Latin America

Thursday, November 26th 2009 - 13:25 UTC
Cuba launches “Bastion-2009” preparing for “future US attack”

Half a century after a failed US-supported invasion of Cuba, the country announced it is holding a military exercise to boost preparedness against any future US attack. The official newspaper Granma said that the “Bastion-2009” exercises will “raise the deterrent capacity to prevent a military confrontation, under the principle that there is no better way to win a war than by avoiding it.”
Thursday, November 26th 2009 - 13:19 UTC
Venezuelan militias openly support Colombian guerrillas, claims Bogotá

Colombian guerrillas are acting in border areas next to Venezuelan military forces according to a report from Colombia’s ombudsman released this week. The report also indicates that at least 7.000 Colombians have returned from Venezuela in the last two months as a direct consequence of the bilateral crisis.
Thursday, November 26th 2009 - 13:12 UTC
Sturgeon and caviar could replace “king salmon” in Chile’s aquaculture

“King salmon” which for many years helped prop the Chilean economy could be coming to an end. Last November 15, following fifteen years of failed tests, finally white sturgeons were procreated in captivity for the first time in Chile.
Thursday, November 26th 2009 - 05:28 UTC
Future algae bio-fuel production confirmed in southern Chile

United States corporation Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) has founded a subsidiary, BAL Chile, through which the company has already begun cultivating 100 hectares of seaweed on the island of Chiloé, with the aim of producing bio-fuel.
Wednesday, November 25th 2009 - 11:00 UTC
Argentina’s recovery will lag other regional countries, forecasts Roubini

Argentina's economy will lag other countries in the region, expanding between 2% and 2.5% next year and recovery will be “much slower” in the post 2008 crisis than in previous years when the country got used to rates of 6% to 7%, said economist Nouriel Roubini.
Wednesday, November 25th 2009 - 10:07 UTC
Venezuela’s Chavez steps up program to confiscate “idle land”

Venezuela’s Landholdings Institute and the National Guard occupied in the last few days at least 31 farms in different states including one belonging to opposition leader Manuel Rosales, currently exiled in Peru.
Wednesday, November 25th 2009 - 05:41 UTC
Peru proposes a South American “peace force” to contain regional conflicts

Peru will propose the creation of a South American “Peace Force” next Friday in Ecuador when the meeting of the Union of South American Nations Defence Council, announced Peruvian Production minister Mercedes Araoz following a meeting in Montevideo with Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez.
Wednesday, November 25th 2009 - 04:42 UTC
Colombia/Ecuador re-establish trade relations after 21 months

Ecuador and Colombia formally established this week ties at trade representation level, official sources said in Quito and Bogotá. The two governments announced that “full normalization” will take place when the so called “sensitive” issues have been addressed and solved.
Tuesday, November 24th 2009 - 07:42 UTC
Bolivian Jews concerned with Iranian president’s visit

The Bolivian Jewish community has expressed concern over the coming visit this Tuesday of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadineyad who is scheduled to meet with his Bolivian peer Evo Morales, as part of a several days visit to South America and Africa.
Tuesday, November 24th 2009 - 03:58 UTC
Blasting report on human rights: “New Castro, Same Cuba”

Cuban president Raúl Castro's government has locked up scores of people for exercising their fundamental freedoms and allowed scores more political prisoners, arrested during Fidel Castro's rule, to languish in detention, Human Rights Watch says in a report released this week. Rather than dismantle Cuba's repressive machinery, Raúl Castro has kept it firmly in place and fully active, the report says.