Latin America

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 06:36 UTC

  Arriving tourists to September in Chile up 15-9% and total over 2.5 million

  

  The number of tourist arrivals in Chile increased 15.9% in the first nine months of the year (Jan/September) totalling 2.565.525, according to the Federation of Tourism Enterprises, which represents “an excellent accumulated growth”.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 06:32 UTC

  Chilean Antarctic bases expect to host 250 scientists and over 50 projects

  

  An estimated 250 scientists from several countries will be working at Chile’s Antarctic bases during the austral summer (December 21/March 21) in different projects such as global warming and climate change, reported the Chilean Antarctic Institute, INACH, based in Punta Arenas.

• Tuesday, December 18th 2012 - 22:18 UTC

  UK names southern part of British Antarctic Territory “Queen Elizabeth Land”

  

  The Foreign Secretary announced on Tuesday that the southern part of British Antarctic Territory has been named Queen Elizabeth Land.

• Tuesday, December 18th 2012 - 03:56 UTC

  IMF board to consider Argentina’s stats case at the end of January

  

  The board of directors of the International Monetary Fund will again meet at the end of January to debate Argentina’s improvement in the quality of its official economic index, IMF spokesman announced on Monday.

• Tuesday, December 18th 2012 - 03:32 UTC

  EU and OAS agree to support peace project in Guatemala/Belize conflict

  

  The Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union signed an agreement to support the Peace Fund project, Implementation of Confidence Building Measures in the Adjacency Zone between Commonwealth member Belize and Guatemala, managed by the hemispheric organization.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 21:15 UTC

  Brazil and Argentina bottom of the list in terms of competitiveness

  

  Brazil ranks near the bottom among fourteen emerging powers in terms of competitiveness, due to high capital and labor costs as well as inadequate infrastructure, according to a study commissioned by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and published by the Folha de Sao Paulo daily.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 21:10 UTC

  Chilean Justice Minister resigns over private universities accreditation scandal

  

  Chile’s Justice Minister Teodoro Ribera resigned on Monday amid allegations he has ties to a former director of the country’s accreditation committee, or CNA, which improperly authorized some universities to operate.

• Saturday, December 15th 2012 - 21:04 UTC

  GeoPark drills new successful oil well in Colombia

  

  GeoPark Holdings Limited announced the successful drilling, testing and putting into production of a new oil well in the Tua oil field on the Llanos 34 Block in Colombia. GeoPark that also has drilled for oil in southern Chile and Argentina operates and has a 45% working interest in the Llanos 34 Block.

• Saturday, December 15th 2012 - 20:56 UTC

  Peru and Chile sign next week ‘free of mines’ designated areas along their border

  

  Next week Chile and Peru will have concluded sweeping their border of anti personnel and anti tank mines, announced Claudio de la Puente, head of the Latin American Desk at the Peruvian Foreign ministry.

• Saturday, December 15th 2012 - 06:31 UTC

  Mexico ready to drop WTO complaint after reaching auto accord with Argentina

  

  Mexico said it would drop a complaint over import curbs against Argentina before the World Trade Organization after the two countries signed a more limited automobile trade pact.