Latin America

• Wednesday, April 8th 2009 - 05:58 UTC

  Peru’s Fujimori convicted to 25 years in prison for human rights crimes

  

  A three-judge panel of Peru’s Supreme Court convicted former president Alberto Fujimori of human rights crimes committed by his government's security forces in the 1990s. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of murder and kidnapping.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2009 - 05:21 UTC

  Fidel Castro meets with three US members of Congress

  

  Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has held a meeting with three members of the US House of Representatives. The event was his first known meeting with US officials since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery in 2006.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2009 - 01:14 UTC

  Illex squid ‘no show’ for Falklands zones

  

  The Illex fishery has been a “no show” for Falkland Islands zones so far this year, confirmed Director of Fisheries John Barton.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2009 - 01:10 UTC

  Magallanes gas production reaches one million cubic metres per day

  

  Oil and gas company Geopark which operates in the extreme south of Chile announced this week it had reached a daily extraction of a million cubic metres of natural gas, equivalent to 20% of Chilean production, making her the country’s largest private producer.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2009 - 00:30 UTC

  Huge mining project will turn Magallanes into Chile’s “coal region”

  

  A huge project involving 300 million US dollars for the exploitation of coal deposits in the extreme south Chilean Magallanes Region was officially presented in Punta Arenas this week by Energy Minister Marcelo Tokman and top officials from the two companies involved in the project.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2009 - 12:49 UTC

  Venezuelan and Japan leaders agree to deepen ties

  

  Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed Monday to deepen ties in energy, investment and trade, with Japanese companies ready to participate in gas and crude production in the Latin American country.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2009 - 12:23 UTC

  Latam: Chile Leads In Technology

  

  For the second year in a row, Chile leads in information and communication technology development in Latin America, according to the most recent report from the World Economic Forum.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2009 - 11:58 UTC

  First face-to-face talks of Raul Castro with US Congress members

  

  Cuban president Raul Castro has held talks with members of Congress in his first face-to-face meeting with US politicians since he became president last year. State television showed Mr Castro talking to members of the delegation, which is in Havana to explore ways of improving US-Cuban relations.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2009 - 11:34 UTC

  Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador sign defence accord

  

  Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador signed Monday in Asuncion an agreement for cooperation in security matters which not only involves “associating” for the procurement of equipment, but defence of sovereignty and territorial integrity and preannouncement of military exercises.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2009 - 09:28 UTC

  Insecurity helping to push farmland prices in Paraguay down

  

  The prize of farmland in Paraguay has fallen significantly because of insecurity and the slide in international prices for oil seeds, mainly soybeans, according to a report from the head of the Agronomy Department at the University of Asunción, Ricardo Garay.