TheRepublic.com - Latin America News

LAN suspends flights in Argentina over conflict

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:07:21 -0400

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Hundreds of passengers remained stranded at Argentina's airports on Friday after LAN Airlines S.A. temporarily suspended all domestic and international flights over a dispute with a state-owned company that is the country's sole handler of passenger luggage.

Mexico to create police unit to search for missing

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:07:23 -0400

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's government says it will create a special investigative unit to search for the missing, heeding a request by relatives of the disappeared who have been on a hunger strike for nine days.

OAS drug study eyes marijuana legalization

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:58:25 -0400

LIMA, Peru - An Organization of American States study released Friday is calling for a serious discussion on legalizing marijuana.

Argentine dictator Videla dies in prison at age 87

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:48:50 -0400

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power over Argentina in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow citizens in a dirty war to eliminate so-called "subversives," died quietly in his sleep Friday while serving life in prison for crimes against humanity. He was 87.

Venezuela's military enters high-crime slums

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:13:04 -0400

PETARE, Venezuela - Stern-looking soldiers clutching assault rifles wave down the beat-up Chevy Caprice entering this sprawling slum on the outskirts of Caracas.

Mexico cuts growth outlook from 3.5 to 3.1 percent

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:48:15 -0400

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government says it has cut its economic growth forecast for 2013 from 3.5 percent to 3.1 after exports stagnated and first-quarter GDP figures came in weak.

Brazil approves law to modernize ports

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:42:18 -0400

SAO PAULO - Brazil plans to modernize and expand its overcrowded ports, attract private investments to the sector and make it easier for companies to hire skilled foreign workers, in a bid to spur economic growth,

Hundreds of dead animals wash up on Chile's shores

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:43:03 -0400

SANTIAGO, Chile - Chilean officials are investigating the death of hundreds of penguins, pelicans and other animals that are washing up on the county's shores.

Road-builder: landowner allowed pyramid excavation

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:54:45 -0400

BELIZE CITY - The owner of a road-building company in Belize that has been blamed for the near destruction of one of the country's biggest Mayan pyramids says a landowner gave permission to extract the material.

Bolivia's Morales faces 11th day of protests

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:52:42 -0400

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Hundreds of miners, teachers and other workers have marched in Bolivia's capital on the 11th day of protests called by the country's largest union to demand higher old-age pensions.

Use of Internet and cellphones soars in Brazil

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:06:34 -0400

BRASILIA, Brazil - A government survey says the number of Brazilians using the Internet and cellphones has soared more than 100 percent since 2005.

Venezuelans scrambling to find scarce toilet paper

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:39:11 -0400

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelans scrambled to stock up on toilet paper Thursday as fears of a bathroom emergency spread despite the socialist government's promise to import 50 million rolls.

Argentina brokers 24 pct wage hikes for millions

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:58:04 -0400

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Two million Argentines will get wage hikes of 24 percent under a deal President Cristina Fernandez brokered with six allied labor unions.

Mexico volcano registers more seismic activity

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:07:04 -0400

MEXICO CITY - Seismic activity is continuing at the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City and authorities say they have readied shelters and identified evacuation routes in case they should be needed.

Colombia court convicts ex-lawmaker in massacre

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:43:05 -0400

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's Supreme Court has convicted a former longtime congressman of being the mastermind behind the massacre of 43 people by right-wing paramilitary fighters in the north of the country more than two decades ago. It has sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Nicaragua extradites US man in $137M fraud case

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:31:16 -0400

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaraguan authorities deported a U.S. man on Wednesday to face fraud and money laundering charges in his home country.

Mexico fires official in flap over influence abuse

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:37:18 -0400

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government announced Wednesday it has fired an official whose daughter sent inspectors to shut down a restaurant that didn't give her the table she wanted.

El Salvador court hears arguments in abortion case

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:11:49 -0400

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - El Salvador's Supreme Court heard opening arguments Wednesday in a landmark abortion case in which a woman suffering from kidney failure and lupus has not been allowed to terminate a pregnancy in which the fetus is given no chance of surviving.

Retrial ordered in case of US nun slain in Brazil

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:20:48 -0400

SAO PAULO - Brazil's Supreme Court has annulled the trial and conviction of a rancher jailed for ordering the 2005 murder of U.S. nun and Amazon defender Dorothy Stang.

LATAM airlines Q1 profit down almost half year ago

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:05:48 -0400

SANTIAGO, Chile - LATAM Airlines Group's first quarter net profit has dropped by nearly half from the same period last year on lower cargo revenue and sudden changes in foreign exchange.