Latin America

• Monday, March 22nd 2010 - 20:53 UTC

  IDB agrees to 70 billion USD capital increase and condones Haiti’s debt

  

  The Inter American Development Bank’s (IDB) board agreed to a 70 billion US dollars capital increase, an amount that should allow the organization to lend 12 billion a year, bank President Luis Alberto Moreno said during the annual meeting in Mexico.

• Saturday, March 20th 2010 - 04:05 UTC

  Letter to Lula da Silva: “Cuba no longer a symbol, no longer a taboo”

  

  Brazil and the community of Latin American countries are the only ones with the ability to influence the Cuban government’s position on human rights and media freedom, says a letter addressed to Brazilian president Lula da Silva by Reporters Without Borders.

• Saturday, March 20th 2010 - 01:42 UTC

  Latinamerica left out of Denmark’s aid and development programs

  

  Denmark’s Minister of Development and Cooperation Sören Pind announced Friday that Latinamerica would be eliminated from the Danish International Development Agency economic aid programs, which in 2008 totalled almost 100 million US dollars concentrated in “vulnerable and fragile” zones.

• Saturday, March 20th 2010 - 01:13 UTC

  Insulza re-election as OAS Secretary General is “almost certain”

  

  With less than a week for the election of a new Organization of American States Secretary General, OAS, international analysts consider as “almost certain” the re-election of Chile’s Jose Miguel Insulza, although they do not discard a last minute “artificial” or protest candidate.

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 11:10 UTC

  Chile considers increasing mining royalty to help earthquake reconstruction

  

  Marking a break from established policy, the Chilean government is considering the opposition’s proposal to increase the mining royalty tax. Government ministers are currently studying the implications of a tax increase, the money from which would be used to aid in earthquake reconstruction.

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 03:40 UTC

  Haiti reconstruction bill estimated in 11.5 billion USD

  

  Haiti will need 11.5 billion US dollars to rebuild after the devastating earthquake in January, the country's government estimates. The amount is a rough estimate of money required for a complete overhaul of the impoverished country, officials say.

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 02:31 UTC

  EP president condemns arrest of Cuban political prisoners’ women relatives

  

  The president of the European Parliament has sharply condemned Cuba for arresting a group of women, all of them relatives of political prisoners, who were demonstrating in Havana on Wednesday.

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 01:27 UTC

  Relatives of quake victims suing Chile for absence of tsunami warning

  

  Relatives of two sisters who died in the Feb. 27 tsunami are suing Chilean government agencies they claim are responsible for the absence of an adequate tsunami warning.

• Thursday, March 18th 2010 - 21:30 UTC

  Chile’s quake death toll, 700 and economic damage: 18% of GDP

  

  The Chilean government has updated the death toll from the Feb. 27 earthquake, saying 700 people lost their lives during or following the quake. Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said just over 500 are confirmed dead, with another 200 missing.

• Thursday, March 18th 2010 - 21:26 UTC

  Piñera’s first international visit Washington, next month

  

  Chile’s new president Sebastián Piñera will make his first international visit next month when he attends the Nuclear Safety Summit in Washington, responding to an invitation from U.S. President Barack Obama.