Bolivia announced on Thursday, May first, that it had completed the purchase of majority ownership of four energy companies by buying back shares in the firms as part of a nationalization drive started exactly two years ago.
A group of independent United Nations experts have called for urgent measures to protect those defending human rights in Colombia, following a recent surge in violence that includes killings, harassment and intimidation of civil society activists, trade union leaders and lawyers representing victims.
A major power blackout hit almost 40% of Venezuela's territory and left Caracas in the dark for hours on Tuesday. Power was restored to most regions and Caracas by mid-evening. However a feeling of panic invaded Caracas because the transport system grounded to a halt and commuters had to walk through the crime-ridden city.
President Hugo Chávez threatened to expropriate Venezuela's largest steel maker, which is owned by an Argentine group, due to what he said are the soon-to-be-nationalized company's excessive compensation demands.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Monday that his government doesn't buy consciences. Uribe was responding to reporters' questions about a scandal involving a former Congresswoman Yidis Medina who claims that in return for political favors she voted for a measure in 2004 that enabled the president's reelection.
For the second year in a row, Chile was placed on the intellectual property priority watch list released Friday in the US Trade Representative (USTR) annual Special 301 report, which looks at intellectual property protection by US trading partners.
South American Economy ministers agreed in Montevideo on an initial credit turnover of 20 billion US dollars for the regional development Bank of the South as well as each country member's contribution and credit access.
The OAS, Organization of American States, has sent a top negotiator to Bolivia in an attempt to mediate between the administration of President Evo Morales and Santa Cruz province governor Ruben Costas, ahead of next Sunday's controversial autonomy referendum which could signal the beginning of the dismembering of the landlocked country.
Latin America's economy will grow at 4.7% in 2008 compared with 5.7% last year, the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Economic Commission, CEPAL, estimated this week, reaffirming growth targets trimmed in March.
Chile's Magallanes XII Region in the extreme south of the country looks to play an increasingly active role in Chile's 2.2 billion US dollars salmon industry as overcrowding and disease problems in Region X have producers looking south for greener pastures.