
For a third day running Chilean riot police broke up protests by students who had taken control of several high schools in the capital Santiago to demand education reform.

Chile's newly merged regional carrier LATAM Airlines said on Monday it would spend 7.87 billion dollars on its fleet through 2014. The airline aims to have a 359-strong fleet by 2014, up from the 319 planes projected for this year.

The Buenos Aires Province Senate on 2 August passed a law last week banning British flagged vessels associated with activities in Falkland Islands waters from calling at Argentina’s largest ports.

Chile’s Presidency secretary Andrés Chadwick confirmed that the former Mayor from Magallanes Region in the extreme south of the country, Arturo Storaker had effectively resigned because of alleged irregularities during his performance.

Uruguay will continue “to look after” Mercosur in spite of the strong diplomatic discrepancies with Argentina, but will also continue with an interest in participating in other trade blocks of the region, said President Jose Mujica.

Peru will be hosting next October the III Summit of heads of state and government from South America and Arab nations which is expected to bring together 32 countries, according to Deputy Foreign Affairs minister Jose Beraún.

Trade with China for Argentina has great opportunities but also great threats because the Asian giant is only interested in produce with no added value, warned the head of Argentina’s Industrial Union, Ignacio De Mendiguren.

A stable economy, a burgeoning domestic market and huge untapped reserves of natural resources have led foreign investors to become increasingly interested in Brazil as an investment destination although there are challenges to sustaining this attractiveness according to Ernst & Young's first annual Brazilian Attractiveness Survey.

Paraguay is sounding the recently created Pacific Block made up of Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico with the possibility of considering applying to join it, revealed the country’s Foreign affairs minister Jose Fernandez Estigarribia.

Due to increasing economic stability and a growing population, Brazil is now widely considered an economic powerhouse capable of maintaining and attracting foreign direct investments.(1)(2) However, recent corruption schemes, changes in monetary policy, and the ongoing 2008 global financial crisis have undermined Brazil’s shining reputation. In light of Brazil’s governmental intervention, the number of state-controlled enterprises, the growing debt-to-GDP in the private sector, and inflation rates, investors have begun to turn their attention to other economies in Latin America, especially Mexico.(3)