Latin America

• Wednesday, August 25th 2010 - 04:13 UTC

  Catholic Church/Castro regime accord releases 32 political prisoners

  

  Cuba's Roman Catholic Church revealed Tuesday the names of six more political prisoners to be released into exile in Spain under an agreement with President Raul Castro's government, bringing the total to 32 so far.

• Wednesday, August 25th 2010 - 04:09 UTC

  Chilean trapped miners families file lawsuit against the state and mining company

  

  Families of 24 of the 33 Chilean trapped miners in the San José mine have filed a lawsuit against the state and the mining company, seeking compensation and justice.

• Tuesday, August 24th 2010 - 05:25 UTC

  US top official to visit Argentina, Uruguay and Chile

  

  United States Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale will travel to Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile August 24 - September 2, her first visit to the region since been nominated to the post.

• Tuesday, August 24th 2010 - 05:15 UTC

  Venezuela with one of the world’s highest murder rates, according to official data

  

  Venezuela registered 19,133 murders in 2009, which places the rate of homicides in the country at 75 for every 100,000 inhabitants, according to a study by the National Statistics Institute, or INE, cited Friday by the press.

• Tuesday, August 24th 2010 - 03:32 UTC

  Chilean Patagonia controversial dam project faces serious PR challenge

  

  Daniel Fernandez, the new top executive for the controversial 3.2 billion US dollars HidroAysen dam project proposed for Chilean Patagonia, confirmed Sunday that the effort to convince Chileans about the project’s importance has not gone well and that the company is consulting five PR firms to help improve their marketing effort.

• Monday, August 23rd 2010 - 22:09 UTC

  Brazil assures fearful Bolivia it will keep purchasing natural gas

  

  Brazilian government managed energy giant Petrobras said Bolivian natural gas will remain important for energy-hungry Brazil, where demand for that fuel is expected to triple over the next four years, Bolivian daily La Razon reported.

• Monday, August 23rd 2010 - 03:41 UTC

  Chile celebrates contact with trapped miners; rescue “will take months”

  

  Thirty-three miners who have been trapped underground in a northern Chile mine for the past 17 days are all alive, President Sebastian Piñera announced Sunday. Rescuers heard hammering noises when they sent a new probe into the mine.

• Sunday, August 22nd 2010 - 02:58 UTC

  Expanding Alliances in the 21st Century: The U.S. and Brazil Unite to Address Matters of National Security

  The recent signing of a new defense agreement between the Western hemisphere’s two dominant powers, Brazil and the United States, has brought about an important change to Latin America’s relations with the U.S. On April 12, 2010, Brazil took another step to enhance its geopolitical influence by signing the U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA).

• Saturday, August 21st 2010 - 15:22 UTC

  More government land to Cuban small farmers to help boost food production

  

  The Cuban government has awarded in usufruct over a million hectares to small farmers one of the main reforms promoted by President Raúl Castro to help the country’s economy recover from its deep recession and cut the huge imported food bill that conditions Cuban international reserves.

• Saturday, August 21st 2010 - 13:39 UTC

  Chile questioned over slow implementation of Indigenous Peoples convention

  

  International Labour Organization (ILO) Standards Director Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry is meeting in the Chilean city of Temuco this week with Araucanía Region (IX) officials to discuss the lack of progress in implementing the ILO’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.