Latin America

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:20 UTC

  Fire in an overcrowded Santiago de Chile jail, kills at least 83 inmates

  

  Fire engulfed a prison in the Chilean capital Santiago Wednesday early in the morning, killing 83 inmates and critically injuring 14 others, the government said, in the worst-ever accident in the country's jail system.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:18 UTC

  Heavy rains force temporary suspension of traffic in the Panama Canal

  

  Heavy rains have forced the temporary suspension of traffic along the Panama Canal, the major shipping waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans which handles 5% of global trade.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:15 UTC

  Clelia II sailing on her own is expected Friday in Ushuaia

  

  The expedition vessel MV Clelia II is now operating at normal speed during its northbound crossing of the Drake Passage, following heavy sea conditions Tuesday that resulted in a broken bridge window and some electrical malfunctions.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:36 UTC

  Chavez wins regional elections but loses second most populated city, Maracaibo

  

  Candidates from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s party PSUV won seven municipalities and one state in regional polls, the populist socialist leader’s first test since suffering a setback in September legislative elections, state television reported.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:16 UTC

  Chile outlines conditions for a possible Bolivian access to the Pacific

  

  Chile is willing to cooperate with a sea-outlet for landlocked Bolivia but will not cede sovereignty because “we will never accept something that divides the country in two”, said the Chilean Foreign Affairs minister Alfredo Moreno.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 07:43 UTC

  Wikileaks and Latin America: Same Old Imperious U.S. Diplomats

  

  by Former Senior Research Fellow Nikolas Kozloff
  As more and more documents become available from Wikileaks, the public has gotten a novel and close up view of U.S. diplomats and their operations abroad.

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:38 UTC

  Wikileaks messages generate rift at Mar del Plata’s summit on education and democracy

  

  The commitment to end illiteracy in the next five years and the overwhelming approval of a democratic clause in support of institutional democracy was the outstanding consensus of the Ibero-American leaders’ summit held in Mar del Plata hosted by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:35 UTC

  Lula da Silva praised the Argentina/Brazil strategic alliance Kirchner helped forge

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva praised the late Argentine president Nestor Kirchner saying he was the leader who helped Argentines recover their self-esteem and marked a historic change in relations between Brazil and Argentina.

• Sunday, December 5th 2010 - 19:29 UTC

  Business deals “above 600 million USD” in Chile’s naval and maritime expo

  

  The recent Exponaval 2010 and Transport 2010 exhibit held in the Chilean port of Valparaíso was described as a complete success by the organizers of the event that convened over 150 exhibitors, 34 foreign navies’ delegations and totalling business deals “above 600 million US dollars”.

• Saturday, December 4th 2010 - 06:58 UTC

  Unasur secretary general nomination could be delayed until mid December

  

  The nomination of a secretary general for Unasur, Union of South American Nations, could be delayed until mid December since discussions on the sidelines of the XXth Ibero-American summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina, are currently stalled and time is running short, according to political analysts.