Latin America

• Thursday, May 14th 2009 - 12:11 UTC

  Chile’s Central bank slashes growth estimate

  

  Chile's economy could shrink by as much as 0.75 percent this year, its first annual contraction in a decade, as the global crisis hits consumer spending and investment, the Central Bank announced on Wednesday. The bank slashed its 2009 GDP forecast to a range between a 0.75% contraction and a 0.25% expansion.

• Thursday, May 14th 2009 - 09:56 UTC

  Peru inaugurates largest and most modern air cargo hub

  

  Peru's president Alan García officially opened this week Lima Cargo City, considered the most modern air freight logistics centre in Latinamerica, built with an investment of more than 35 million US dollars.

• Thursday, May 14th 2009 - 08:44 UTC

  LAN’s passenger traffic up 20% in April; cargo down 25.4%

  

  Chile's leading airline LAN reported this week its passenger traffic rose 19.9% in April, compared with a year earlier, but cargo traffic decreased by 25.4% as Latinamerican trade slowed due to the global economic crisis.

• Thursday, May 14th 2009 - 03:33 UTC

  Chilean president invited to the White House June 23

  

  Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will be meeting with President Barak Obama at the White House next June 23, it was announced in Santiago. This will be the second meeting of the two leaders: the first was at the recent Summit of the Americas in Trinidad Tobago.

• Tuesday, May 12th 2009 - 06:28 UTC

  Chilean Patagonia Torres del Paine Park celebrates 50th anniversary

  

  The world famous Torres del Paine national park in Chilean Patagonia is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and Chilean officials are lobbying to have the region declared humanity wildlife heritage.

• Tuesday, May 12th 2009 - 05:36 UTC

  Venezuelan president warns media about “hate messages”

  

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez warned he will take strong action against all media involved in the spread of “hate messages, trampling with the truth or promoting war”.

• Tuesday, May 12th 2009 - 05:30 UTC

  Chavez takes over farms and denies the right to “private land”

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered Sunday the expropriation of more than 10.000 hectares (24.710 acres) of arable lands belonging to six farms and mixed farming industries in the state of Barinas, south-western Venezuela arguing that farms “are not weekend resorts for the rich

• Tuesday, May 12th 2009 - 05:24 UTC

  Russia Second Largest Arms Exporter; South America Promising Market

  

  Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI latest data on global arms transfers published this week reveal that Russia remains the second largest arms exporter in the world, accounting for a quarter of global exports of major conventional arms.

• Monday, May 11th 2009 - 10:25 UTC

  New mine increases Chile’s state-owned copper company reserves by 20%

  

  Chilean state-owned mining company CODELCO announced last week its discovery of a new mine site near its existing División Andina site (Region V), some 80 kilometres north of Santiago.

• Monday, May 11th 2009 - 08:40 UTC

  Mexico tourism operators estimate losses could reach 5.5 billion USD

  

  Mexico will experience losses of up to 5.5 billion US dollars this year because of the influenza A/H1N1 virus outbreak which has scared foreign tourists anticipated the Mexican National Tourism Confederation.