Latin America

• Thursday, July 29th 2010 - 05:48 UTC

  Galapagos Islands removed from list of endangered sites

  

  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee (WHC) Wednesday removed the Galapagos Islands (belonging to Ecuador) from its list of endangered sites, reported the organization currently holding its 34th session in Brazil.

• Thursday, July 29th 2010 - 01:24 UTC

  Chile and Bolivia jointly celebrate mine-clearance in border areas

  

  Chile and Bolivian Defence ministers and Army commanders will be meeting Thursday to sign documents declaring Fields free of mines, the border areas of Tambo Quemado 1 and Tambo Quemado 2 along their common border which until only recently were planted with thousands of mines.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 17:54 UTC

  Chilean fruit industry compensates smaller shipments with higher global prices

  

  Despite sharp declines in the volume of exported fruits during the 2009-2010 season Chile’s fruit industry managed to offset those losses because of higher prices paid in foreign markets.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 06:59 UTC

  Venezuela: only a “political negotiation” can end 60 years of violence in Colombia

  

  Venezuela’ Foreign Affairs minister Nicolás Maduro revealed to Paraguayan officials that his country would be proposing in the coming Unasur meeting a “political negotiation” to end decades of political violence in Colombia.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 06:49 UTC

  LAN Chile’s passenger and cargo businesses grow 24.5% and 60.3%

  

  LAN Airlines, Chile’s flag carrier second-quarter net profit jumped to 60.6 million US dollars in line with market expectations, from 4.2 million USD a year earlier, the flagship carrier reported Tuesday.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 02:51 UTC

  Uribe rejects any “peace dialogue” with guerrillas; ‘no repeat of that mistake’

  

  Outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe criticized Tuesday the possibilities of a peace proposal with the Colombian guerrilla groups FARC and ELN and emphasized that Colombia will not fall into the trap of “internationalizing dialogue”.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 23:30 UTC

  Latam’s India challenge: market for commodities, but manufacturing competitor

  

  India could become a fast-growing market for Latin American and Caribbean commodities but governments in this region must foster closer ties with the 1.1 billion population giant and reduce trade costs to tap into that opportunity, according to a new study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 20:20 UTC

  Ecuador moves to increase state control over the oil industry

  

  OPEC member Ecuador says it will start renegotiating contracts with private oil companies as it moves to increase state control over the sector. Under the new hydrocarbons law, the current production-sharing agreements will be replaced by a flat fee.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 04:53 UTC

  Colombia/Venezuela conflict: Kirchner meets president-elect Santos

  

  Unasur (Union of South American Nations) chairman Nestor Kirchner confirmed Monday ongoing contacts at different levels to try and defuse the Colombia/Venezuela conflict.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 04:49 UTC

  Chile, Peru and Colombia, trade platform for China in South America

  

  Colombia, Chile and Peru are increasingly the platform for South American trade with China, according to official statistics. The three countries have China as one of the largest and most dynamic trade partners and are working on a common strategy for further liberalization of trade.