Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared victory in municipal elections as his ruling Socialists won a majority of votes nationwide on Sunday, even though they lost to the opposition in five key cities. He also pledged to deepen his economic offensive to force businesses to cut prices, which was a turning point in his campaign.
Evelyn Matthei of the right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and Michelle Bachelet of the left-leaning Socialist Party (PS) partook in their opening head-to-head presidential debate, as for the first campaign in Latin American history two women compete against each other in a presidential election second round.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says that winning Sunday's municipal elections is essential for continuing the country's socialist revolution and honoring the legacy of the late Hugo Chavez. For opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski, the vote is seen as a referendum on Maduro's economic policies, which he says are destroying the country.
Argentina will from next week open the doors for Brazilian imports held up on the border between the two nations, including footwear and motor vehicles, according to Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Fernando Pimentel.
Brazil's annual inflation cooled in November falling to 5.77%, reported the Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, on Friday. The November reading was the lowest since registering 5.84% in December 2012.
Brazil's central bank said its current pace of interest rate increases remains appropriate to rein in consumer prices, repeating language it used to justify previous half-percentage-point increases, according to the November 26/27 minutes released on Thursday.
The UK is supporting and helping finance the development of a 20 million-dollar small scale renewable energy project in Chile. The project will be financed from the joint UK-Germany NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action) Facility and Chile's is only one in four of 47 projects worldwide that applied for this funding and reflects the quality of the Chilean application.
Consumer prices in Uruguay during November increased 0.2% over the previous month with annual inflation reaching 8.51% compared to the 8.67% of October. Nevertheless in the eleven months of 2013, consumer prices have climbed 9.31%, which is a whole percentage point higher than the same period a year ago, according to the latest release from the country's Stats Office, INE.
“Unthinkable, unacceptable and unsupportable” was how Joanisval Brito Goncalves, Senior Legilslative Counselor for International Affairs and Defence Issues at the Brazilian Senate, described the Argentine government’s attitude to the Falkland/ Malvinas Islands in a press conference held in Stanley on Wednesday afternoon.
A huge power outage that darkened Venezuela's capital and parts of the country was a conspiracy to sabotage the Socialist government, according to Venezuela's President Nicholas Maduro. The blackout came five days ahead of Sunday's municipal elections.