Ecuador will not change its offer to buy back 3.2 billion of defaulted debt at a sharp discount (70%), and appealed to investors to be mindful of its economic problems, Finance Minister Elsa Viteri said in a letter to bondholders, according to press reports from Quito.
Representatives from eleven countries participated in the opening ceremony of UNITAS Gold on the 50th iteration of the annual multinational maritime exercise which takes place off the coast of Florida until May 5.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is poised to easily win re-election on Sunday, according to the latest public opinion polls which show he has about 50% support and way ahead of his seven rivals.
Chile's GDP will likely grow a marginal 0.1% on the year in 2009, recovering to a 3% in 2010, said the International Monetary Fund in its April World Economic Outlook released Wednesday. The IMF outlook is more optimistic than local analysts' outlook who forecast the Chilean economy will contract 0.5% this year.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Cuban President Raul Castro’s current regime “is ending” and that the US must prepare to deal with a new reality on the island.
Leading multilateral development banks announced Wednesday they will increase their support to Latin America and the Caribbean by providing as much as 90 billion US dollars during the next two years in a joint effort to spur economic growth in the region by coordinating their crisis response initiatives.
The World Bank believes that the IMF growth prospects for Latinamerica are “too pessimistic” and anticipates the region will suffer a milder contraction 0.6%, compared to the 1.5% forecasted by the April World Economic Outlook which IMF released Wednesday.
A Venezuelan court has ordered the arrest of exiled opposition leader Manuel Rosales on corruption charges and asked Interpol to detain him after he left for Peru, according to the Venezuelan state television.
A criminal probe has been opened into the death of 21 polo horses that died over the weekend during preparations for a match of the sport’s top championship in Wellington, Florida. An investigation has first to determine whether they died from a toxin, a virus, drugs reaction, a contagious disease or a combination of any of the open options.
Peru’s Foreign Affairs minister José Antonio García Belaúnde, confirmed on Tuesday that Manuel Rosales, the mayor of Maracaibo, and one of the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition, is in Lima, capital of Peru supposedly seeking asymlum.