Latin America

• Tuesday, February 4th 2014 - 23:09 UTC

  Deputy PM Nick Clegg in Colombia calls for new drugs policy in the UK

  

  The UK should abandon its current drugs policy because the war on drugs is not being won, Nick Clegg has said. Speaking on a visit to Colombia, the deputy prime minister said different approaches were needed although he did not back full legalization. He also praised President Juan Manuel Santos commitment to the peace process with FARC and welcomed the human rights' policy.

• Tuesday, February 4th 2014 - 23:00 UTC

  Desperate Argentine officials target big business as the culprits of the current situation

  

  The Argentine government announced on Tuesday it has started “a thorough investigation on major foreign trade companies” which have allegedly registered accounting irregularities for 6.8 billion dollars. Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich said the Central Bank has reported “mining, grain, food, car and oil companies have exported but failed to account for foreign currency income.”

• Tuesday, February 4th 2014 - 08:50 UTC

  Quasi-monies could be back in Argentina if provinces don't receive financial support by March

  

  Quasi monies could be back in Argentina since many provinces and city councils are running short of funds and the federal government is not sending the checks be it because of political differences or simply because there is not enough money to go around.

• Tuesday, February 4th 2014 - 08:39 UTC

  Brazil's experiences the worst January trade balance in years: 4.06bn deficit

  

  Brazil's balance of trade began 2014 with disappointing results, after closing January with a deficit of 4.06 billion dollars, according to the figures released by the Ministry of Industry, Development and Foreign Trade. Exports totaled 16.02bn dollars, while imports reached 20.08bn.

• Monday, February 3rd 2014 - 19:34 UTC

  Mercosur still waiting to agree on a date for the much delayed summit

  

  Mercosur through its pro-tempore presidency under Venezuela is involved in a round of contacts to agree on the group's much delayed XLVI summit which has been postponed because of problems with 'presidents' agenda', revealed Paraguayan foreign minister Eladio Loizaga.

• Saturday, February 1st 2014 - 04:58 UTC

  Argentina's financial hot summer: record devaluation of the Peso, record loss of reserves

  

  The Argentine currency ended trading on Friday, the first month of 2014, at 8.01 Pesos to the US dollar with an accumulated devaluation in January of 18.63%, the greatest loss in a single month since 2002. However market analysts described the situation as a depreciation 'sustained and managed' by the government of President Cristina Fernandez.

• Saturday, February 1st 2014 - 04:54 UTC

  Argentina among the least well-off economies in the region, says IMF

  

  The economies of Argentina and Venezuela are the least well-off in the region due to pressures on inflation, the balance of payments, and foreign exchange markets that developed last year, the International Monetary Fund warned.

• Friday, January 31st 2014 - 07:04 UTC

  Mujica admits that with Argentina 'nothing is guaranteed, only change, one way or the other'

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica said there is 'nothing guaranteed' in the coming talks with Argentina over a long list of bilateral issues, in reference to his meeting on Tuesday with president Cristina Fernandez in Cuba on the sidelines of the recent Celac summit. Mujica was interviewed by a Uruguayan television channel.

• Friday, January 31st 2014 - 06:42 UTC

  Climate change increasing penguin chick mortality in Argentina, says report

  

  Penguin-chick mortality rates have increased in recent years off the coast of Argentina, a trend scientists attribute to climate change and expect to worsen throughout the century, a new study finds.

• Friday, January 31st 2014 - 06:32 UTC

  Peru and Chile committed to 'gradual and timely' implementation of maritime border ruling

  

  As the echoes of Monday’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) continued to reverberate in Santiago and Lima, Presidents Ollanta Humala and Sebastián Piñera of Peru and Chile met on the sidelines of the CELAC (Community of Latin America and Caribbean States) summit in Havana in a show of unity.