Latin America

• Thursday, July 17th 2014 - 05:24 UTC

  Brazil’s main October presidential battle will take place in Sao Paulo

  

  When opposition party Senator Aecio Neves officially kicked off his presidential campaign last week, he posted a video on Facebook calling for a “fairer, more efficient, and more generous Brazil”. However the word ‘efficient’ struck some as an odd rallying cry in a tropical country known for its, well, un-Swiss-like approach to time.

• Tuesday, July 15th 2014 - 06:42 UTC

  Chinese president Xi arrives in Fortaleza for the BRICS summit

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived on Monday to Fortaleza, Brazil for a summit of the BRICS countries. The sixth summit of the BRICS, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will be held in Brazil from Tuesday to Wednesday.

• Monday, July 14th 2014 - 23:26 UTC

  Uruguayans believe government is on the right track, but performance is missing

  

  A majority of Uruguayan believe the current government is on the right course but its performance is not satisfactory, according to a local public opinion poll from FACTUM. In effect seven out of ten agree with the course but the same percentages believe the performance is bad.

• Monday, July 14th 2014 - 23:09 UTC

  Paraguay's currency steadily becoming a 'strong' currency based on positive indicators

  

  The Paraguayan currency, Guaraní, is expected to revalue 1.4% against the US dollar by the end of the year becoming one Latam's strongest given its positive macroeconomic indicators. This follows a strong performance during the first half of the year when the price of the dollar in the capital Asunción wholesale money exchanges dropped from 4.450 Guaraní to 4.240, according to private consultants “Consensus Economics”.

• Monday, July 14th 2014 - 23:03 UTC

  Mexico rapidly overtaking Brazil as Latam's leading auto producer

  

  Pacific Alliance member Mexico is poised to overtake Brazil, the leading economy in Mercosur, as the top Latin American auto producer for the first time in more than a decade as surging exports to the U.S. spur factory openings and record output.

• Monday, July 14th 2014 - 05:19 UTC

  With the party over and the Cup in Germany, Brazil's focus returns to domestic problems

  

  Brazil was humiliated when its national team was run over 7-1 at the hands of Germany in the World Cup semifinals and later 3-0 against Holland, but the authorities breathed sighs of relief as the tournament came to a close on Sunday with Germany’s victory over Argentina, amid muted street protests and a display of Brazil’s ability to successfully organize sporting mega-events.

• Saturday, July 12th 2014 - 10:13 UTC

  CFK invites regional presidents to the official dinner for Russia's Putin

  

  President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, invited her peers from Bolivia, Uruguay and Venezuela, Evo Morales, Jose Mujica and Nicolas Maduro respectively to participate in a special dinner after her meeting with the Russian head of state, Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

• Friday, July 11th 2014 - 06:29 UTC

  Prince Charles will be visiting Colombia in October, announced President Santos

  

  President Juan Manuel Santos announced Prince Charles' visit to Colombia during an official ceremony in which he signed an international treaty to protect the marshlands of the Estrella Fluvial de Inirida River, a 700,000-acre site in Colombia’s eastern Guainia state.

• Wednesday, July 9th 2014 - 07:42 UTC

  Paraguay with record soybean harvest, most of it for exporting

  

  Landlocked Paraguay has become the new 'soybean king' with a harvest of over 9 million tons, a new record, 13% compared to the previous crop, according to the figures released by the Paraguayan Chamber of Grains and Oilseeds Exporters, Capeco.

• Tuesday, July 8th 2014 - 00:08 UTC

  IDB loan to help Uruguay with mathematics and English learning at schools

  

  The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a 6 million dollars loan to Uruguay to finance the Plan Ceibal II (digital content), which will help to strengthen mathematics learning by 90,000 primary and middle school students and extend English teaching to half of all 4th, 5th and 6th graders in urban public primary schools.