Archives of South America

1. Argentina marks 10 years of Kirchner rule

   2013-05-25 12:46:00 GMT : (World/South America)

   BUENOS AIRES: The "Era K," as the decade-old rule of Cristina Kirchner and her late husband Nestor is known in Argentina, is showing its age.Together the couple have dominated Argentina since Nestor Kirchner was first elected president on May 25, 2003, with Cristina by his side, leading the country out of a devastating economic crisis to a heady period of surging growth.Cristina, who succeeded Nes...

2. Five dead in Colombia army-rebel fighting

   2013-05-24 16:14:14 GMT : (World/South America)

   BOGOTA: A clash between Colombian army and rebel forces left five combatants dead, the army said in a statement Friday, marking the latest fighting despite ongoing peace talks between the two sides.The battle Thursday in northern Antioquia department left three army soldiers dead and three wounded.Two members of the FARC leftist rebel group died and two more were wounded, the army said in a statem...

3. Venezuela's Maduro warns of 'psychological war'

   2013-05-22 06:10:21 GMT : (World/South America)

   CARACAS: President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday denounced as "psychological war" a leaked audio recording that purports to show a power struggle among key followers of the late Hugo Chavez.In the recording, which has set off a sensation since it was made public Monday by an opposition lawmaker, a well-known government newscaster is heard accusing National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello of conspiri...

4. Venezuela opposition says tape shows ruling party rift

   2013-05-21 09:42:14 GMT : (World/South America)

   CARACAS: The Venezuelan opposition has released what it says is an audio tape revealing intrigue within the ruling socialist party of the late Hugo Chavez and Cuban meddling in the country's affairs.The opposition says the tape is of a conversation between well-known state media presenter Mario Silva and a Colonel Aramis Palacios, identified as a Cuban intelligence agent, about a rift among Ve...

5. Chile Q1 GDP grows 4.1pc

   2013-05-20 14:57:31 GMT : (World/South America)

   SANTIAGO: Chile's economic growth eased in the first quarter to expand 4.1 percent year-on-year, its slowest pace of growth in a year and a half, central bank data showed on Monday.The mining and services sectors helped lift activity in the first quarter, while drops in fishing, restaurant and hotels, agriculture and livestock and industry weighed, the bank said. Gross domestic product grew 0....

6. Magnitude 6.8 quake strikes off Chile; no tsunami seen

   2013-05-20 10:11:03 GMT : (World/South America)

   SANTIAGO: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, but Chilean emergency authorities said they saw no prospect that the tremor would generate a tsunami.The quake struck 400 miles (640 km) west of Puerto Aisen at a depth of 6.2 miles, the USGS said.It said the quake had occurred at 5:49 a.m. Chile time (0943 GMT)Chile's emergency office ...

7. Magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes off Chile: USGS

   2013-05-20 10:09:55 GMT : (World/South America)

   WASHINGTON: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, with no immediate tsunami warning issued.The quake occurred at 0949 GMT at the shallow depth of 10 kilometers (six miles) and the epicenter was 1,538 kilometers south-southwest of the capital Santiago.Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013 ...

8. Former Argentine dictator Videla dies in prison at 87

   2013-05-17 14:22:04 GMT : (World/South America)

   BUENOS AIRES: Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87.Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years be...

9. Ecuador smashes India-to-US migrant smuggling ring

   2013-05-16 17:00:24 GMT : (World/South America)

   QUITO: A ring that smuggled immigrants from India and Sri Lanka into the United States through Ecuador has been broken up with the arrest of six people, Ecuadoran authorities said Thursday.Three Indian nationals and two members of Ecuador's immigration police were among the six people arrested in the port city of Guayaquil, where the smuggling network operated, officials said."They brought in ...

10. Argentina challenges EU over biofuels: WTO

    2013-05-15 15:44:03 GMT : (World/South America)

    GENEVA: Argentina has launched a new challenge to the European Union over the bloc's rules on the import of biofuels, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday."Argentina has notified the WTO Secretariat, on May 15, of a request for consultations with the European Union on measures imposed by the EU and/or its Member States that affect the importation and marketing of biodiesel and implement...

