Chile's conservatives snatched dozens of mayoralties on Sunday from the governing centre-left coalition, in a boost to former leader Sebastian Piñera, the front-runner to lead the conservative coalition in next year's presidential election.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet announced a slight reshuffling of her Cabinet on Wednesday, a few days ahead of local elections in which her coalition is expected to suffer losses. Center-left Bachelet replaced the ministers in charge of justice, energy and national assets, she said in a brief speech at the presidential palace in Santiago.
The Venezuelan government has turned down a request by former presidents of Chile and Colombia to visit opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in jail. Chile's Sebastian Piñera and Colombia's Andres Pastrana say they are in Venezuela to support the opposition and have called for the release of Mr Lopez, who was arrested nearly a year ago.
He also criticised the Bachelet administration for making too many mistakes, creating hostile atmosphere and not making their programs known beforehand
Socialist Michelle Bachelet promised to tackle inequality as she took the oath of office on Tuesday, returning to power after four years to lead Chile. Bachelet succeeds conservative Sebastian Piñera, who said he was leaving his successor “a better country than the one we had four years ago.”
The Chilean ruling coalition slammed outgoing President Sebastián Piñera and blamed him for recent electoral losses that have left the right in the lowest point in its history. The unusually harsh criticism came from members of Piñera’s own party, Renovación Nacional, a moderate conservative party that makes up the ruling Alianza.
The four presidents of the Pacific Alliance are scheduled to sign next Monday the trade group's Additional Protocol which will remove tariffs on 92% of goods and services, effective immediately, announced Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos who will be hosting the summit in Cartagena.
As the echoes of Monday’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) continued to reverberate in Santiago and Lima, Presidents Ollanta Humala and Sebastián Piñera of Peru and Chile met on the sidelines of the CELAC (Community of Latin America and Caribbean States) summit in Havana in a show of unity.
The United Nations’ highest court set a maritime boundary between Chile and Peru on Monday that grants Peruvians a bigger piece of the Pacific Ocean while keeping rich coastal fishing grounds in the hands of Chilean industry. Despite high emotions over the dispute, the ruling is expected to have little effect on cordial ties between the two neighbors whose economic interdependence has grown greatly in recent years.
With the decision over ongoing maritime dispute between Chile and Peru just weeks away, government officials on both sides insist relations between them are strong. On Jan. 27 Peru and Chile are set to find out who has legal ownership over 14,500 square miles of fishing waters off their borders, putting an end to a centuries-long dispute and ending a five year international court case.