Latin America

• Saturday, March 12th 2011 - 06:09 UTC

  Unasur splits two-year Secretary General post between Colombia and Venezuela

  

  Foreign Affairs ministers from the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, gathered in Ecuador Friday for their first meeting as a legally constituted organization agreed on the names to fill the post of Secretary General, vacant since the death of former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner.

• Saturday, March 12th 2011 - 06:05 UTC

  Head of Bovespa warns about capital controls to stem currency gains

  

  Emerging markets face a “definitive danger” from accelerating inflation and should resist the temptation to impose capital controls to stem currency gains, said Arminio Fraga, the head of Brazil’s stock exchange and a former central bank president.

• Friday, March 11th 2011 - 01:23 UTC

  European Parliament casts uncertainty over EU/Mercosur trade talks

  

  This week’s strong statement from the European Parliament warning about concessions that ‘can adversely affect European farmers’, precisely a week before Mercosur and EU delegates meet in Brussels to advance trade discussions has caused a certain degree of uncertainty among the South American group delegates.

• Friday, March 11th 2011 - 00:20 UTC

  Unasur becomes effective with a ministerial meeting in Quito

  

  Union of South American Nations Foreign Affairs ministers meet Friday in Quito to formally launch the group’s treaty and charter and begin discussions on a successor for deceased former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner who was the first Secretary General of Unasur.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 06:29 UTC

  Enrolment of foreign students in Chilean universities soars 700% in a decade

  

  The enrolment of foreign students in Chilean universities has grown by 700% this past decade, with North American students leading the pack. Many students are attracted by the opportunity to travel, to learn Spanish and to experience a different culture.

• Wednesday, March 9th 2011 - 21:31 UTC

  Unasur HQ to be named after Nestor Kirchner; next Friday the official ceremony

  

  The permanent headquarters of Unasur, (Union of South American Nations) in Quito, Ecuador will be named after its first Secretary General, deceased Argentine former president Nestor Kirchner, the government of Ecuador officially announced Wednesday.

• Wednesday, March 9th 2011 - 05:10 UTC

  Wikileaks reveals Chilean government changed environment rules to please US interests

  

  Wikileaks cables last week revealed that the U.S. Embassy in Santiago pressured Chilean government officials in 2009 to change environmental rules so that a controversial thermoelectric plant could be built.

• Wednesday, March 9th 2011 - 04:59 UTC

  Magallanes region discusses gas prices with Chilean central government

  

  Mining and Energy Minister Laurence Golborne met with the Citizens’ Assembly of Magallanes Region (ACM) (extreme south of Chile) after the first of a series of meetings intended to resolve the Magallanes’ gas subsidy controversy.

• Wednesday, March 9th 2011 - 01:08 UTC

  Piñera presented with “Star of Palestine” honour; avoids pre-1967 borders controversy

  

  Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera visited both sides of the hotly contested Israeli- Palestine border this weekend. He reasserted his support for an independent Palestinian state, but fell short of formally recognizing the pre-1967 borders.

• Tuesday, March 8th 2011 - 04:52 UTC

  Chile’s Concha y Toro acquires California’s Fetzer Vineyard

  

  Chile’s Concha y Toro, Latin America’s largest wine producer, sealed a deal this week with Brown-Forman’s Fetzer Vineyards in a transaction worth 238 million US dollars to purchase its portfolio of American wine brands. The sale is expected to close in April 2011.