Latin America

• Saturday, April 20th 2013 - 08:39 UTC

  US hedge funds reject Argentina’s offer to settle defaulted sovereign bonds suit

  

  Two US hedge funds suing Argentina for full payment on defaulted bonds rejected on Friday, President Cristina Fernandez government offer to settle the suit with a deal that would give them approximately 25% of what they were seeking.

• Saturday, April 20th 2013 - 08:32 UTC

  Argentines expecting inflation above 30% for the next twelve months

  

  Argentines are expecting an inflation of 34.2% in the coming twelve months according to the average from a monthly report released by a prestigious private university research centre based on surveys,

• Saturday, April 20th 2013 - 08:19 UTC

  Maduro takes office as first ‘Chavista’ president; in massive parade military swear allegiance

  

  When the last tanks rumbled past and the massive civil-military parade with display of state of the art missile launchers had come to an end in early Friday night of Caracas, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro could sigh in relief because his last twenty four hours had been really hectic.

• Saturday, April 20th 2013 - 05:56 UTC

  Brazil slams US and Europe for delaying promised reforms in the IMF

  

  Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega slammed the United States and Europe for repeatedly delaying reforms of their dominated shareholding and voting power in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 13:17 UTC

  With the support of Unasur and a vote-audit promise, Maduro takes the oath of office

  

  President-elect Nicolas Maduro was set to be inaugurated in Venezuela Friday as election officials moved to defuse a political crisis by yielding to demands for an audit of the electronic votes of the results in Sunday's bitterly contested elections.

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 06:37 UTC

  Electoral council extends auditing to all Sunday votes; Capriles accepts

  

  Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, CNE said on Thursday it would audit votes cast in weekend presidential elections after an opposition challenge to the victory accorded to President-elect Nicolas Maduro.

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 05:03 UTC

  Two million Argentines across the country join the biggest anti-government protest in years

  

  Almost two million Argentines marched on Thursday evening across the country’s cities and towns in one of the biggest anti-government protests in years highlighting public anger over a deteriorating economy, corruption, street crime and President Cristina Fernandez efforts to reform the media, the courts and the constitution so she can bid for a third consecutive four year mandate.

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 03:14 UTC

  May peace prevail: Cristina and Mujica fly together to Peru on Tango 01

  

  Sooner than expected Argentine President Cristina Fernandez seems to have accepted her Uruguayan peer Jose Mujica’s apologies following his coarse words: “this old lady is worse than the one-eyed man” to refer to the Argentine leader and her late husband Nestor Kirchner.

• Thursday, April 18th 2013 - 21:39 UTC

  “Democracy in Paraguay is here to stay: Mercosur and Unasur have become irrelevant”

  

  “We’re optimistic about Sunday’s election and the future of Paraguay if we can agree on long term state policies, but something is for certain: democracy in Paraguay is here to stay” said Ricardo Caballero Aquino, Chargé d’affaires of the Paraguayan embassy in Montevideo who was also positive about future relations with Unasur and Mercosur.

• Thursday, April 18th 2013 - 16:51 UTC

  Brazil increases benchmark rate to fight inflation, but markets feel it’s not enough

  

  Brazil’s central bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark rate for the first time since July 2011 as policy makers seek to slow inflation levels. The bank’s board, led by President Alexandre Tombini, voted 6-to-2 to increase the Selic rate 25 basis points to 7.50% from a record low.