Latin America

• Monday, June 15th 2009 - 13:22 UTC

  Peru celebrates 110th anniversary of Japanese immigration

  

  Japan’s Prince Hitachi began an official visit to Peru this weekend to take part in the 110th anniversary celebrations for Japanese immigration to Peru.

• Monday, June 15th 2009 - 12:59 UTC

  Peruvian president supports cabinet and admits mistakes

  

  Peruvian president Alan García gave his full support to cabinet chief Yehude Simon and Interior minister Mercedes Cabanillas, whom the opposition are demanding they resign because of the violent clashes with indigenous communities which left over 50 dead (half of them policemen) in the Amazonia province.

• Monday, June 15th 2009 - 07:45 UTC

  Cuban Oil: Havana’s Potential Geo-Political Bombshell

  

  As the US President Barack Obama administration slowly inches towards normalizing its relations with Cuba, pressure is mounting on the new president to lift the decades-old, and universally acknowledged, anachronistic embargo.

• Saturday, June 13th 2009 - 06:11 UTC

  US Congress offers support for Peruvian Amazonia land disputes

  

  The United States Government and Congress will support Peru in finding a solution through dialogue, with indigenous communities regarding the improvement of the Forestry and Wildlife Law, which is essential for the for the implementation of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) reported Friday.

• Friday, June 12th 2009 - 21:43 UTC

  Payments to Chilean businesses in Venezuela delayed

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has rescheduled his visit to Chile yet again, amidst growing tensions related to his country’s failure to make timely payments to 52 Chilean businesses – a sum amounting to more than 80 million US dollars.

• Friday, June 12th 2009 - 18:15 UTC

  Clearing the Amazon for cattle and soy a “boom-bust cycle”

  

  Cutting down Amazon forest for cattle and soy does not bring long-term economic progress, researchers say. A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed.

• Friday, June 12th 2009 - 18:08 UTC

  Lack of snow postpones beginning of Chile’s ski season

  

  Ski addicts will have to wait a little longer this year before they can begin gliding down Chilean slopes. Although ski resorts were set to open this week, the lack of precipitation - and consequently of snow – has forced ski resorts to postpone their openings until at least the end of June.

• Friday, June 12th 2009 - 17:44 UTC

  Lan Chile changing the controversial speed sensors of its Airbus fleet

  

  Chile’s flag carrier began changing the airspeed sensors in all its Airbus planes following on the steps of Air France’s decision as a consequence of the loss of flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board.

• Friday, June 12th 2009 - 17:23 UTC

  Ecuador celebrates sovereign “defaulted” bonds repurchase

  

  Ecuador announced Thursday it had bought back 91% of its “defaulted” bonds via an international auction with drastic rebates of 65% to 70%. The amount involved in the operation was 3.37 billion US dollars.

• Thursday, June 11th 2009 - 09:05 UTC

  Latinamerica forecasted to contact 1.7% with mild recovery at end of 2009

  

  Latinamerica will experience this year a 1.7% contraction (negative growth), the first time since 2002, basically because of a severe fall in global trade and remittances according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latinamerica and the Caribbean, CEPAL.