Latin America

• Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - 05:57 UTC

  Argentine central bank has lost 17% of reserves since the ‘dollar clamp’

  

  Argentine central bank international reserves dropped 17% since the government of President Cristina Fernandez imposed the ‘dollar clamp`, first limiting operations in the US currency and later savings in greenbacks. While this happened in Argentina in other regional central banks, international reserves kept climbing, according to a report from consultants Economia&Regiones (E&R).

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:24 UTC

  Supreme Court Justice and anti-corruption champ has become symbol of Brazilian protests

  

  Joaquim Barbosa the black magistrate from Brazil’s Supreme Court and who won national acknowledgement as inflexible with corruption cases has become the preferred candidate for 2014 presidential elections by the thousands of protestors who took to the streets these last two weeks.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:22 UTC

  Three out of four Brazilians fed up with poor public services support street protests

  

  An overwhelming majority of Brazilians, 75% supports the two weeks street demonstrations demanding improved public services and complaining about the huge sums invested in stadiums for football world cups, according to a public opinion poll from Ibope and which was released in the latest edition of the weekly magazine Epoca.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:20 UTC

  Ecuador confirms Edward Snowden has formally requested for asylum

  

  Ecuador's foreign minister said his country was “analyzing” a request for asylum by fugitive US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden who is currently in Moscow

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:13 UTC

  LAN and TAM Airlines awarded as Best South American Airlines by Skytrax

  

  LAN Airlines and its affiliates and TAM Airlines, members of LATAM Airlines Group, were once again recognised as the Best Airlines in South America, receiving first and second place, respectively, according to World Airline Survey, conducted yearly by Skytrax, the prestigious English company dedicated to the world airline and airport industry.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:09 UTC

  Bolivia will hold double membership of Mercosur and the Andean Community

  

  Bolivia will join Mercosur without abandoning the Andean Community and will continue with negotiations for a cooperation and trade agreement with the European Union, announced in La Paz the Foreign ministers from Bolivia, David Choquehuanca and Luis Almagro from Uruguay which currently holds the group’s chair.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:07 UTC

  Paraguay not returning to Mercosur under current circumstances: demands compliance with rule of the law

  

  Suspended Paraguay will not return to Mercosur trampling on the institutions of the country or from the group, warned president-elect Horacio Cartes during an event at the Paraguay-US Chamber of Commerce. He emphasized that if there is no respect or abidance by the rule of the law, “we will remain as we are”.

• Saturday, June 22nd 2013 - 05:51 UTC

  Pacific Alliance in a “marketing success” and no concern for Mercosur, says Brazil

  

  The Pacific Alliance is a ‘marketing success’ and does not represent a concern for Mercosur since it does not have the potential for physical integration as other blocks from the region, said Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota during a congressional hearing this week in Brasilia.

• Saturday, June 22nd 2013 - 05:33 UTC

  Mercosur ‘good offices’ delegation in Paraguay to talk with president-elect Cartes

  

  Paraguayan president elect Horacio Cartes held a meeting on Friday at his home with former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos and the Ibero-American secretary general Enrique Iglesias to talk “about Mercosur issues and Paraguay’s suspension from the block”, according to sources close to the meeting.

• Thursday, June 20th 2013 - 05:48 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez admits defeat to the Supreme Court but promises to fight on

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández targeted the Supreme Court on Thursday after its recent ruling against the Council of Magistrates reform and warned that “Argentines will be able to democratically vote for all political branches sooner rather than later.”