Latin America

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 21:15 UTC

  Chile places 1.5bn dollar-bonds at lowest financing cost of any emerging country

  

  Chile placed 1.5 billion in dollar-denominated bonds on international markets at historic yields, giving the country the lowest borrowing cost of any emerging country, Finance Minister Felipe Larrain said on Thursday.

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 06:48 UTC

  First voluntary vote at municipal elections in Chile; fears of a low turnout

  

  The Chilean municipal elections scheduled for Sunday 28 October are considered ‘important’ by 55% of interviews according to the primary result of a joint public opinion poll done by Mori and the Chilean Association of municipalities.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 17:51 UTC

  Reflections from our visit to the Falkland Islands

  

  A group of Central American journalists recently visited the Falkland Islands for a week as guests of the Foreign Office together with Bruce Callow from the UK Costa Rica embassy. The following is a first reflection just back from the Islands in Bruce’s blog.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 06:37 UTC

  War on drugs has failed and requires new radical reform, says LSE report

  

  The global war on drugs has failed and international policy requires radical reform to remove outmoded, unscientific thinking, according to a major new report from the London School of Economics and Political Science which has been endorsed by President Santos of Colombia.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 06:34 UTC

  Colombia says FARC has an annual budget of 2.4bn and an army of 8.147

  

  Colombian Defence minister Juan Carlos Pinzón said that the guerrilla group FARC make anywhere from 2.4 to 3.5 billion dollars per annum from the drug trade and estimated they have an army of 8.147 members.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2012 - 21:17 UTC

  Panama and Uruguay with greatest per capita GDP increase in 2008/2012, says Latinvex

  

  Panama was the country with the greatest increase in per capita GDP in the last five years, followed by Uruguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Chile according to a report from the digital publication Latinvex.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2012 - 21:12 UTC

  “Ecuador in the midst of a press freedom crisis”, claims IPI in-situ report

  

  The International Press Institute (IPI) released a final report on its May 2012 press freedom mission to Ecuador, stating that the nation’s private media outlets are being targeted by the government of President Rafael Correa.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2012 - 05:14 UTC

  Foreign direct investment inflow to Latam rises 8% in six months to 94.3bn dollars

  

  Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to 17 of Latinamerica’s countries rose 8% in the first six months of 2012, compared to the same period a year ago, reaching 94.331 billion dollars, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2012 - 05:03 UTC

  Mexico asks WTO to begin dispute procedure over Argentina’s trade restrictions

  

  Mexico will ask a World Trade Organization panel to adjudicate a dispute over trade restrictions with Argentina, said Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari.

• Tuesday, October 23rd 2012 - 03:20 UTC

  Latin American investment in China

  

  By R. Viswanathan (*) - During the sixth China - Latin America Business summit in Hangzhou in October 17-18, the Inter American Development Bank (BID) brought out a report on Latin American investment in China.