Latin America

• Saturday, December 4th 2010 - 01:31 UTC

  Lula da Silva and Obama, best evaluated leaders in Western Hemisphere

  

  Brazil’s Lula da Silva and US Barack Obama are the Western hemisphere leaders best evaluated and most respected, according to a paper based on a public opinion poll and which was released Friday by the NGO Latinobarometro.

• Saturday, December 4th 2010 - 01:26 UTC

  GeoPark Chile raises 113 million USD for further oil exploration in Magallanes

  

  The Latin American oil and gas explorer and producer GeoPark which has been successfully drilling for oil and gas in the extreme south of Chile has made a private placement of 133 million US dollars to invest in expanding activities.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:24 UTC

  Mexican top officials admit loosing control of parts of the country to drug cartels

  

  Several top Mexican officials admitted the government was in danger of losing control of parts of the country to powerful drug cartels, according to U.S. State Department documents made public by WikiLeaks.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:21 UTC

  Havana launches debate on neo-capitalism and “the future of the Cuban Nation”

  

  Cuba began this week a public debate over landmark plans to lift the island's struggling economy and “preserve the revolution’s victories” by liberalizing some private enterprise, admitting small farmers private property, streamlining the vast state bureaucracy by leaving redundant a half-million workers.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:18 UTC

  IMF chiefs rules out double-dip recession, praises South American countries

  

  IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn ruled out any possibility of an impending double-dip recession even as he warned against downward risks posing the countries while they were recuperating, albeit languidly.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:10 UTC

  Mercosur economies forecasted to grow between 7.5% and 10.1% this year

  

  Spanish bank BBVA Studies Group increased its 2010 growth forecast for Latinamerica to 5.8% (from 5.2%) mainly because of the strong showing of domestic economies boosted by stimuli packages. The report also praised the performance of all four Mercosur full members (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) with their economies expanding over 7.5%.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 21:40 UTC

  Santiago airport capacity 40% expansion will handle 14 million annually

  

  Santiago de Chile’s airport is about to be expanded to accommodate millions of more travellers. The crowds of people in the airport have been steadily growing, adding hours of travel time to passengers arriving to and leaving from Chile.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 21:25 UTC

  Uruguay praises Unasur; no agreement yet on next secretary general

  

  Unasur has been a fundamental factor of stability, democracy and peace for the region said Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro, following on Uruguay’s Parliament’s ratification of the group’s founding charter and constitution. However Almagro admitted consensus on a name for Secretary General of Unasur is still pending.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 06:32 UTC

  Ambitious Ibero-American conference takes off in Mar del Plata

  

  The coming XX Ibero-American summit which opens next Friday in Mar del Plata, Argentina will have as main objective a commitment from the 22 country members to invest 76 billion Euros in education during the next decade.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 03:43 UTC

  Uruguay‘s ratification gives Unasur legal status (nine out of twelve)

  

  Uruguay became this week the ninth country to ratify the Unasur (Union of South American Nations) foundation charter thus giving full legal effectiveness to the twelve-nation group.