Latin America

• Wednesday, March 14th 2012 - 01:54 UTC

  Heroic Age remembered in Punta Arenas

  

  Three plaques remembering prominent explorers of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Discovery, who used the Chilean port of Punta Arenas as their home base when carrying out Antarctic explorations, have been unveiled at the entrance to the Arturo Prat port terminal in downtown Punta Arenas.

• Wednesday, March 14th 2012 - 00:07 UTC

  Brazil turns protectionist: wants Mexico to limit car exports to 1.4bn in three years

  

  Brazil's government wants Mexico to impose quotas on its own auto exports to the South American nation to ensure the total value does not exceed 1.4 billion dollars over the next three years, the development, industry and foreign trade ministry said.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:21 UTC

  “Argentina completely ignores the Mercosur treaty and spirit” says Uruguay

  

  Uruguayan Vice-president Danilo Astori strongly criticized the current situation in Mercosur blasting protectionist measures of both Argentina and Brazil, which together with Paraguay are full members of the block

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:09 UTC

  Exceptional rainfall and flash floods leave Punta Arenas under water

  

  Sunday rains and flash floods in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile have left an estimated 800 people homeless forcing the city to close schools while the local chapter of the National Emergency office, Onemi, raised the alarm level from orange (moderate) to red (maximum).

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 00:58 UTC

  Morales defends Bolivians right to chew coca leaves at UN anti-drugs meeting

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales defended Bolivians' right to chew coca leaves, the main ingredient of cocaine, on Monday, saying it was an ancient tradition and the world's No. 3 cocaine producer was working to fight drug trafficking.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 22:17 UTC

  Trade, political refugees and Falklands’ flights in CFK/Piñera summit agenda

  

  Increasing common infrastructure projects such as tunnels and border crossings between Chile and Argentina will be the main motive of this week’s presidential summit between Sebastian Piñera and Cristina Fernandez.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 20:49 UTC

  Argentina expected to announce more protectionist measures this week

  

  Argentina plans to intensify its policy of protecting the trade surplus and impeding the outflow of hard currency and this week is expected to add another one hundred tariff positions which will be submitted to an increase in import levies.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 20:05 UTC

  UK minister in Chile accuses Argentina of economic blockade to the Falklands

  

  United Kingdom’s Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne on a two-day visit to Chile criticized what he called the “economic blockade” to the Falklands Islands by saying it “wasn’t right” and again reaffirmed the right of self determination for the Islanders.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 08:14 UTC

  Mercosur/EU meet for a new round of negotiations in Brussels

  

  A new round of talks between the European Union and Mercosur is scheduled to begin Monday in Brussels for a week, according to a press release from the Argentine Foreign Affairs.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 07:36 UTC

  Inter-American Development Bank meets in Montevideo; over 3.000 attendants

  

  Leading figures from the public, private, and academic sectors will participate in the annual meeting of the Inter American Development Bank, (IDB), In Uruguay, March 15-19, to examine issues that include the European crisis, youth employment, citizen security, culture and sports for youth development, climate change, and cooperation between Asia and Latin America.