Construction activity increased for the first time since December 2008, according to the Monthly Construction Activity Index (Imacon) released by the Chilean Chamber of Construction this week. The Index shows an increase of 1.4% from March 2009 to March 2010, reflecting a rise in employment and demand.
Chile’s president Sebastian Piñera has a busy schedule planned for the upcoming Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit scheduled for Madrid early next week. Piñera will use the opportunity to explain exactly what he wants to do with his four years of presidency.
The Chilean territory expanded 1.2 square kilometres into the Pacific following the February earthquake that ravaged the centre and south of the country, according to Sergio Barrientos, head of the University of Chile Seismologic Institute.
Argentine Secretary of Tourism said Enrique Meyer said that Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay are angry with Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's latest project, a film focusing on a border region, shared by the three countries and thought to be a centre for smuggling and terror financing.
Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Moreno Charme said he does not see an “arms race” in the continent and suggested following the Argentine–Chilean experience of “homologating military expenditure”.
An investigation by the World Bank and Chile’s Health Ministry confirmed large discrepancies between the public and private health sectors.
Latin America has “some of the highest criminality rates in the world” and for the first time in decades delinquency has replaced unemployment as the main concern of the population, according to a report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released this week.
A former Venezuelan defence minister who has become a staunch critic of President Hugo Chávez was sentenced to almost eight years in prison for alleged misappropriation of funds in connection with the purchase of military equipment.
Chilean Foreign Minister, Alfredo Moreno, said that Chile will maintain a position “in favour of conservation and against whaling,” and that Chilean Ambassador Cristián Maquieira, though he now chairs the International Whaling Commission, “is not the person who represents Chile” in this forum.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) agreed over the week end to boost defence expending transparency to ensure regional stability which, according to Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador is threatened by a controversial military agreement between United States and Colombia.