Latin America

• Wednesday, November 24th 2010 - 20:50 UTC

  Colombian oil industry booming; Ecopetrol plans 8.5 billion investments

  

  Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol announced investments of roughly 8.5 billion US dollars in 2011, with 5% of that total to be allocated for projects in the United States, Brazil and Peru.

• Wednesday, November 24th 2010 - 05:28 UTC

  Lula da Silva not interested in Unasur secretary general post

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva has no plans or intentions of becoming the next secretary general of Unasur, Union of South American Nations said his spokesperson Marcelo Baumbach who discarded all speculations related to the issue.

• Wednesday, November 24th 2010 - 02:56 UTC

  Ample support for democracy in Uruguay and Argentina; much less in Peru

  

  Peru is the country with less citizen support for democracy in the Americas while in Uruguay, Costa Rica and Argentina the system enjoys massive approval.

• Tuesday, November 23rd 2010 - 03:22 UTC

  Chavez announces 2012 re-election bid and warns on the return of the ‘bourgeois’

  

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced he would again run for office in 2012 underlining that “there’s no turning back” from the current “Bolivarian revolution” process which he has been leading for the last twelve years.

• Monday, November 22nd 2010 - 20:54 UTC

  Italy’s Eni to invest 7 billion USD in developing Venezuela’s oil and gas reserves

  

  Petroleos de Venezuela SA and Italy’s Eni SpA said they’ll jointly invest 17 billion US dollars to produce and refine heavy crude in the Orinoco Belt.

• Monday, November 22nd 2010 - 20:45 UTC

  Bolivia rejects US warning and will have dealings with whomever it wishes

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales delivered a blunt reply on Monday to visiting US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates's warning about dealings with Iran, saying Bolivia will ally with whomever it wants.

• Monday, November 22nd 2010 - 19:14 UTC

  Trade among Latinamerican countries expected to increase 22% in 2010

  

  Trade among Latinamerican countries is expected to increase 22% during 2010, which is higher than forecasted, according to the UN Economic Commission for Latinamerica and the Caribbean, Cepal. This follows a drop of 0.9% in 2009 when the full impact of the global crisis.

• Friday, November 19th 2010 - 05:11 UTC

  Venezuelan economy recovering but“15% devaluation” expected in 2011

  

  Venezuela may formally devalue its currency “at least” 15% in early 2011, Barclays Capital said in a report sent via e-mail, changing its position after meetings with Finance Ministry and central bank officials in Caracas.

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 21:16 UTC

  Full blown campaign to garner support for Raúl’s Cuban model reforms

  

  The Cuban government has launched an aggressive campaign on its proposed economic reforms as it tries to whip up public opinion enthusiasm and in its own ranks ahead of a Communist Party congress to approve them in April.

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 19:53 UTC

  Latinamerica “business climate” steady and in “cautious boom” phase

  

  Chile, Peru and Uruguay rank as the countries with the best business climate according to a report from the Brazilian foundation Getulio Vargas, FGV. The October report released this week ranks Chile with 7.5 points; Peru, 7.1; Uruguay, 7; Brazil, 6.8; Colombia, 6.8; Paraguay, 6.5; Argentina, 5.9 and Bolivia, 5.6.