Latin America

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 10:45 UTC

  United States and Latin America

  

  The Economist under the heading “The charming neighbour” says President Barack Obama’s incursion into Latinamerica at the recent summit in Trinidad Tobago was “overall a success”. But is also asks whether the new mood will survive the worsening recession in Latin America is unclear. And is spite all the discussion about Cuba, The Economist believes that in practice, “drugs and security are likely to overshadow all other issues in the Obama administration relation with Latinamerica. Furthermore “trade and immigration”, particularly with Mexico, have become dividing issues.

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 05:09 UTC

  Ecuador firm on its sovereign bonds sharp discount buy-back scheme

  

  Ecuador will not change its offer to buy back 3.2 billion of defaulted debt at a sharp discount (70%), and appealed to investors to be mindful of its economic problems, Finance Minister Elsa Viteri said in a letter to bondholders, according to press reports from Quito.

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 04:56 UTC

  UNITAS Gold celebrates 50th anniversary of multilateral maritime exercise

  

  Representatives from eleven countries participated in the opening ceremony of UNITAS Gold on the 50th iteration of the annual multinational maritime exercise which takes place off the coast of Florida until May 5.

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 04:49 UTC

  Correa and his revolution poised for easy re-election in Ecuador

  

  Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is poised to easily win re-election on Sunday, according to the latest public opinion polls which show he has about 50% support and way ahead of his seven rivals.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 13:39 UTC

  IMF more upbeat about Chilean economy than the locals

  

  Chile's GDP will likely grow a marginal 0.1% on the year in 2009, recovering to a 3% in 2010, said the International Monetary Fund in its April World Economic Outlook released Wednesday. The IMF outlook is more optimistic than local analysts' outlook who forecast the Chilean economy will contract 0.5% this year.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 13:19 UTC

  Cuban regime coming to an end, Hillary tells US Congress

  

  United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Cuban President Raul Castro’s current regime “is ending” and that the US must prepare to deal with a new reality on the island.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 13:15 UTC

  Development banks pledge 90 billion USD for Latinamerica

  

  Leading multilateral development banks announced Wednesday they will increase their support to Latin America and the Caribbean by providing as much as 90 billion US dollars during the next two years in a joint effort to spur economic growth in the region by coordinating their crisis response initiatives.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 13:04 UTC

  IMF economic outlook influenced by Wall Street, claims World Bank

  

  The World Bank believes that the IMF growth prospects for Latinamerica are “too pessimistic” and anticipates the region will suffer a milder contraction 0.6%, compared to the 1.5% forecasted by the April World Economic Outlook which IMF released Wednesday.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 10:38 UTC

  Venezuelan court asks Interpol to help arrest opposition leader Rosales

  

  A Venezuelan court has ordered the arrest of exiled opposition leader Manuel Rosales on corruption charges and asked Interpol to detain him after he left for Peru, according to the Venezuelan state television.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 - 12:15 UTC

  Criminal probe into sudden death of 21 polo horses in Florida

  

  A criminal probe has been opened into the death of 21 polo horses that died over the weekend during preparations for a match of the sport’s top championship in Wellington, Florida. An investigation has first to determine whether they died from a toxin, a virus, drugs reaction, a contagious disease or a combination of any of the open options.