Ecuador's President Rafael Correa claimed on Sunday evening a historic victory in a referendum to give him new powers after exit polls said he easily won with 63 to 66% of the vote. Speaking from Guayaquil, an opposition stronghold, a jubilant Mr Correa said his constitutional reform proposals had been approved across the country.
The Chilean cruise vessel Antarctic Dream is expected back in Punta Arenas next October 12 after having completed her first northern hemisphere summer season sailing in the Arctic.
Ibero-America Secretary General Enrique Iglesias said Latinamerica feels somehow frustrated because it is a victim, not an actor of the current global financial crisis, which sooner or later will reach the region.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is expected to win a constitutional referendum vote next Sunday to accelerate sweeping economic reforms to limit the private sector and expand the Executive control of the oil-exporting country's economy
The sister of an Anglo-Chilean Catholic priest Miguel Woodward, who disappeared in 1973 in Valparaiso after having been held captive in a naval school vessel, called on the Chilean Navy to assume responsibilities for human rights abuses committed during the military regime (1973/1990).
Presidents and representatives from the Union of South American Nations, Unasur agreed on the creation of a committee to investigate recent peasant massacres in the Bolivian province of Pando.
Chile's Free Competition tribunal ruled that legislation allowing the reimbursement of VAT (value added tax) only to foreign cruise companies was discriminatory for the domestic cruise industry.
China and Venezuela signed on Wednesday in Beijing a wide range of agreements to boost trade, energy cooperation and agriculture and in other fields. The agreements were signed by Chinese Vice Premier Li Kegiang and visiting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Uruguay's winter crops area has increased 49% over a year ago totaling 593.000 hectares (399.000) according to the country's Agriculture Ministry Statistics Office, DIEA-MGAP.
A fleet of Russian warships is heading to Venezuelan waters for joint naval war games in November, the biggest since the end of the Cold War. The fleet left its base at Severomorosk in the Arctic and is headed by a nuclear powered cruiser.