ENVIRONMENT: Profit in Watching - Not Hunting - Whales
By Daniela Estrada*
SANTIAGO, Chile - Eighteen Latin American countries are currently involved in whale and dolphin watching tourism, which brings in about 278 million dollars a year. But experts say there is a lack of standards, research and education to ensure that it is a sustainable activity.
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HONDURAS: The Data You Seek Will Be Available - in 2018
By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA - In a highly controversial decision, the Honduran Institute for Access to Public Information (IAIP) has decided to keep from public scrutiny for 10 years key documents from the Finance Ministry and the tax collection authority.
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COLOMBIA: Uribe's 2006 Reelection "Flawed" - Supreme Court
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA - At the same time that Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was welcoming U.S. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain in the north of the country, the Supreme Court issued a communiqué calling on the government to "respect and obey the decisions" of the courts.
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POLITICS-BOLIVIA: Volatile Loyalties, Deep Divisions
By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ - The governing party in Bolivia is reeling from its latest electoral defeat, and beginning to doubt the popularity of President Evo Morales, who is putting his office, the vice president's and those of provincial governors up for ratification in a recall referendum to be held on Aug. 10.
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COLOMBIA: Betancourt Freed in Military Intelligence Operation
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA - Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and 11 Colombian police officers and soldiers held hostage by the guerrillas were rescued Wednesday in a military intelligence operation.
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PERU: Mining Companies Venture into the Amazon
By Milagros Salazar*
LIMA - The conflicts surrounding extractive industries in Peru could shift from the mountains to the jungles due to the rising number of concessions granted for the Amazonian regions of San Martín, Madre de Dios and Amazonas, and which are being strongly opposed by the local indigenous communities.
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MIGRATION-SOUTH AMERICA: Summit Protests EU ‘Return Directive’
By Marcela Valente
SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMÁN, Argentina - European Union immigration policy was unanimously rejected in strong terms by the presidents of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and associate countries, meeting in Argentina.
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ECONOMY-ARGENTINA: A Cold Wind from the Pampas
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - Over 100 days of conflict in Argentina's farm sector, where most of the latest record crop is safely stored in silos, has cooled the pace of consumption and caused a general slowdown in economic activity, which had been expanding at an unprecedented rate since 2003.
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PERU: Montesinos Defends Fujimori, Then Clams Up
By Ángel Páez
LIMA - Vladimiro Montesinos, the second most powerful person in the regime of former President Alberto Fujimori in Peru (1990-2000), has admitted in court that crimes were committed during intelligence operations he directed.
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PARAGUAY: Fourteen Years in the Wilderness
By David Vargas - Special to IPS
POZO COLORADO, Paraguay - Indigenous Enxet people are still waiting for the restitution of their ancestral lands, nearly three years after the Paraguayan state was convicted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of usurping territory and violating basic rights. Meanwhile, they endure overwhelming poverty.
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