Latin America

• Monday, January 2nd 2017 - 12:41 UTC

  Castro condemns “obsolete mentality” against foreign capital, as economy contracts

  

  In spite the significant surge in tourism set off by the detente with the United States, Cuba’s economy shrank in 2016 for the first time in nearly a quarter century with the main culprit: a plunge in aid from crisis-stricken Venezuela. President Raul Castro called on the Cuban people to overcome the obsolete mentality against foreign capital.

• Saturday, December 31st 2016 - 06:57 UTC

  Bolivia to charge tourists an entry tax in 2017

  

  Bolivia will charge a US$ 14.5 dollar entry tax to tourists arriving in the country by airplane. The new measure will become effective once there is an agreement with the private sector on the details, Deputy Tourism Minister Joaquín Rodas said.

• Thursday, December 29th 2016 - 05:44 UTC

  Almost nothing to be named after Fidel to avoid cult of personality in Cuba

  

  Cuban lawmakers Tuesday passed a bill whereby nothing shall bear the name of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who passed away November 25 last. No monuments or buildings shall be erected in his honour either.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 09:26 UTC

  Chapecoense team air crash caused by human error: pilot, airline and Bolivian regulators blamed

  

  The plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia last month, including players from Brazil's Chapecoense football team, was caused by human error, an investigation says. Colombian officials said there was no technical failure and blamed the pilot, the airline and Bolivian regulators. A recording had already indicated the aircraft had run out of fuel.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 08:52 UTC

  Guatemalan authorities open 12 shelters due to low temperatures

  

  Twelve shelters have been opened in different parts of Guatemala to serve low-income people, due to the low temperatures, the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) said on Monday.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2016 - 20:09 UTC

  Maduro reopens Colombian border after eight days

  

  The government of Nicolás Maduro Tuesday reopened its border with Colombia, eight days after closing it to combat smuggling, it was announced.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2016 - 18:50 UTC

  Fireworks market explosion kills at least 31 in Mexico

  

  A huge explosion on Tuesday at the San Pablito fireworks market outside Mexico City has killed at least 31 people, according to the latest reports, while scores were injured. It was said that there were around 300 tonnes of fireworks on site at the time of the explosion, but that is yet to be confirmed.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2016 - 06:44 UTC

  Four people die as Colombian freighter fails takeoff attempt

  

  A Colombian freighter belonging to the airline Aerosucre failed to get properly airborne from Puerto Carreño and ended up crashing onto the ground and bursting into flames five nautical miles from the runway.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2016 - 08:19 UTC

  Macri and Bachelet agree on a Mercosur-Pacific Alliance meeting in first half of 2017

  

  Argentina and Chile agreed to organize a major Mercosur, Pacific Alliance trade blocks' meeting during the first half of 2017. Last Friday Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and her cabinet were in Buenos Aires with peers Mauricio Macri and ministers as part of an agenda of regular meetings to address a joint agenda.

• Monday, December 19th 2016 - 08:22 UTC

  Cuban dissidents still under Raul Castro's iron fist despite alleged openness

  

  Government officials have arrested dozens of Cuban dissidents as well as an American human rights lawyer, it was reported Sunday. Others were kept from marching in Havana to demand the relaease of political prisoners in what would indicate that the one-party communist state is in no mood for dissent, despite all that was said to US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis.