Latin America

• Tuesday, September 28th 2010 - 20:55 UTC

  Fidel: great victory for Chavez; the ‘empire’ is after Venezuela’s oil

  

  The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro described last Sunday’s legislative elections in Venezuela as a clear victory for the Bolivarian Revolution and its leader, Hugo Chavez.

• Tuesday, September 28th 2010 - 05:07 UTC

  Unasur chairman Kirchner condemns FARC and its ‘pre-Cold War’ attitude

  

  UNASUR (Union of South American nations) Secretary General Nestor Kirchner currently in New York with the Argentine delegation for the United Nations General Assembly, said that the Colombian guerrilla FARC “are so back in time, that they are even far behind the Cold War”

• Tuesday, September 28th 2010 - 04:52 UTC

  Spain presents draconian budget with unemployment remaining above 19%

  

  Spain presented a tough 2011 budget, deepening an austerity drive and taxing the rich more heavily as it seeks to boost confidence in a fragile economy ahead of a general strike.

• Tuesday, September 28th 2010 - 04:46 UTC

  Chilean Air Force begins to receive 18 refurbished f-16 fighters

  

  This week Holland will be delivering 18 refurbished F-16 fighter bombers to the Chilean Air Force. The Dutch Defence ministry said the ceremony will take place at the Leeuwarden base when Lex Hendrichs, head of Dutch Defence Material will be symbolically handing his Chilean peer Jorge Rojas a scale model of the US manufactured aircraft.

• Tuesday, September 28th 2010 - 01:51 UTC

  IMF mandatory surveillance of 25 countries, 90% of the world financial system

  

  The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved making financial stability assessments under the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) a regular and mandatory part of the Fund’s surveillance for members with systemically important financial sectors.

• Tuesday, September 28th 2010 - 00:59 UTC

  Plans to farm Patagonian toothfish in the extreme south of Chile

  

  The University of Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile have developed an innovative project to start farming Patagonian toothfish or Chilean sea bass (Dissostichus eleginoides) in the region.

• Monday, September 27th 2010 - 14:48 UTC

  Chavez looses two thirds majority in Congress, but remains leading figure

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suffered a serious setback last Sunday when he lost his two-thirds majority in the National Assembly reflecting increasing disenchantment with the charismatic leader and his administration’s failures and pose a great challenge for his 2012 re-election aspirations.

• Saturday, September 25th 2010 - 04:57 UTC

  Chilean government cornered by Day 75 of Mapuche hunger strike

  

  There is no resolution in sight for the Chilean indigenous Mapuche hunger strike. On Day 75, the health of the 34 prisoners is in danger. Eight have been hospitalized, with one needing surgery for appendicitis.

• Friday, September 24th 2010 - 07:07 UTC

  Venezuela’s Communes: Not as Radical as You Might Think

  by COHA Research Associate Geoff LeGrand - Under President Hugo Chávez, Venezuela has been no stranger to controversy. However, one of Chávez’s proposals has evoked particularly strong emotions – the establishment of socialist communes (comunas socialistas) throughout the country. The proposed commune law (ley orgánica de las comunas) would further expand and institutionalize Venezuela’s system of communal councils – local municipal governing bodies that are ruled by neighborhood leaders using state funds to finance social projects in their communities.

• Friday, September 24th 2010 - 03:15 UTC

  Research lab in extreme south Chile “cautious” about recovery of the ozone layer

  

  Last September 17 and for two days the ozone layer hole recorded a minor event over the city of Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile, although not sufficiently weak as to have recorded an increase in potentially dangerous ultraviolet radiation.