February 1, 2006 www.LatinEPR.com LatinEPR News Wire
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LATIN AMERICA - COMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA
Brazil: Large Cell Phone Market but Low Usage
Brazil has become one of the world’s largest cell phones markets with over 85 million subscribers, reports local telecommunication consultancy Teleco. However, high rates mean that the country also has one of the lowest levels of phone usage in the world. According to a study conducted by Merrill Lynch, average cell phone rates in Brazil (US$0.15/minute) are twice as high as those in the United States (US$0.07/minute). Compared to other countries with similarly high numbers of cell phone users, Brazil also has a much higher tax rate of 40%.
Yahoo! Opens Research Center in Santiago
According to Chilean online tech magazine Mouse, US Portal Yahoo! has established a research center at the computing science department of the Universidad de Chile in Santiago. The Yahoo! Research Center will focus on developing and improving information search processes over the internet.
First Channel for South American Hispanics Debuts on US Digital Network
Latinoamerica Television (LTV), the first channel designed for South American Hispanics living in the United States, made its debut on the DirecTV Para Todos programming service on Jan. 10, 2006. Developed by DirecTV and Alterna’Tv, a leading distributor of Hispanic channels in the United States, LTV integrates programming from leading South American television companies such as Channel 13 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Channel 4 Telefuturo from Paraguay, Rede Globo from Brazil and channel Teledoce from Uruguay. LTV will also complement its programming with content from RCTV from Venezuela, Televideo from Colombia, The Futbol Channel from Chile, Accuweather from the U.S., Nueva Imagen from Chile, and the television debut of the prestigious America Economia magazine.
Female Channel Fox Life Garners More than 1.5 Million Subscribers
Fox Latin American Channels announced this past month that its female-targeted Fox Life garnered more than 1.5 million subscribers in Latin America just one week after its launch in the region. Geared to women aged 18 to 49, the channel delivers comedy, drama and entertainment. Carriage deals have been inked with DIRECTV Panamericana, Cablevisión and PCTV in Mexico, Cable Tica in Costa Rica, TV Cable Bogotá in Colombia, TV Cable Ecuador, Televisora Satelital in Peru, and NET Brasil. Incidentally, Fox’s male-targeted FX channel surpassed 13 million subscribers in LatAm, after being added to DIRECTV Panamericana.
LATIN AMERICA - NEWS BRIEFS
Latin American Countries Rate High in Latest Travel Polls
According to latest polls released by various travel channels, Latin America seems to be growing in popularity among international visitors. Lonely Planet’s prestigious Blue List included four Latin American countries in its Top 10 Recommendations for 2006. Argentina topped that list, followed by Nicaragua (3), Mexico (5), and Colombia (9). Argentina was also the number one Value Destination, with Mexico figuring in the Top 10. Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador counted in the Top 10 Countries On The Rise. Peru and the Galapagos scored well in www.iEplore.com’s Top Ten World Travel Destinations, placing second and third, respectively. Released in January, the list is determined by the vacation purchases on www.iEplore.com, the leading online seller of adventure and experiential travel.
Cruiselines Inaugurate South American Itineraries For 2006-07 Season
Starting January 2007, passengers of Swan Hellenic Discovery Cruising will have the chance to circumnavigate the South American continent on a 66-day cruise aboard the elegant five star Minerva II. The ship will depart and return to Bridgetown, Barbados, and make berth in over 30 ports. The SeaDream Yacht Club is also inaugurating a new South American season with the launch of 9-night and 10-night itineraries from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro aboard the 5-star SeaDream I this coming November.
GoVisitCostaRica.com Promotes National Parks
GoVisitCostaRica.com has added a new section entitled ‘Costa Rica National Parks’, in order to further promote the country’s natural treasures and biological diversity. Highlights span the popular to the less traversed, from the well-known Manuel Antonio National Park to the more remote Corcovado National Park. The website, receives tens of thousands of visitors monthly, making one of the most referenced sites by people traveling to the Central American nation.
2006 Becomes Tourism Year in Brazil
Earlier this month, Brazilian president Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva proclaimed 2006 as Tourism Year, in a national effort to bring more foreigners to Brazil and increase domestic tourism. 2006 will also be Santos Dumont Year in Brazil, marking the centennial anniversary of the aviation pioneer’s first public flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in October 1906 in Paris.
GOL Services Montevideo, Copa Increases Frequency to Chile
This January, Brazil’s low-cost airline, GOL, began operating daily flights from Guarulhos Airport in Sao Paulo to the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, with a stopover in Porto Alegre, while Panamanian Copa Airlines added non-flights to its Panama City-Santiago route.
DR Tourism Ministry Stages European-Latin American Music Festival
The Dominican Republic will host the first European-Latin American Music Festival, to be held February 23-25, announced the Tourism Ministry in Santo Domingo. Artists could include Victoria Avril, Nana Mouskouri, and Bonnie Tyler, and the event will be covered by media from Europe and throughout the Americas.
