Latin America

• Wednesday, February 23rd 2011 - 07:09 UTC

  Santander selling insurance business in Latam to Swiss company

  

  Switzerland’s largest insurer, Zurich Financial Services, has agreed to pay as much as 2.1 billion US dollars for 51% of Banco Santander’s insurance business in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

• Tuesday, February 22nd 2011 - 00:58 UTC

  Toledo set to repeat in Peru, but ex mayor Castañeda can still give surprise

  

  Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo continues to lead public opinion polls for the April 10 presidential election followed in a tight race by Congress member Keiko Fujimori and the ex mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda.

• Monday, February 21st 2011 - 16:39 UTC

  Weak dollar, strong peso batters Chilean tourism industry

  

  The tourism industry in Chile is going through a very bad moment with a notorious drop in the number of visitors in recent months claim the private sector and local councillors from the city of Viña del Mar, one of the country’s main sea resorts.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 19:18 UTC

  Chilean vineyards face shortage of field workers; most migrate to construction

  

  Chile’s white wine grapes slated for harvest at the end of the month may not find enough hands to pick them. The grape harvest is the most labour-intensive period of the year for vineyards, but this year, vineyards having trouble tracking down temporary workers to work the harvest season.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 15:45 UTC

  Chile hikes rates but faces dilemma of imbalances and Peso appreciation

  

  The Central Bank of Chile (CBC) hiked interest rates by 25bps to 3.5% on Thursday night targeting growing economic imbalances and the threat of higher inflation, reports Capital Economics latest update.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 14:42 UTC

  Expanded access facilities planned for Santiago’s international airport

  

  Chile’s Public Works Ministry (MOP) will invest 9.1 million US dollars to remodel infrastructure surrounding Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in order to reduce traffic and improve experiences for air travellers.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 14:19 UTC

  Colombian president says he has FARC leader and his command on target

  

  Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said this week that military forces know the exact hiding place and movements of the FARC guerrilla maximum leader, Alfonso Cano, and brushed aside any chance that he might escape.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 05:05 UTC

  European Commission told to tighten controls on aid to avoid ‘waste and leakage’

  

  The European Court of Auditors has called on the European Commission to assess the high risks involved, including corruption, when large sums of EC aid are channelled directly through public budgets in developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 04:59 UTC

  Ecuadorian president closer to tighter grip of government, including the Judiciary

  

  Ecuador's constitutional Court approved this week a 10-question referendum that will let voters decide whether to ban gambling and bullfighting but also ask them to boost President Rafael Correa's power over the judiciary.

• Friday, February 18th 2011 - 00:44 UTC

  Chile’s Peaceable Kingdom Image Challenged

  

  by COHA Research Associates Joss Douglas and Samantha Nadler
  On the tiny, legendary Pacific speck of land known as Easter Island, located 2,000 miles from the Chilean coastline, the ongoing non-violent protests being staged by the Hito family at the Hotel Hanga Roa came to a climax on Sunday February 6, 2011. Fifty armed members of the Chilean national police force (los Carabineros) mounted an illegal raid on the hotel and forcefully evicted the family that has occupied the grounds since August 2010. This action was in direct violation of a judicial order against their dislodgement