Latin America

• Wednesday, October 7th 2009 - 05:53 UTC

  Unasur agrees to create a council to combat drugs’ trade

  

  Security ministers from the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, agreed to the creation of a South American Council to Combat Drugs Trafficking, announced Bolivia’s Home Secretary in an official release from La Paz.

• Wednesday, October 7th 2009 - 05:46 UTC

  The only “problem” for a solution in Honduras is Micheletti, says Lula da Silva

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva said Honduras's interim government is illegitimate, and called for de facto president Roberto Micheletti and his administration to step down.

• Tuesday, October 6th 2009 - 23:52 UTC

  Chile supermarket industry booming: one new store every three days

  

  Chilean supermarket chain owners –mainly Wall-Mart, Cencosud, Unimarc and Supermercados del Sur –are planning the construction of 125 new supermarkets in 2010--an average of one new store every three days. This will be a 12.5% increase to the current 1,003 supermarkets in the country.

• Tuesday, October 6th 2009 - 23:12 UTC

  The UN and the OAS: There is a choice to be made

  

  (*) The current crisis in Honduras could have a profound impact on the future of Central American institutions. As hemispheric players invest their prestige and political clout in the final outcome of the standoff between ousted constitutional President Manuel Zelaya and de facto Interim President Roberto Micheletti, it is apparent that the OAS is showing its profound limitations once again, as has often been the case in the past.

• Tuesday, October 6th 2009 - 11:48 UTC

  Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, best places to live in South America, says UN

  

  In a report released Monday, the United Nations Human development index ranks Norway as the best place in the world to live. Factors such as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment, health system and GDP help determine these rankings.

• Tuesday, October 6th 2009 - 11:46 UTC

  Latinamerica’s recovery “very slow” and with “rising unemployment”

  

  Latinamerica’s recovery will be very show while unemployment keeps a rising tendency, warned on Monday Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary for the United Nations Latinamerica and Caribbean Economic Commission, Cepal.

• Tuesday, October 6th 2009 - 11:29 UTC

  Torres del Paine Park officials get tough: ticket increase and stricter access

  

  Foreign tourists visiting the world famous Torres del Paine national park in Chilean Patagonia will have to pay a 15.000 Chilean pesos ticket, (approx 30 US dollars) each time they walk into the grounds. The fee for local guides and transport staff is 4.000 Chilean pesos (8 USD).

• Tuesday, October 6th 2009 - 06:49 UTC

  Micheletti lifts emergency decree; IMF promises aid to Zelaya

  

  Honduras' de facto leader Roberto Micheletti lifted Monday an emergency decree that suspended some civil liberties and shut two media outlets loyal to ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Micheletti had come under pressure to end the emergency measures as the Organization of American States, OAS, tried to negotiate an end to a crisis triggered when Zelaya was toppled in a June coup.

• Monday, October 5th 2009 - 13:50 UTC

  Micheletti admits it was “a mistake” the way Zelaya was ousted

  

  Honduran de facto president Roberto Micheletti admitted that the way elected President Manuel Zelaya was ousted by the military last June 28th and flown out of the country, “was a mistake”.

• Monday, October 5th 2009 - 13:41 UTC

  Unesco safeguard for Andean Aymara cultural heritage

  

  Unesco’s support for the project to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of the Aymara communities of Bolivia, Chile and Peru should be seen as an example for Latinamerica, according to Peruvian anthropologist Soledad Mujica.