Argentina and Brazil Repay IMF Debt Ahead of Schedule
Three years ahead of schedule, Argentina repaid its $9.8 billion debt with the International Monetary Fund this January. President Nestor Kirchner’s decision was widely supported at home and may have saved the country about $1 billion, though argument persists that drawing such large sums from Argentina’s currency reserves could adversely affect the funding of social programs. Argentina still owns much to private entities, including the World Bank, but it began reducing this amount by 25% this past June. In related news, Brazil is also preparing to repay its IMF debt of $15.5 billion, two years ahead of time.
ECLAC Report Projects 4% Growth in the Region for 2006
The Economic Commission For Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) recently released its report, ‘Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean’, which forecasts a 4.1% economic growth rate for the region in 2006. If correct, this prediction would fall in line with the region’s upward trend in the past three years. In 2005, the region’s GDP increased 4.3% over the previous year, with unemployment falling from 10.3% to 9.3% and poverty falling to 40.6% in 2005, a 3.4% decrease since 2002. Although these improvement are promising, the report cautions that the 5.7% projected growth between 2003-2006 is still slower than other developing regions. However, some of Latin America and the Caribbean’s subregions are behaving differently than the region overall, with the countries of the Southern Cone and the Andean Community enjoying the most growth, headed by Venezuela (9%), Argentina (8.6%), Uruguay (6%), Chile (6%), Peru (6%) and Panama (6%).
IMF Grants Debt Relief to Four LatAm Nations
As part of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, the IMF has approved 100% debt relief for the following Latin American countries: Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The decision comes in an effort by the international community to help move these ‘heavily indebted poor countries’ towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
OPEC to Co-Finance Rehabilitation of Pan American Highway
The OPEC Fund for International Development recently announced signing a US$5 million loan agreement with the Republic of Nicaragua to co-finance rehabilitation of a key section of the Pan American Highway. The aims of the scheme are to foster the country’s regional integration and enable the population to have unhampered access to social services, marketplaces and employment opportunities. One of Nicaragua’s most important links, the Pan American Highway provides passage to Honduras in the north and Costa Rica to the south. The stretch, which is located in the south-west, serves some 240,000 individuals, most of whom derive their livelihoods from agriculture.
LatAm Currencies Top Performers in 2005
According to Bloomberg, five of the 10 top-performing currencies in 2005 were from Latin America. The Brazilian real gained nearly 14% against the US dollar in 2005, a total of 74% since 2002. Consequently, the once weak real proved the top performer among 16 most actively traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Not far behind, the Chilean peso rose for a third year in a row, advancing 8.5% against the dollar in 2005, and the Colombian peso performed strongly as well. These currency gains may be positive in regard to braking inflation, but their adverse affect on export sales, factory investment, and overall economic growth is already becoming evident. Never having had to weaken their exchange rates, many Latin American countries will now have to choose between controlling inflation, their traditional concern, or controlling exchange rates, because as Henry Stipp of Threadneedle Asset Management in London states, “you can’t do both.”
Brazil Works to Free Slave Labor
2005 was a record year for the Brazilian government in terms of shutting down slave labor operations, reported the Latin American News Agency, Prensa Latina, in a recent article. Lured under false pretenses to work in remote locations, oftentimes plantations, slave laborers face unfit living conditions and risk losing their lives if they attempt to leave their employment. 81 such operations were shut down this past year, bringing the total to 219 since Lula da Silva took office in 2003. This January, the Brazilian president attended the launch of the International Labor Organization and Labor Ministry’s “Slave Labor Eradication” campaign. Some efforts under the campaign include an agreement with the private bank federation to disallow loans to states listed as using slave labor, and a program to provide freed slave workers with monetary supplements.
DR Extends Whale-Watching Season
The Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Environment has agreed to extend this year’s whale observation season, which began in January, into mid-April. Thousands of North Atlantic humpback whales gather every year in the Samana Bay to mate and give birth. As many as 300 are present at any given time during the season, making this area of the Dominican Republic one of the best places in the world to whale-watch.
DID YOU KNOW?
Fungus Suspected of Destroying Tropical Species
Some scientists are attributing the mysterious death of over one hundred sea turtles along El Salvador’s Pacific coastline to a fungus or venomous algae. The country’s Ministry of the Environment fears as many as 600 turtles could continue to wash up. Around 2,000 adult sea turtles live in the waters off El Salvador. Their biggest threats usually consist of poachers and boat traffic, but scientists have ruled out such interference, as all the carcasses found thus far have been intact. A deadly fungus, spurred on by global warming, is also being held responsible for the disappearance of 70 harlequin frog species in Central and South America. Nature Magazine recently published a report linking the extinction of this iconic rainforest amphibian with an overall climate change. It seems, regardless of local weather, days are getting cooler (from cloud coverage) and nights are getting warmer, creating the perfect environment for the fungus to proliferate. If these frogs continue to disappear, it would be one of the most widespread devastations to an animal species in history.
Peru: Archaeologists Find Oldest Irrigation Canals in South America
Archeologists have found remnants of South America’s oldest-known irrigation canals in the Andean foothills of northern Peru. Carbon dating of these silt-filled canals, which are buried under sediment, places them as early as 6,700 years ago, reports the Associated Press. Evidence of domesticated cotton, squash, and stone hoe-like tools reinforces Peru’s distinction as one of the only places in the world to have had complex societies around the same time as but independent of the Egyptians.