 - 11:20 UTC

  Venezuelan government takes over four private banks

  

  The Venezuelan government has taken over four private banks in the country for what it described as their incompliance with regulations.

• Saturday, November 21st 2009 - 09:04 UTC

  Mercosur has top performing and worst performing presidents

  

  Two presidents from Mercosur countries figure among the leaders with the highest approval ratings in the Americas while the other two are at the opposite end.

• Saturday, November 21st 2009 - 05:50 UTC

  Latinamerican poor to reach 189 million (9 million more) because of recession

  

  The current global crisis will cause the number of poor people in Latin America to rise by nine million to 189 million this year, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) said in a report presented in Santiago de Chile.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 09:55 UTC

  Brazil, Peru and Uruguay in “boom phase recovery”

  

  The Economic Climate Index (ECI) in Latin America, (developed in partnership between the German Ifo Institute and Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation) rose to 5.2 from 4.0 points between July and October 2009, exceeding for the first time since January 2008, the average of the last ten years (5.1 points).

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 09:46 UTC

  Chile’s presidential election: whoever wins, not much change

  Chile has been Latin America’s success story since the 1980’s, boasting rapid economic growth, successful integration into the world economy, solid democratic institutions, an effective state bureaucracy, and low levels of crruption. By most standards, the country is far better off than the rest of the region.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 05:49 UTC

  Ten-year input for the Atlas of the Patagonian marine ecosystem

  

  The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and BirdLife International have released the first-ever comprehensive atlas of the Patagonian Sea -- a globally important but poorly understood South American marine ecosystem.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 02:33 UTC

  Cuban greetings for 2010: tighten your belts, it’s bad and it’s getting worse

  

  Cuba is going through one of its cyclical “hard moments” but this time the lack of foreign currency is forcing draconian cuts in food subsidies, public utilities and other services taken for granted. The media repeatedly calls on the population to “tighten belts” because in 2010 restrictions are “for worse”.