Coal plants, a conventional power source (Dan OConner/Flickr)
Promises by President Sebastián Piñera to give Chile’s electricity matrix a green makeover went up in proverbial smoke last month when authorities approved a pair of costly coal projects: one, an open-pit mine in the far south; the other, a massive coal-burning power plant slated for the northern Atacama region. Read the rest of this entry ?
President Mauricio Funes (Courtesy of Flickr)
Since assuming office in the midst of a global financial crisis, President Maurico Funes has taken a mostly wait and see approach to El Salvador’s economy, opting to ride out the storm while focusing his energies on areas such as public security and foreign policy. The new year, however, appears to have brought with it a shift in priorities for the popular Salvadoran leader, who is now promising a series of measures to breath some life into the stagnant economy. Read the rest of this entry ?
(Courtesy of Flickr/Gobierno Republica de Ecuador)
With Nicaragua’s general election now just six months away, leaders of the country’s fractured opposition continue to save their best punches not for incumbent President Daniel Ortega of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), but for each other. Read the rest of this entry ?
Courtesy of Flickr/Justin Sloan
US President Barack Obama concluded his first official tour of Latin of America last week with a brief visit to El Salvador. Dismissed by some as being more style than substance, the quick stopover served, nevertheless, to underscore El Salvador’s increasingly important role as a key US ally in the region. Read the rest of this entry ?
Photo courtesy of Flikr/Herbal Gerbil
Chilean authorities last week lived up to their nation’s motto – “por la razon o la fuerza” (by reason or force) – opting for the latter to end what had been a six-month standoff with indigenous activists on Easter Island. Known locally as Rapa Nui, the isolated Pacific island lies more than 3,000 kilometers west of Chile, which controls it as a “special territory.” Read the rest of this entry ?
A year after slamming a huge swath of central Chile, last February’s massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake (NotiSur, March 12, 2010) continues to leave President Sebastián Piñera on shaky political ground Read the rest of this entry ?
