Cuban dissident on hunger strike to protest against the detention of 26 ailing political prisoners has said he is ready to die, a Mexican newspaper has reported. I am aware that I am in the last days of my life, Guillermo Fariñas told the Reforma newspaper.
A public opinion poll with the purpose of gauging support for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in the last days of her government, after the devastating earthquake, showed that her standing remains intact at 84%, like in February.
Chilean President elect Sebastián Piñera announced that once he takes office, the military forces displayed in the areas worst hit by the February 27 earthquake will be retained. He also anticipated that the “state of catastrophe” in a very selective manner will be enforced in all those areas which are in need.
It has been several years now since the Venezuelan government published official statistics on violence but according to a NGO that keeps records of crimes, last year 16.047 people were killed, compared to 14.800 in 2008 and 4.500 in 1998.
The Falkland Islands Government donated £ 5.000 to the Chile Earthquake Appeal Fund, which was opened by Chilean residents in the Islands to help victims of the earthquake that devastated central Chile.
Chilean Public Works Minister Sergio Bitar estimated that the reconstruction and reparation of sidewalks, airports, canals, and other infrastructure works will cost around 1.2 billion US dollars, after the earthquake that devastated the nation. The quake was an 8.8 on the Richter scale.
The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west, and shifted other parts of South America as far apart as the Falkland Islands and Fortaleza, Brazil according to a publication from the University of Ohio.
Around 10,000 volunteers in 400 locations across Chile united to raise funds for the earthquake stricken country over the weekend.
The Latinamerican economy is poised to expand 3% or more in 2010, the year that will signal the beginning of recovery for the region according to the Inter American Development Bank, (IDB), President Luis Alberto Moreno.
Ousted former Honduras President Manuel Zelaya has been appointed Head of a Political Council of Venezuelan energy consortium Petrocaribe which allows Caribbean and Central American nations to buy oil at a discount from Venezuela.