Latin America

• Thursday, February 23rd 2012 - 04:25 UTC

  Doubts about Chavez true health condition re-surface as he leaves for surgery in Cuba

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez imminent departure for more cancer surgery in Cuba has thrown his re-election campaign into uncertainty and once again shaken the populist leader's passionate supporters.

• Thursday, February 23rd 2012 - 04:13 UTC

  LAN slashes Chile-South America fares to promote tourism and air travel

  

  Chile’s flag-carrier LAN announced that as of Wednesday it will cut Chile-South America fares as much as 40%. For years LAN has used what is known as the low-cost carrier model on its domestic flights, which has greatly reduced fares on its domestic flights and increased traffic.

• Wednesday, February 22nd 2012 - 17:33 UTC

  Brazil and Uruguay with the most expensive per capita Legislative branch

  

  Uruguay has the second most expensive per capita Legislative branch and also as a percentage of the government’s overall expenditure, although Uruguayan lawmakers earn half their best paid neighbours in Brazil, according to reports in the Montevideo press.

• Wednesday, February 22nd 2012 - 04:09 UTC

  Spain’s Ibero-America cooperation secretary arrives in Buenos Aires

  

  Spain’s Secretary of State for International Cooperation and Ibero-America Jesus Gracia begins Wednesday in Argentina his first trip to South America with the purpose of reviewing bilateral relations and reporting on the preparations for the coming Ibero-American summit to be held in Cadiz.

• Wednesday, February 22nd 2012 - 01:15 UTC

  Double medical check for MSC Armonia passengers and crew in Montevideo

  

  Passengers and crew from the Italian cruise vessel MSC Armonia had to undergo a medical check-up when they docked in Montevideo Tuesday morning following the death of a member of the crew who is believed to have caught a type of flu virus.

• Wednesday, February 22nd 2012 - 00:05 UTC

  Mines swept by heavy rainfall forces closure of Chile/Peru border passage

  

  A main border pass between Chile and Peru remains closed to all traffic because recent heavy rainfall and flooding have swept antipersonnel and anti-tank mines in the region, in some cases all the way to the Pacific, where beaches have been put out of limits.

• Tuesday, February 21st 2012 - 23:59 UTC

  President Chavez announces he has to undergo another operation

  

  Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez said on Tuesday he would have to undergo another operation after doctors in Cuba found a lesion in his pelvis where surgeons removed a large cancerous tumour last year.

• Tuesday, February 21st 2012 - 21:14 UTC

  Suspending Lan flight can only be seen as an “economic blockade” against the people of the Falklands

  

  British ambassador in Chile Jon Benjamin said that if Lan flights to the Falkland Islands from Chile are suspended this can only be interpreted as an “economic blockade” of the Islands and strongly suggested that the administration of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is trumpeting the Malvinas card pushed by “domestic interests”.

• Friday, February 17th 2012 - 18:45 UTC

  Ecuador highest-court ratifies ruling against the press; publisher granted asylum in Panama

  

  Panama on Thursday granted asylum to Ecuadorean newspaper publisher Carlos Perez, one of three executives facing prison after losing a libel suit seen as a key test of press freedoms in Ecuador.

• Thursday, February 16th 2012 - 20:51 UTC

  Sean Penn should return his Malibu estate to the Mexicans

  

  By Dr Tim Stanley - During his recent tour of Argentina and Uruguay as UN ambassador at large for Haiti made some unfortunate statements regarding the Falklands/Malvinas diplomatic dispute arguing that “It would be nothing short of bullying, to not sit down and diplomatically negotiate a fair sharing of any resources discovered between Argentina and the United Kingdom”.