Latin America

• Monday, August 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Recall referendum opinion polls ratify Bolivian president

  

  Bolivian president Evo Morales is comfortably favored for ratification in the recall referendum of next August 10 with 59% support, according to the latest public opinion poll published Sunday in the capital La Paz main daily La Razón.

• Monday, August 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Growing resistance in Chile to salmon industry impacts

  

  Fed up with what they claim to be environmentally destructive practices by Chile's 2.2 billion US dollars farmed salmon industry, a group of local fishermen in far southern Chile's Region XI is set to launch an international boycott of Chilean farmed salmon.

• Saturday, August 2nd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela to help Bolivia boost natural gas production

  Bolivia with the help of Venezuela unveiled a plan to increase the country's natural gas reserves to supply energy thirsty neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. Bolivia has 48.7 trillion cubic feet of proven and probable natural gas reserves, the second-largest deposits in South America after Venezuela.

• Saturday, August 2nd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Spain and Chile plan largest wind farm in South America

  

  Chile and Spain will spend more than one billion US dollars to set up Latin America's largest wind farm in the South American country, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.

• Friday, August 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil try to mend fences following WTO talks

  Mercosur must do its utmost to find a common position and talk as an only voice said Brazil's Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim following the aftermath of the recent Doha round effort in Geneva where Brazil and Argentina stood on different sides.

• Friday, August 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  LAN Chile's profits up 7.4% in spite of rising cost of fuel

  

  Compared with this time last year, Chile-based LAN Airlines has seen a 7.4% increase in profits – despite the rising cost of gas, which accounts for 36% of the company's overall costs.

• Friday, August 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  FAO rescues Peruvian alpacas suffering from cold spell

  

  The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has provided urgently needed medical supplies to poor farmers in the Peruvian highlands whose livestock are suffering as a result of a severe unseasonable cold spell, known locally as “El friaje.”

• Friday, August 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Unemployment in Chile 8.5% but Magallanes 2.2%

  

  Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile remained during the second quarter as the region with the lowest unemployment according to the latest release from the country's Statistics Institute, INE.

• Friday, August 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile expands list of infectious salmon anemia outbreaks

  

  Chile's National Fishing Service (SERNAPESCA) has expanded its official list of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) outbreak sites yet again, adding four Region X fish farms in its latest fortnightly report. ISA is a highly contagious virus that can be lethal to fish but does not affect humans.

• Friday, August 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Banco Santander admits sale talks with Venezuelan gov.

  

  Spanish bank Santander, one of Europe's leading financial institutions admitted holding talks to sell the bank it owns in Venezuela to the government. The announcement comes a day after President Hugo Chavez said he wanted to nationalize the institution which operates as Banco de Venezuela and has been in the country for over a century.