Latin America

• Sunday, January 7th 2018 - 07:45 UTC

  Ecuador names new vice president; Correa begins campaign against referendum to limit re-election

  

  Ecuador has chosen a new vice president to replace Jorge Glas, who was sentenced to six years in jail for his role in a bribery scheme involving Odebrecht, the Brazilian company at the center of Latin America’s biggest corruption scandal. Lawmakers selected Maria Alejandra Vicuña in a vote on Saturday.

• Friday, January 5th 2018 - 10:25 UTC

  Drought in north Argentina seriously delaying plating of soy and corn

  

  The drought in Argentina continues in several regions and has generated a delay of planting for the 2017-18 season. A report authored by the institution AgroEducación indicated that La Niña, though subtle, already impacts the region with temperatures above normal and scarce rains.

• Thursday, January 4th 2018 - 09:58 UTC

  Brucellosis outbreak at Paraguay Vet School triggers alarm bells for the industry

  

  An outbreak of brucellosis at the Veterinary School of the Asunción University in Paraguay, FCV-UNA, has cost the academic center its international certification, and has become a shameful experience for a country which is among the top world beef exporters.

• Thursday, January 4th 2018 - 05:38 UTC

  China announces it will begin “a greater push” to conquer trade in the hemisphere

  

  In a Spanish-language opinion piece in one of the nation’s largest newspapers, Chinese Ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming urged Latin American nations to increase trade ties to China, promoting Beijing’s “One Belt One Road” project and warning Beijing will begin a “greater push” to conquer trade in the hemisphere.

• Wednesday, January 3rd 2018 - 18:17 UTC

  Russian navy's “Yantar”, oceanographic or state of the art “spy vessel”?

  

  The Russian navy is very proud of its new spy ship, the Yantar, which is now doing Argentina a favor by helping to search for a missing submarine, ARA San Juan, which disappeared on 15 November in the South Atlantic.

• Wednesday, January 3rd 2018 - 10:12 UTC

  Brazil finished 2017 with a record trade surplus of US$ 67bn

  

  Brazil's road to economic recovery has passed another milestone with official data showing on Tuesday that the country finished 2017 with a record trade surplus 40.5% higher than in the previous year. The US$67 billion surplus was in line with market projections and within the US$65/70bn range forecast by the government.

• Tuesday, January 2nd 2018 - 11:19 UTC

  Busiest air route in North America is Mexico City/Cancun with 3.7m pax

  

  A new study shows that Mexico City to Cancun is the busiest air route in North America. Almost 3.7 million passengers traveled the 1,294 km journey between Mexico City Juarez and Cancun in the twelve-month period between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017, putting it at the top of the study’s rankings. The average cost of a ticket was US$72.

• Tuesday, January 2nd 2018 - 07:27 UTC

  New Year in Uruguay begins with a raft of goods and services price increases

  

  New Year has taken off in Uruguay with a raft of utilities' rates increases which includes power, fuels, drinking water, telecommunications, urban bus fares, plus extra taxes on tobacco and gambling. Inflation in the twelve months to November was 6.30%.

• Tuesday, January 2nd 2018 - 06:20 UTC

  Latin American poverty and extreme poverty rose in 2015/16 following a decade of decline

  

  Poverty and extreme poverty levels rose in Latin America as a regional average in 2015 and 2016, after more than a decade of declines in the majority of countries, while in 2017 they are expected to hold steady, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said.

• Sunday, December 31st 2017 - 20:47 UTC

  Corruption in Uruguayan government “very much extended”, says opinion poll

  

  Although Uruguay is well positioned internationally when it comes to corruption perception, it is considered among the least corrupt together with Chile in Latin America by Transparency International and LatinoBarometer, a public opinion poll published the last week of 2017 in Montevideo seems to show quite a different perception, particularly among young people.