Latin America

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 09:03 UTC

  Brazilian police tells tourists that if attacked “don't fight, scream or argue”

  

  If attacked in Brazil: “Don't fight, scream or argue”. That's the advice being offered to tourists by São Paulo Civil Police ahead of this year's World Cup games which authorities have revealed will be enforced by armored, “RoboCop”-styled riot police.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 08:55 UTC

  Another chapter of Colombia peace talks closed; FARC admits links with the drug trade

  

  Colombia's government and FARC rebels announced on Friday an agreement to jointly combat illicit drug trade in the country as part of a six-point peace plan. The deal comes ahead of May 25 elections in the country and is an implicit admission of the guerrillas' links with the drug trade.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 07:11 UTC

  Venezuela's protests should be over by July when the summer holidays, says top security official

  

  Venezuela’s three-month protest movement has dwindled to a hard core of a few hundred violent troublemakers and the unrest should be over by July, when schools and universities break up for the summer holidays, a top security official said.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 10:47 UTC

  Morales reveal that with Argentine help Bolivia is developing nuclear energy

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales revealed on Thursday that, with Argentina's help, his country was working to develop nuclear power. Morales had previously indicated that his country had plans to go nuclear with help from both Buenos Aires and France, but this is the first time that the news was confirmed.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 10:17 UTC

  Mujica calls on countries to leave aside individual interests and address global problems

  

  The President of Uruguay, José Mujica called on countries to put aside individual interests, address global problems such as climate change, and give more decision-making power to international organizations. Mujica is on a four day visit to Washington and on Thursday visited the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, OAS.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 09:37 UTC

  YPF wants to create a G10 of Latin American state oil companies CEO's

  

  Argentina's YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio proposed on Thursday in Bolivia a G10 of Latin American state owned oil corporations to strengthen their bargaining power based on their resources and development synergy.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 08:35 UTC

  Argentines strongly disapprove of torture, but 49% are fearful if in custody

  

  Nearly half of all Argentines say they fear suffering torture if they were detained by authorities, a figure that represents slightly more than the global average, an Amnesty International survey has revealed. The results from a series of questions on the issue show Argentina as one of the nations that most disapprove of torture among the 21 countries surveyed.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 06:30 UTC

  Former Escobar lover links Menem's son 1995 death with the drugs business

  

  Virginia Vallejo, former lover of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar Gaviria, linked the death of ex president Carlos Menem’s son –Carlos Menem Jr.- with Escobar’s family money laundry in Argentina in the 90s.

• Thursday, May 15th 2014 - 07:41 UTC

  Mujica's reference to Uruguayan's work contraction triggered controversy

  

  President Mujica's speech before the US Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday had its good side, the strong references to Brazil and the fact Uruguay is a 'decent country' and 'we don't go around bribing people', but there was also another side which was controversial.

• Thursday, May 15th 2014 - 07:16 UTC

  Mujica admits Mercosur problems but praises Brazil's open market attitude

  

  In a 'dialogue without ties' at the World Bank President Jose Mujica said that Uruguay is a 'frontier country' which history did not want it to belong to any of the two big neighbors (Argentina and Brazil) so that the Atlantic ocean would not be left to an only country.