Latin America

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 13:15 UTC

  Chilean presidential candidate triggers controversy over human rights trials

  

  Conservative presidential candidate Sebastían Piñera on Thursday defended comments he made Tuesday to a meeting of retired, Pinochet-era military and police officials. Piñera pledged his government would put an end to human rights cases that “never end” if he succeeds in his bid for office.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 13:11 UTC

  Brazil wants a Colombia/Venezuela border commission to ease tensions

  

  Brazil will be proposing to Colombia and Venezuela the creation of border vigilance commission as the first step to cool tensions between the two neighbouring countries, reported the government’s official news agency.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 13:05 UTC

  Chile ready to begin pumping natural gas into Argentina

  

  The Chilean government set up the legal framework allowing the export of re-gasified natural gas to Argentina over existing gas pipelines, as well as to other countries of the region following the inauguration of facilities in central Chile, reports Santiago’s La Tercera.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 05:31 UTC

  Chilean Congress votes to create an Environmental Ministry

  

  Chile’s Senate voted early this week to create an Environmental Ministry, a milestone in Chilean environmental policy. The bill, first introduced in 2008, has been subject to considerable controversy from both supporters and opponents.

• Friday, November 13th 2009 - 15:27 UTC

  Frei and Piñera expected to face-off in Chilean presidential run off

  

  With only a month remaining before Chileans cast their votes Dec. 13 to elect their next president, one of the nation’s most important polls showed the race tightening, but with the two front-runners -rightist billionaire Sebastian Piñera and centrist Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei - holding on to their leads.

• Friday, November 13th 2009 - 08:18 UTC

  Buenos Aires “picket-city”: 340 street protests per month

  

  Since September last year the government of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has faced 7.658 street protests and blocked routes, which is 68% more than the 4.451which took place during the four years mandate of her predecessor in the job and husband, Nestor Kirchner. This works out at an average 340 monthly street protests since Mrs. Kirchner took office in December 2007.

• Friday, November 13th 2009 - 04:55 UTC

  Mexican tycoon and drug-lord make it to Forbes most powerful list

  

  Mexico made it to the Forbes list of the 67 most powerful in the world with two names: one of them a legitimate businessman linked to telecommunication with an international reputation, the other a notorious drug lord with a reward on his head.

• Friday, November 13th 2009 - 04:35 UTC

  Colombia takes Chavez “war threats” to the UN Security Council

  

  Colombia has taken its case with threats of war from neighbouring Venezuela to the United Nations Security Council after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told his army to get ready to fight.

• Friday, November 13th 2009 - 01:23 UTC

  Cuba drastically slashes “farm bureaucracy” to boost food production

  

  One of the major ills of Cuba’s state-run agricultural enterprises is “the excess of non-productive personnel,” Communist Party daily Granma said this week. The newspaper estimated the number of redundant employees in the state farming sector at 89,000, or 26% of the total.

• Friday, November 13th 2009 - 01:02 UTC

  Honduras US Supreme Court deliberates on Zelaya’s reinstatement

  

  The Honduras Supreme Court begun to consider late Wednesday if ousted President Manuel Zelaya should or should not be reinstated, a crucial step in the process to help overcome the four-month political crisis that has virtually paralyzed the Central American country.