Latin America

• Thursday, March 26th 2009 - 06:34 UTC

  Brazilian credit for Aerolineas to purchase 20 aircrafts

  

  Brazil has agreed to lend 700 million US dollars to state-owned airline Aerolineas Argentinas to fund its purchase of 20 planes from Embraer in an effort to save jobs at the aircraft maker.

• Wednesday, March 25th 2009 - 05:31 UTC

  Bolivia’s President Says Quest for Coast Threatened by Peru-Chile Dispute

  

  President Evo Morales confirmed on Monday that Bolivia’s drive to regain at least a portion of the Pacific coastline it lost in a 19th-century war could be harmed by Peru’s litigation with Chile over those nations’ maritime boundary.

• Wednesday, March 25th 2009 - 03:21 UTC

  Chile invests in ports to boost cruise ship tourism

  

  Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) recently launched a 15.5 million US dollars plan to build infrastructure in five of the country’s ports to allow cruise ships (some over 300 meters long) to dock in Easter Island and the Patagonia.

• Tuesday, March 24th 2009 - 13:42 UTC

  Tall ships regatta scheduled to call in Punta Arenas next summer

  

  A tall ships regatta to commemorate the 200 anniversary of Chile’s independence from colonial Spain has been organized for the summer of 2010. The idea is similar to that of the United States in 1976, when tall ships from all over the world gathered for the bicentennial.

• Tuesday, March 24th 2009 - 08:07 UTC

  Crashed aircraft remains found in Tierra del Fuego 59 years later

  

  Relatives from the lost crew of the Argentine Air Force British built Avro Lincoln MK II which crashed in Chilean Tierra del Fuego in 1950, and were only found recently are requesting Presidents Michelle Bachelet and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to authorize the repatriation of the remains.

• Monday, March 23rd 2009 - 09:56 UTC

  Galapagos Islands adds a new sponsor: movie star Richard Gere

  

  United States movie star Richard Gere has offered to campaign to save the Galapagos Islands from development and tourism. During a weekend visit to the Islands, Gere, 59, met Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his species, who was greeted by Prince Charles last week.

• Monday, March 23rd 2009 - 09:54 UTC

  Charles and climate change: people realize I wasn’t “talking nonsense”

  

  Prince Charles who has been visiting the Amazon and the Galapagos islands said in a interview published on Sunday people now realised he had not been “talking nonsense” during his many years of campaigning for action on environmental issues.

• Sunday, March 22nd 2009 - 17:40 UTC

  Venezuela: Chavez trims budget, adds debt to counter crisis

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday almost tripled his government's borrowing plan and trimmed his budget to offset a slide in oil revenues, but resisted pressure to devalue the local bolivar currency.

• Friday, March 20th 2009 - 08:44 UTC

  El Salvador president elect visits Lula da Silva and talks with Obama

  

  El Salvador's President-elect Mauricio Funes will make his first foreign trip to Brazil, officials said after his party of former Marxist rebels triumphed in weekend elections. On Wednesday US President Barack Obama telephoned Mr. Funes to congratulate him on his election.

• Friday, March 20th 2009 - 07:38 UTC

  Costa Rica, El Salvador to re-establish ties with Cuba

  

  After almost 50 years of severed ties, Costa Rica will re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, President Oscar Arias announced Thursday. The move, announced via a press release, comes after Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno hinted earlier this week that a rapprochement was possible.