Latin America

• Thursday, October 6th 2011 - 08:30 UTC

  Chile expels Argentine military involved in crimes against humanity

  

  The Chilean government ordered the immediate expulsion of international fugitive and human rights violator Alejandro Duret on Tuesday. The order was given just hours after his arrest was confirmed in Talca, located in central Chile’s Maule Region.

• Thursday, October 6th 2011 - 08:23 UTC

  Venezuelans turn out for the burial of former president Carlos Andres Perez

  

  Thousands turned out in Caracas to pay their last respects to former Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who died in exile and will be buried on Thursday after months of litigation among family members on whether he should be brought back to his country.

• Thursday, October 6th 2011 - 02:32 UTC

  Falklands and Punta Arenas work to establish closer agriculture technical links

  

  Representatives from the Falkland Islands Agriculture Department and private sector visited Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile to establish closer commercial, technical and academic links related to farming development.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 15:23 UTC

  Irrigation channels blamed for spike of typhoid and hepatitis A cases in Chile

  

  Last week Chile’s Institute of Public Health (ISP), together with Metropolitan Regional Health Secretary Rosa Oyarce, began taking samples from irrigation channels in western Santiago in relation to a recent upturn in cases of typhoid fever.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 09:29 UTC

  Piñera escalates conflict: proposes jailing those involved in occupying schools

  

  Student leaders, the opposition and several judges expressed outrage this week after Chilean President Sebastián Piñera proposed on Sunday to reform the Penal Code to impose harsher punishments on those involved in the occupation of schools and universities, newspaper La Tercera reported.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 09:23 UTC

  Abbas takes off on diplomatic charm offensive in support of Palestinian state

  

  Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas flew to Europe on Tuesday to kick off a week-long tour which will also take him to Latin America to shore up support for his UN membership bid.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 09:08 UTC

  Chavez says he’s fine but photos and television give a different picture

  

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez seems to be fully active recovering the initiative impetus of his pre-chemotherapy treatment. On Monday he was on national television in a meeting with a business delegation from Byelorussia. Last Saturday he was seen giving away home appliances and in the evening chairing a cabinet meeting.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 08:44 UTC

  Chilean Army invests 15.8m dollars in upgrading US made Howitzers

  

  A Chilean plan for modernizing and upgrading its defense forces is under way with one of the first major contracts going to BAE Systems for the supply and refurbishment of 12 U.S.-made M109A5 howitzers. The 15.8 million dollars contract has been implemented for the Chilean Government through a US foreign military sales contract.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 08:08 UTC

  Latam’s largest airline merger project appeals several anti-trust conditions

  

  Chile's LAN Airlines and Brazilian carrier TAM have appealed to Chile's top court some of the conditions imposed on their planned merger as the companies push ahead to create one of the world's biggest airlines.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2011 - 06:59 UTC

  Latin America has diminished poverty indexes but deep inequality gaps remain

  

  Latin America has experienced significant advances in the reduction of poverty but has barely improved the deep social inequalities that limit its development according to Heraldo Muñoz, head of the regional UN Program for Development.