Latin America

• Wednesday, March 12th 2014 - 07:55 UTC

  Bachelet pledges to tackle 'inequality' and draft a new constitution

  

  Socialist Michelle Bachelet promised to tackle inequality as she took the oath of office on Tuesday, returning to power after four years to lead Chile. Bachelet succeeds conservative Sebastian Piñera, who said he was leaving his successor “a better country than the one we had four years ago.”

• Wednesday, March 12th 2014 - 07:22 UTC

  Unasur foreign ministers expected to call for dialogue and peace talks in Venezuela

  

  Foreign ministers from Unasur (Union of South American Nations) will be drafting a statement calling for peace and dialogue to end the month-long clashes in Venezuela when they be meeting on Wednesday in Santiago de Chile. The meeting and agenda have the support from the Venezuelan government.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 20:17 UTC

  Minister Swire representing the UK as the inauguration of President Bachelet

  

  Hugo Swire MP, Minister of State for Latin America in the British Foreign Office is in Chile representing the UK at the inauguration of President Michelle Bachelet. In addition to attending official activities as part of the presidential inauguration, Minister Swire’s program will be focused on strengthening UK-Chile ties in areas such as trade and investment, science and innovation and education.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:44 UTC

  Argentina with no serious economic problems, “just complexities and challenges”

  

  Economy Minister Axel Kicillof argued that Argentina does not have serious economic problems, but rather “complexities, difficulties and challenges,” and accused economists and dissident media outlets of orchestrating a campaign to generate an “end of the world” feeling among members of society.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:12 UTC

  Santos coalition retains Congress majority, but Uribe becomes head of the opposition

  

  Colombian voters showed tepid support for peace talks with FARC guerrillas on Sunday by giving the country's president Juan Manuel Santos a majority in Congress, but also electing his conservative rival, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, to the senate.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 05:52 UTC

  A '99% chance' that Venezuela's Maduro visits Uruguay later this week

  

  Despite strong criticism from the opposition the Uruguayan government said it is prepared to receive Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on an official visit, and there is a 99% chance that this could occur next Thursday, said foreign minister Luis Almagro.

• Monday, March 10th 2014 - 21:43 UTC

  Rousseff's supporters fit the most with the profile of the average Brazil voter

  

  The average Brazilian voter for this coming October presidential election is between 25 and 34 years old, has on average a high school education and a low monthly family income, equivalent to 618 US dollars. He lives in the Southeast region of the vast country, in a small town with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants.

• Monday, March 10th 2014 - 20:57 UTC

  All South American leaders attending Bachelet's inauguration on Tuesday

  

  More than 20 countries confirmed that representatives from their governments will attend the inauguration of Chilean president-elect Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday, Chilean Senate leader Jorge Pizarro announced. Leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, Suriname and El Salvador have confirmed their presence.

• Monday, March 10th 2014 - 06:48 UTC

  Colombian congress election seen as a referendum of peace talks

  

  Colombians went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new Congress, in a vote seen as a referendum on peace talks with the FARC guerrillas and an anticipation for May's presidential election.

• Monday, March 10th 2014 - 06:44 UTC

  A 1765 Spanish merchant shipwreck located off the coast of Tierra del Fuego

  

  A team of archaeologists in Argentina has pinpointed the location of the 1765 shipwreck of a Spanish merchant ship off the southern coast, officials said over the weekend. It is the oldest wrecked ship of twelve that were identified along 200 kilometers of the windswept Tierra del Fuego coast.