Latin America

Remittances sent to Latin America and the Caribbean grew less than 1 percent in 2012 but showed larger increases in countries more dependent on money sent home by migrants living in the United States, according to an Inter-American Development Bank study released Monday. Last year, the region received $61.3 billion in remittances — the money sent by migrants to sustain family and friends in their homelands. That’s $300 million, or 0.6 percent, more than in 2011. The tally doesn’t include countries, such as Cuba, which aren’t IDB members

America GEORGETOWN, Guyana - With Nicolás Maduro’s narrow victory in Venezuela’s presidential election still being contested by the Venezuelan opposition, even though he has already been sworn in as president, there is a growing feeling that, with a majority of only 50.7 per cent of the popular vote, the self-styled ‘son’ and heir of Hugo Chávez may well be in for a rough ride.

SANTIAGO, Chile, CMC - The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is predicting a two per cent growth for Caribbean economies in 2013.
ECLAC said that the anticipated result is “on the back of the buoyancy of economies specialized in producing and exporting raw materials, mainly Guyana and Suriname, and the recovery in countries more focused on exporting tourist services, as a result of the improved economic situation in the United States”.

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — Horacio Cartes, a Paraguayan tobacco magnate, faced various challenges during his presidential bid. He was pressed to explain why antinarcotics police officers apprehended a plane carrying cocaine and marijuana on his ranch in 2000; why he went to prison in 1989 on currency fraud charges; and why he had never even voted in past general elections. till, voters across the country seemed ready to give Mr. Cartes the benefit of the doubt, handing him a solid victory in Paraguay’s presidential election on Sunday.

Most Latin American and Caribbean economies survived the Great Recession in relatively good shape. But now as the global slowdown threatens to hang on indefinitely, what is their fate?
The countries of the region will grow faster — at an estimated rate of 3.9 percent over the next five years — than the global economy. “Latin America will gain weight in the world economy,’’ said José Juan Ruiz, chief economist at the Inter-American Development Bank.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, CMC –The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says Caribbean countries have reaffirmed their commitment to achieving targets set out in a plan of action for the knowledge and information society in the region. ECLAC said the was made in the Montevideo Declaration, signed here at the close of the Fourth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean. It said Caribbean countries also made a “clear determination to strengthen regional collaboration in this sphere”.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – A consultant with the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), says Jamaica could receive financing from international organisations to assist with its efforts at reducing the impacts of climate change.
Dr. Oscar Coto says this could be achieved through advancement of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Programme of Activities (PoA) as well as Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs).

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, CMC - The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says senior officials, experts and private-sector representatives will on Wednesday begin discussing progress and challenges facing the region at a major conference here.

HISTORY will affirm, justifiably, the role Hugo Chávez played in the integration of Latin America, and the significance of his 14-year presidency to the poor people of Venezuela, where he died on Tuesday after a long struggle with cancer.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A pastor with the Seventh Day Adventist Church is claiming that Latin American assassins are operating in Trinidad and Tobago and called for an all out war on crime. “We have Latin American assassins in this country. We have Colombians in this society, hired by the godfathers who have the art of slicing heads and legs, training secondary school students to do the same thing in this society,” Pastor Clive Dottin said at the funeral for police sergeant Hayden Manwaring, who was shot and killed by bandits last week.