Latin America

• Thursday, February 1st 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Ecuador names woman as defense minister

  

  The Ecuadorean government named another woman to be defense minister, to take over after the first female to hold the office was killed in a helicopter accident.

• Thursday, February 1st 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile's first fish farming park to be built in Tongoy

  

  The University of Los Lagos (ULA) is planning to build the first Fish Farming Park in Chile on a 5.5-hectare terrain, in the Tongoy Bay of Coquimbo Region IV, investing more than CLP 450 million (USD 826.400).

• Wednesday, January 31st 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  US “watchful” of how Chavez exercises special powers

  

  President Hugo Chavez was granted Wednesday by the National Assembly special powers during 18 months, to accelerate changes in broad areas of society and the economy by presidential decree.

• Tuesday, January 30th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile's President Bachelet schedules impressive tour

  

  After returning from her summer vacation on Lake Caburgua, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet plans to embark on an impressive tour of Latin American countries to encourage regional cooperation. She will then jet off to Europe to compare notes with “sister” countries famed for their welfare states.

• Tuesday, January 30th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Southern Chile's tremors traced to submarine fissure

  

  The weeks' long tremors that have residents of Chilean Patagonia fearsome of a major earthquake can be traced to a submarine fissure and not the tectonic plaques, according to a group of scientists working in the area.

• Tuesday, January 30th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Record year for world tourism; South America up 7.2%

  

  World tourism registered yet another record last year with 842 million arrivals, a higher than expected growth rate of 4.5% with Latinamerica consolidating its sustained growth tendency reaching 7.2%, according to United Nations figures.

• Tuesday, January 30th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  All the power to the Communal centres

  

  A new era of “maximum revolution” has arrived in Venezuela, a mix of near religious fervour and plenty of oil money, an intent under a one man rule, which President Hugo Chavez promises will create a more egalitarian society. But for every Venezuelan the question is where do they fit in this revolution?

• Tuesday, January 30th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Protestors storm Ecuador's Congress in support of Correa

  Thousands of followers of Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa stormed Congress on Tuesday demanding support for constitutional reforms forcing the evacuation of legislators and a strong reaction from riot police with batons and tear gas.

• Sunday, January 28th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Seism “psychosis” as earth trembles in southern Chile

  

  Viviana Betancour governor of Chile's Southern Region of Aysen, which is living in a state of almost panic because of several days persistent telluric trembling, called on residents to be calm and trust that the best possible technical assistance is already working in the area.

• Sunday, January 28th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Latinamerica “on the right path and advancing”

  

  In a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and the Presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, highlighted the positive economic trend in Latin America and significant democratic progress achieved in the past year.