Latin America

• Saturday, January 18th 2014 - 06:10 UTC

  Haiti PM Lamonthe pledges free, fair and honest elections later this year

  

  Haiti’s Prime Minister Laurent Lamonthe has pledged that his government will provide the necessary means to the electoral council to facilitate the holding of legislative and local elections this year.

• Friday, January 17th 2014 - 07:23 UTC

  Taiwan grant to Santa Lucia for development and fisheries

  

  Taiwan is providing an estimated 3.5 million dollars grant to St. Lucia in the Caribbean to fund three projects identified by the PM Kenny Anthony administration.

• Friday, January 17th 2014 - 07:00 UTC

  Chile's main ports remain paralyzed amid clashes with police and suspended negotiations

  

  Chile's main ports continued paralyzed as negotiations between striking workers and authorities are at an impasse and ugly skirmishes with police play out amid millions of cases of perishable export produce which are likely to spoil.

• Thursday, January 16th 2014 - 09:34 UTC

  Argentine central bank reserves fall below the 30bn dollars threshold

  

  Argentine central bank international reserves continued to erode and on Wednesday pierced through the 30bn floor threshold reaching 29.858bn dollars, the lowest level since November 2006. On Tuesday reserves stood at 30.019bn.

• Thursday, January 16th 2014 - 09:04 UTC

  Open pit mining project in Uruguay questioned in Parliament and by environmentalists

  

  A major open pit mining project in Uruguay to extract and export magnetite (a kind of iron ore) and which the government of President Jose Mujica plans to instrument this month has been exposed to a battery of criticism because the administration refuses to show the terms of the contract and farm groups argue there is no final environment impact assessment study.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 19:33 UTC

  Second Brazilian airline promises to cap fares for the coming World Cup

  

  Avianca Brasil has joined Azul in becoming the second Brazilian airline to promise to cap prices for the upcoming football World Cup, which opens June 12 in Sao Paulo. Avianca said it would match Azul and limit one-way fares to a maximum of 999 Reais (425 dollars).

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 19:24 UTC

  Uruguay among the world's ten countries with highest inflation

  

  Uruguay is ranked among the world's ten countries with the highest inflation, having climbed from position 15 to 10 last year, only surpassed in Latin America by Venezuela and Argentina. Last year Uruguay ended with an inflation of 8.52%, well above the 4% to 6% target, and according to Central bank officials “it remains the main challenge for the country's economic policy”.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 18:50 UTC

  Argentine annual inflation: 28.38%, according to the Congressional index

  

  Argentine annual inflation for 2013 was 28.38% after soaring 3.38% in the month of December alone, according to the Congressional consumer price index, which is a survey that takes the average of several consultancy firms.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 00:03 UTC

  Argentine baggage handlers delay Aerolineas flights and cruise vessels in Buenos Aires port

  

  Flights to and from Argentina's capital Buenos Aires’ international airport were delayed on Tuesday after a union offshoot that represents baggage handlers for the national carrier, Aerolíneas Argentinas, went on strike to protest the company’s proposal to hire handlers for six-hour shifts.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 07:32 UTC

  Mercosur and EU to exchange tariff reduction proposals in early February

  

  Paraguay's Foreign minister Eladio Loizaga said on Monday that at the latest in early February Mercosur and the European Union would be exchanging their tariff reduction proposals for the much delayed free trade agreement. The deadline originally was December but it was delayed on request from Brussels.