Latin America

• Wednesday, March 31st 2010 - 02:15 UTC

  Bolivia denies modernizing the Army “to provoke” neighbouring Paraguay

  

  Bolivian president Evo Morales strongly denied Tuesday that furnishing new equipment to the Armed Forces was directed to provoke neighbouring Paraguay and accused his opponents to take advantage of the situation to confront the two countries.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 23:00 UTC

  Quake impact leaves Chilean farmers short of storage, cooling and irrigation

  

  Chile’s annual fall harvest season continues apace, notwithstanding earthquake damage to Chile's roads, irrigation systems, electric grid, packing houses, and other infrastructure.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 22:48 UTC

  Senator McCain calls for troops to be deployed along Mexican border

  

  The influential US Senator John McCain from Arizona sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano calling for the deployment of National Guard troops along the “southern border region” between the US and Mexico to help counter the growing violence from the drug cartels.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 04:48 UTC

  Chavez announces the discovery of a “super well” of natural gas

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the discovery of a “super well” that shows an offshore field holds almost twice as much natural gas as originally estimated.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 04:44 UTC

  Bolivia’s Morales expects to consolidate provincial power in Sunday’s election

  

  Bolivia is in the last leg ahead of next Sunday’s governor election when president Evo Morales expects his party to keep control over seven of the nine provinces in dispute while the opposition will try to gain lost ground in recent votes.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 04:39 UTC

  Ideologue of “Chavez revolution” abandons “petty Bolivarian bourgeois” party

  

  Venezuelan retired General Alberto Müller Rojas considered one of the ideologists of President Hugo Chavez “revolution” announced he was retiring from politics because the current Venezuelan “revolutionary process” is in a dreadful state.

• Monday, March 29th 2010 - 18:52 UTC

  President Piñera’s Brother Will Dance For A Dream in Argentina

  

  Previously described as “a night club owner, musician, and notorious party animal” by Foreign Policy magazine, Miguel Piñera is taking steps to establish his career as a musician — conveniently outside the country where his brother is president.

• Monday, March 29th 2010 - 18:30 UTC

  Solar power project to refine Chilean copper

  

  Codelco, Chile’s nationally-owned copper company and one of the world’s largest, announced last week a plan to outfit some of their mines with solar power over the next few years, a move expected to save millions of dollars in energy costs.

• Monday, March 29th 2010 - 04:31 UTC

  Bicentennial Regatta largest display of naval tall ships in Punta Arenas

  

  The Bicentennial Regatta arrived over the weekend to Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile after having crossed the Strait of Magellan.

• Monday, March 29th 2010 - 00:42 UTC

  Punta Arenas promotes Patagonia among Brazil’s Japanese community

  

  A delegation of Brazilian-Japanese tour operators and tourism agencies spent a week in Punta Arenas, guests of Chile’s Tourism Office with the purpose of promoting Chilean Patagonia among the strong and high income Asian community in Brazil.