11. Church defrocks Chilean priest for child sex abuse

    2013-05-14 16:04:20 GMT : (World/South America)

    SANTIAGO: A Chilean priest has been defrocked by his order for allegedly sexually abusing two minors, the country's Roman Catholic church said on Tuesday.The church had investigated the allegations against the priest, Hector Valdes, in 2008, but a new probe was ordered four years later by the archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati.The second investigation found Valdes "guilty of the crime of s...

12. Venezuela's lone opposition TV network is sold

    2013-05-14 05:25:00 GMT : (World/South America)

    CARACAS: Globovision, Venezuela's only opposition television network which had a long history of clashes with the socialist government, was sold Monday and will change its critical coverage, network officials said."Ths channel already has been sold off," the network's website said in a statement.Leopoldo Castillo, one of the new managers and a host of the "Hello Citizen" show, said it had ...

13. Argentina secures 3 more LNG cargoes for 2013

    2013-05-13 14:36:59 GMT : (World/South America)

    LONDON: Argentina has secured a total of three liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for delivery this year from oil major BP, Norway's Statoil and US bank Morgan Stanley, trade sources said.Latin America's No. 3 economy has struggled to source its record LNG requirement of 83 cargoes for this year as it tries to offset falling domestic supplies amid surging demand.In its latest tender launc...

14. Argentina upcoming payments on foreign-currency bonds

    2013-05-13 12:02:02 GMT : (World/South America)

    BUENOS AIRES: Argentina is embroiled in a high-stakes legal dispute with "holdout" creditors who shunned debt swaps that the South American country hoped would put its 2002 default to rest.US courts jolted markets last year by ruling in favor of a group of holdouts that had sued for full repayment on their defaulted bonds after rejecting debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010.Argentina was ordered to pay...

15. US 'mistaken' in ignoring his victory: Venezuela's Maduro

    2013-05-12 05:50:14 GMT : (World/South America)

    CARACAS: Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro said late Saturday that Washington was making a "grave mistake" in not acknowledging his victory in the controversial April 14 presidential election.Maduro, 50, heir to the late leftist president Hugo Chavez, defeated opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, 40, by a razor-thin margin in the snap election to complete Chavez's six-year term in office.Cap...

16. Colombia's agriculture minister resigns: ministry sources

    2013-05-11 06:51:10 GMT : (World/South America)

    BOGOTA: Colombian Agriculture Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo, who helped bring an end to paralyzing strikes by coffee growers and aided negotiators seeking a peace accord with Marxist rebels, has resigned, two sources from the ministry said on Friday.Restrepo, 66, has been heavily involved behind the scenes in government talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that aim to br...

17. Mexico congratulates Brazil win in rival WTO candidacy

    2013-05-08 15:38:43 GMT : (World/South America)

    MEXICO CITY: Mexico congratulated Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevedo for his victory in the race to lead the World Trade Organization, confirming the defeat of its candidate, former Mexican trade chief Herminio Blanco.Mexico's economy ministry said that, according to the three ambassadors in charge of leading the election process, Azevedo was "the candidate favored by the WTO membership" and t...

18. Venezuelan banker charged in US for corruption

    2013-05-08 07:07:33 GMT : (World/South America)

    WASHINGTON: A senior Venezuelan government bank official has been charged in the United States for using fake transactions to steal millions of dollars which were sent to Swiss and US accounts, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez, finance and fund manager at the state development bank Banco de Desarrollo Econsmico y Social (Bandes), was arrested Friday and charge...

19. Vatican details pope's World Youth Day trip to Brazil

    2013-05-07 15:52:36 GMT : (World/South America)

    VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis will travel to Brazil in July for World Youth Day, a major Catholic youth event expected to draw upwards of 2.5 million people, the Vatican said on Tuesday.The July 22-29 trip for the Argentine pope, a champion of the poor and disenfranchised, will also include a visit to Rio's Manguinhos slum and a meeting with young inmates.Pope Francis' charisma and the fact t...

20. Obama concludes Latin America trips with trade focus

    2013-05-04 15:23:56 GMT : (World/South America)

    SAN JOSE: US President Barack Obama turned the spotlight on economic ties with Latin America on Saturday as he wrapped up a three-day trip to a region roiled by drug violence.Obama sought to shift the narrative away from the drug war during visits to Mexico and Costa Rica this week, praising trade as a path to fighting poverty and creating jobs that turn young people away from a life of crime.The ...