Latin America

• Thursday, April 7th 2011 - 20:33 UTC

  Peruvian presidential run-off between Humala and Keiko Fujimori, forecast polls

  

  Nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala is forecast to get just under 30% of the vote in Peru's election on Sunday and face lawmaker Keiko Fujimori in a run-off, sources with access to two different polls said on Thursday.

• Thursday, April 7th 2011 - 20:10 UTC

  Chile’s 20 major corporations booming with profits up 18% last year

  

  Business is booming in Chile as the nation’s top 20 major businesses increased their revenue by 18% in 2010. The largest increase in profits came from Chile’s mining sector, where profits grew to 10.9 billion US dollars last year, up 60% since 2009.

• Thursday, April 7th 2011 - 09:17 UTC

  Record number of tourists visit Chile in first quarter; top of the list Argentines

  

  The number of foreign tourists visiting Chile rose 9.2% during the first quarter of 2011 in relation to the same period last year, according to Tourism Secretary Jacqueline Plass. A record-breaking 1,043, 042 tourists entered Chile between January and March, at the height of the summer tourism season.

• Thursday, April 7th 2011 - 09:01 UTC

  Colombia and Obama closer to having US Congress approve free trade agreement

  

  White House officials said the United States and Colombia have reached a deal on a free trade agreement. President Barack Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos are to meet Thursday to discuss the deal.

• Thursday, April 7th 2011 - 08:43 UTC

  Unasur letter supporting Argentina’s Malvinas claims delivered to Ban Ki-moon

  

  Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman met Wednesday with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and reiterated Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands this time reinforced with a formal request from the Union of South American Nations, Unasur leaders in support of Argentina’s “historic and legitimate rights”.

• Wednesday, April 6th 2011 - 20:23 UTC

  Good outlook for Mexican manufacturing as the US economy recovers

  

  The increase in the Mexican IMEF manufacturing index last month suggests that the industrial sector has continued to benefit from stronger demand in the US, points out Capital Economics.

• Wednesday, April 6th 2011 - 18:44 UTC

  Argentina opens boat access to Tierra del Fuego eliminating Chilean crossing

  

  Argentina’s government is opening a new path to Tierra del Fuego that will give travellers, who once had to pass through Chile to reach the southernmost tip of the continent, the option of skipping Chile altogether.

• Wednesday, April 6th 2011 - 06:39 UTC

  Chile, Colombia, Peru launch integrate stock markets beginning May 30

  

  Operations of a joint stock market linking Chile, Colombia and Peru are scheduled to begin May 30. The group, known as the Integrated Latin American Market, or Mila, said Tuesday that the decision was taken following two rounds of successful testing.

• Wednesday, April 6th 2011 - 06:37 UTC

  Wikileaks knocks out second US ambassador in Latam: this time in Ecuador

  

  Ecuador is expelling the U.S. ambassador over a 2009 diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks in which the diplomat accused the country’s former police chief of corruption.

• Wednesday, April 6th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  Venezuela admits an annual inflation of 27.4% in the last twelve months

  

  Venezuela's nationwide consumer price index (NCPI), prepared by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) and the National Statistics Institute (INE), showed a 1.4% increase in March 2011 compared to February 2011.