Latin America

• Thursday, September 2nd 2010 - 06:44 UTC

  NASA experts: “hopelessness”, the worst enemy of trapped miners

  

  A group of NASA specialists arrived Tuesday in Santiago to help the Chilean rescue team and Health and Mining ministers to assure a successful rescue mission for the 33 miners who have been trapped 700 meters underground since August 5.

• Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 19:56 UTC

  Rapid recovery and strong copper demand sustain Chilean Peso appreciation

  

  The Chilean peso rose on the first day of September, --and now stands at 500 to the US dollar--, as accelerating manufacturing growth in China improved the outlook for Chile’s raw material exports, mainly copper.

• Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 05:57 UTC

  Colombia’s Santos meets Lula da Silva in his first overseas visit

  

  Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos arrived Tuesday in Brazil for an official two-day state visit that begins Wednesday with a meeting with President Lula da Silva to address a regional political agenda and strengthen bilateral trade.

• Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 01:49 UTC

  Fidel admits ‘full responsibility’ for the ‘unjust’ persecution of gays and lesbians

  

  Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro acknowledges the persecution of gays and lesbians during the Revolution, according to an interview published Tuesday in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.

• Tuesday, August 31st 2010 - 03:51 UTC

  Former Chavez advisor claims Army weapons were supplied to Colombian FARC guerrilla

  

  Carlos Molina Tamayo, a former national security advisor to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, claims that he was witness to the Venezuelan government first attempts to clandestinely supply Colombian FARC guerrillas with weapons.

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 19:24 UTC

  Survey shows 3.7% of Chilean population lives in extreme poverty

  

  A survey carried out in December 2009 found that Chile has 634,328 people (3.7% of the population) living in extreme poverty. Since 2006 this percentage has gone up by 0.5%, the first increase since 1990. Those affected are mainly in rural areas.

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 19:20 UTC

  US has “permanent military bases” in Guantanamo and Falklands, says Castro

  

  United States has permanent military bases in Guantamano (Cuba) and the Falkland Islands, but it is prepared and capable of setting up troops anywhere else in Latin America in “a matter of hours” said the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro quoted by the official press.

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 07:10 UTC

  Venezuela, only Latin American economy (together with Haiti) to contract in 2010

  

  Venezuela's economy shrank 3.5% during the first half of 2010 compared to the same period a year earlier, the Central Bank said in a report that revealed a deep recession in the oil rich country ahead of September legislative elections.

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 06:31 UTC

  Rare freshwater pink dolphins rescued in several days’ operation

  

  A total of 19 pink freshwater dolphins belonging to an extremely rare species living in the east of landlocked Bolivia have been rescued from a river covered in mud and deforestation residue, reported the Santa Cruz province governors’ office.

• Saturday, August 28th 2010 - 07:15 UTC

  Soaring profits in first half of 2010 for the Chilean mining industry

  

  The Chilean mining industry has ridden the wave of rising copper prices to record major profit increases in the first half of 2010, with three important mining conglomerates showing profits of US$4 billion in that time period.