Latin America

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 22:49 UTC

  Argentina hits back at US and will complain in WTO trade barriers on meats and lemons

  

  The Argentine Foreign Ministry on Tuesday hit back at the United States amid various trade barrier complaints and allegations of illegality saying that it would report the country for violating the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) rules for stopping imports of Argentine meat and citrus fruits to the US.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 22:08 UTC

  Peru to punish “negationism”, denying a past of killings and destruction by terrorist gangs

  

  The Peruvian government announced that it will be sending Congress a bill that punishes the negation of the terrorist violence suffered by the country during the last decades of the last century. The bill against “negationism” is in ‘support of democracy and a unified front against terrorism’ which is still active in some parts of the country in alliance with the drug lords.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 22:01 UTC

  Brazil with the lowest performance in the first half of 2012 among BRIC countries

  

  Russian GDP growth in percentage terms surpassed Brazil in the first half of the year and even if the market still prefers Brazil’s diverse economy over Russia, the South American country is now dead last in terms of economic growth in the big four emerging markets, BRIC.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 20:40 UTC

  Sweden will not extradite Assange if he faces death penalty in the US

  

  The Swedish government will not extradite Julian Assange to the US should he face the death penalty there, as any possible extradition request from Washington is then subject to strict conditions, an official from the country’s Justice Ministry.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 18:43 UTC

  Paraguay Electoral Tribunal officially announces April 2013 general election

  

  Paraguay officially announced holding elections on April 2013, when a new president and congress will be voted. The three branches of government attended the launching of the announcement that took place at the Superior Electoral Justice Tribunal on Tuesday, one day ahead of the OAS Permanent Council debate on “the Paraguayan situation”.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 05:21 UTC

  Ecuador ready for dialogue with UK, but with eyes on Friday’s OAS meeting

  

  The Ecuadorean government reiterated on Monday that dialogue with UK on the Julian Assange case will continue once London officially “withdraws” the original message with threats. Quito also is hopeful that the coming OAS extraordinary meeting will ratify full support for Ecuador as has happened with other regional organizations.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 04:27 UTC

  Brazil’s federal staff several months strike extends to the highways police

  

  The Brazilian highways patrol police in several states joined the national strike of federal workers that are protesting for higher salaries and better working conditions. The strike of the National Federation of Highway Police (Fenapre) was decided unanimously over the weekend effective Monday.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 02:56 UTC

  Argentina hosted 5.7m tourists in 2011; iconic names play a significant role

  

  Argentina has become the most visited country in South America with arrivals in 2011 reaching almost six million tourists, said Leonardo Boto head of the country’s National Tourism Promotion Institute, Improtur.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 02:25 UTC

  US Court rejects Argentina sovereign immunity argument; banks must show documents

  

  Argentina lost a bid on Monday to prevent bondholders from obtaining documents from two banks about the country's assets outside the United States. A three judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said in an opinion that the Argentine government could not prevent a lower court's order forcing the banks to produce the documents.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2012 - 02:02 UTC

  US accuses Assange of “wild assertions” and Ecuador of “sideshow” at OAS

  

  The Obama administration on Monday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of making “wild assertions” about US persecution to deflect attention from sex allegations he faces questioning for in Sweden.