Latin America

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 22:18 UTC

  Book on Chavez in prison, “I saw him cry”, triggers controversy

  

  A Venezuelan historian and academic presented the book ‘I saw him cry’ in which he affirms that President Hugo Chavez was crying, fearful and pleading to be sent to Cuba on April 11, 2002 during the coup that had him out of office for several days. He also insists there was no plan to have Chavez shot by a firing squad as the ‘official version” of events has since turned into epic days.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 18:30 UTC

  Chile ski resorts still waiting for snow to begin winter season

  

  Though Chilean ski resorts were ready to begin the winter season more than a week ago, the slopes cannot be opened due to lack of snow. A lack of rain in the region has been blamed. The central and southern region of Chile has had a low level of rain this year, causing opening delays for some centres.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 18:22 UTC

  Chile sues banks that cooperated in hiding Pinochet ill-gotten fortune

  

  The widow of (deceased) former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Lucia Hiriart; the dictator’s private secretary, Monica Ananias; and his executor, Oscar Aitken, were summoned this week to a Santiago criminal court pursuant to a warrant from the Southern District Court of Florida, United States.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:55 UTC

  Bolivia votes ‘native justice’; four policemen lynched by indigenous mobs

  

  The Bolivian Lower House dominated by President Evo Morales party approved this week the Judiciary Bill which contemplates “native or indigenous justice” which has been strongly criticized since it opened the door to the lynching of policemen in two different incidents.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:52 UTC

  Cuba is coffee dry: the country has become a net importer of the bean

  

  Cuban coffee production tumbled 90% in the last few years forcing the government of President Raul Castro to spend 50 million US dollars annually in importing the beans to ensure domestic consumption revealed the official weekly Trabajadores.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:15 UTC

  Venezuela implements new foreign exchange market to contain inflation

  

  Venezuela central bank set an implicit exchange rate of about 5.3 Bolivar per US dollar in a new currency market that made its debut Wednesday and aims to rein in surging inflation and have greater control over the alternative foreign exchange market.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:10 UTC

  Power emergency extended for another 60 days in Venezuela

  

  Venezuela extended for another sixty days the national power emergency which has first imposed last February to address the energy crisis punishing the country. The new extension was published in the Official Gazette 7 June, effective June 8 and follows on the previous 60 days period from April.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:09 UTC

  Hillary Clinton promises all military information of US presence in Colombia

  

  United States promised to deliver the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, all the necessary information regarding its military presence in Colombia, said Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa, following a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

• Wednesday, June 9th 2010 - 19:19 UTC

  Female pilot breaks sound barrier in Chile

  

  Flying at 20,000 feet above ground, Karina Miranda became the first Chilean woman pilot to break the sound barrier since it was first broken by a Chilean in the 1970s.

• Wednesday, June 9th 2010 - 06:16 UTC

  Honduras return to OAS begins next week in Washington

  

  The Organization of American States, OAS, is set to begin next week discussions on the integration of a special committee that will make proposals to end the international isolation of Honduras, which has been an OAS outcast since June 2009 when a coup deposed President Manuel Zelaya.