Latin America

• Saturday, October 31st 2009 - 05:32 UTC

  Chilean Central bank could begin hiking interest rate next second quarter

  

  The Chilean central bank will likely begin hiking the benchmark interest rate, currently at a record low 0.5%, in the second quarter of next year, according to the minutes of its October monetary policy meeting released Wednesday.

• Saturday, October 31st 2009 - 01:16 UTC

  Zelaya and Micheletti agree to deal to end the institutional crisis

  

  The de facto Honduran government has agreed to an eight point deal that may allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to power ahead of elections next month. Unite States diplomats have been in the country to mediate an end to the four-month-old crisis.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 21:59 UTC

  Argentina buys wine from Chile to face shortfall in production

  

  Still hurting from a yearlong drought, Argentina is turning to Chile for wine imports in order to keep up with popular demand for wine.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 21:56 UTC

  Ecuador signs arms and energy deals with Russia: “just the beginning”

  

  President Dmitry Medvedev called new arms and energy deals between Russia and Ecuador just a beginning as Moscow strives to deepen ties in Latin America. Medvedev and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced a 22 million US dollars deal for Russia to provide Ecuador with two Mi-17 transport helicopters.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 21:51 UTC

  Ecuador to pay royalties on pharmaceutical patents

  

  Ecuador is to pay royalties to the holders of international pharmaceutical patents, basing the payments on the sale price of locally produced medicines, the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property, or IEPI, said this week.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 11:10 UTC

  Argentina Chile plan to bore two integration tunnels under the Andes

  

  Relations between Argentina and Chile are going through an optimum moment and once we drill through the Andes, “ghosts of the past will definitively have gone”, said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner during the first of her two day visit to Chile.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 07:35 UTC

  Cuba’s Sugarcane Ethanol Potential: the Return of King Sugar

  

  “Central America and the Caribbean, historical sugar-producing economies where the sugar-ethanol infrastructure already has a foundation, labor costs are low, and the political conditions are more or less stable– offers the best near-term potential for large-scale sugarcane ethanol production. This is a market opportunity which Cuba, with the longest experience of sugar–ethanol and sugarcane derivates production in the region, is positioned to take advantage of”.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 06:38 UTC

  NYT praises Chile’s Bachelet handling of the crisis and her style of government

  

  The New York Times dedicated an article to Chilean President Michelle Bachelet whom she describes as among a handful of Latin American leaders, including President Lula da Silva of Brazil, whose handling of the crisis has strengthened their popularity.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 01:56 UTC

  Higher infertility among men is a growing problem in Chile

  

  A recent study carried out by the InstitutoValenciano de Infertilidad (IVI) has found a higher rate of infertility in Chilean men than in women. In a survey of 1,800 couples who reported having problems conceiving, infertility was recorded in 85% of males compared with 75% of females.

• Friday, October 30th 2009 - 01:47 UTC

  Zelaya still president for 46% of Hondurans according to poll

  

  A relative majority of Hondurans consider ousted Manuel Zelaya as their president compared to the head of de facto government Roberto Micheletti, according to the latest public opinion poll from CID-Gallup released this week in Tegucigalpa.