Latin America

• Thursday, June 3rd 2010 - 06:13 UTC

  Cuban political prisoners’ families hopeful of further positive signs

  

  The families of Cuban political prisoners expressed their hope Wednesday that those who are sick may be released. On Tuesday, Cuban authorities began the first transfers of political prisoners to jails near their homes, Catholic Church officials and the opposition said.

• Thursday, June 3rd 2010 - 06:05 UTC

  Colombia’s Santos sends ‘peace and respect message” to Chavez

  

  Colombian presidential candidate and favourite to win this month’s run-off Juan Manuel Santos anticipated he would be proposing Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez a “rebuilding of bilateral links”, if he is finally elected.

• Thursday, June 3rd 2010 - 02:09 UTC

  Kirchner makes his international debut as Unasur chair in Paraguay

  

  Former Argentine president Néstor Kirchner met Wednesday with Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and other Congressional and political leaders in Asunción in what became his first official meeting as head of the South American Nations Union (UNASUR).

• Thursday, June 3rd 2010 - 00:04 UTC

  Peruvian president Garcia calls for immigration bill during meeting with Obama

  

  United States President Barack Obama held talks with his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia in the White House and praised the South American country’s economic performance and consolidated democracy.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 23:03 UTC

  Chilean navy upgrades communications in anticipation of future disasters

  

  Chilean Navy Commander in Chief Edmundo Gonzalez announced this week that the institution will be spending around 10 million US dollars on new, state of the art communications equipment for its SHOA (Hydrographical and Oceanographic Service) office.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 22:44 UTC

  Chile's El Mercurio celebrates 110th anniversary

  

  Chile’s most widely distributed newspaper, El Mercurio, has celebrated a birthday. On June 1, the daily celebrated 110 years. The paper’s staff met this week to celebrate the event.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 22:29 UTC

  Brazil leads Latam in military spending; Colombia as percentage of GDP

  

  Brazil leads Latinamerica in military spending having totalled 27.1 billion US dollars in 2009, followed by Colombia facing an armed guerrilla movement allied with drug cartels and Chile, rich in copper resources, according to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 02:47 UTC

  Magallanes only region in Chile where unemployment was up in Feb/April

  

  Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile has seen unemployment in the February-April mobile increase 0.8 percentage points to 5.4%. Although still one of the lowest rates in Chile, this time Magallanes was the exception since in the rest of the country unemployment was down.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 02:44 UTC

  OAS observers praise Colombian Sunday election “non-violence”

  

  The OAS mission of electoral observers confirmed that none of its members found evidence of vote peddling in Colombia’s Sunday presidential election and underlined the quiet and non violent atmosphere during the whole process.

• Tuesday, June 1st 2010 - 23:48 UTC

  Invasive algae found in Chilean Patagonia threatens ecosystem and tourism

  

  In February, Chris Spelius, owner of the adventure travel company Expediciones Chile, was standing out by the Futaleufu River in Southern Chile waiting for a client, when he looked into the normally clear water and noticed something unusual.