November 1, 2006 www.LatinEPR.com LatinEPR News Wire
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LATIN AMERICA NEWS BRIEFS
MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
Televisa Sells Stake in Univision
Reuters has reported that Televisa is selling its 11% stake in Univision, a holding worth around $1 billion. The decision comes after last Televisa’s failed attempt last month to buy the media company outright. Univision shareholders voted instead to sell the company to a consortium of private equity firms for $13.7 billion. Since Televisa still supplies much of the content broadcast on Univision's stations, it is obligated to continue providing some content through 2017. Univision’s merger agreement with the private entities, which include media mogul Haim Saban, is expected to be completed in spring of 2007.
Bloomberg Adds to Spanish Business Programming
Bloomberg, the leading global news, data and analytics provider, has launched a new weekly 30-minute Spanish-language program, called Intercambio Bloomberg, on the Bloomberg Television Latin America service. Intercambio Bloomberg will give viewers in Latin America a weekly lineup of one-on-one interviews with top US and Latin American newsmakers. Some recent exclusive interviews on the Bloomberg Television Latin America service have included Evo Morales, Bolivian President; Jose Luis Machinea, General Secretary of the United Nations' Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean; and Mohammed Barkindo, OPEC Acting Secretary-General. This past May Bloomberg Television Latin America introduced its first Spanish-language program, the daily Reporte Financiero.
Discovery Channel Shines Spotlight on Private Stories of Brazil
Last month, the Discovery Channel premiered the latest special in its Discovery Atlas series: Brazil Revealed. Shot in the latest HD camera technology, Brazil Revealed explores the many cultural facets of the South American nation by following the private lives of its diverse population, from a government worker who dreams of performing the samba at Carnaval, to a young man whose life is capoeira, to a river trader whose livelihood depends on the Amazon, and a maid determined to win the biggest amateur soccer tournament in the world. The special also aired on Discovery Channel Brazil.
TRAVEL
US: South America Keeps Growing as Visitors Market to the US
South America is projected to show the strongest gains of any visitors market to the US by 2010, more than 35% from 2005, according to recently disclosed figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Asian visitors to the U.S., especially from China and India, could also increase by as much as 11% and 9%, respectively. In terms of overall tourism revenue, the U.S. is expected to finish 2006 with $107 billion, a $4 billion increase from last year. However, the continuing decline of other important markets like Europe, have prompted the U.S. Department of Commerce to call for a new national strategy for attracting international visitors. As it stands, North America is the only sub-region in the world to have recorded a decline in arrivals between 2000 and 2005. Globally, country-to-country travel has risen since 2000 by almost 20%.
LAN Argentina Adds New Routes
The Argentine ministry of Federal Planning has approved 26 of the 35 new international and domestic routes proposed by LAN Argentina, giving the airline a firm presence domestically and throughout the rest of South America, as well as the US, Europe, and Oceania. In addition, the important Miami-Buenos Aires route will be expanded to become a daily flight. The influx of capital driving the expansion is the result of a change in Argentine law that permits the main branch of Santiago-based LAN to invest more money in its Argentine counterpart, reports Mercopress. Incidentally, LAN Chile’s passenger traffic increased 15.4 percent in September from the same month a year before.
Brazil and Chile Join in UNITAID Airline Tax Program
Brazil and Chile are part of a consortium of countries that have banned together to establish UNITAID, the International Drug Purchase Facility intended to accelerate access to high-quality drugs and diagnostics for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in countries with a high burden of disease. UNITAID will function under an innovative funding mechanism that draws financial support from airline taxes. Although there is strong opposition to the concept of ‘global’ or ‘international’ tax, UNITAID expects 19 countries to participate in the program. Founding member countries include Brazil and Chile, as well as France, Norway, and the United Kingdom. UNITAID is also working together with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative.
Increased Latin American Airlift Explored
(Bahama Journal) – Bahamasair has completed its first round of talks with representatives of the Latin American air carrier Copa Airlines on a proposed arrangement that would make it easier for travelers from that market to visit The Bahamas as part of what some officials are calling a fruitful trade mission to Panama this past month. Bahamian tourism officials have their sights set on exploiting the potential in Panama, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina for increased arrivals to The Bahamas. Currently, The Bahamas predominantly welcomes travelers from the U.S, but officials are hoping that the large Latin American visitors market to the U.S. could trickle their way with the right strategies. These include the interairline agreement between Bahamasair and Copa Airlines that would allow visitors to Florida to connect more easily with Bahamasair, and thereby incorporate The Bahamas into their traveling plans.
ECONOMY AND POLITICS
LATAM Election Update: Ecuador
Conservative Ecuadorian presidential candidate Alvaro Noboa has surged into a 16-point lead over leftist Rafael Correa in polls released last week, the first since both men qualified for a runoff. 55-year-old Noboa, Ecuador's wealthiest man, leads all candidates with 27 percent. Correa, 43, a U.S.-trained economist running on an anti-establishment ticket, came in second in the field of 13 candidates with 23 percent. Candidates needed 50 percent, or at least 40 percent and a 10-point lead over the rest of the field, to avoid the runoff election on November 26.
70% for Panama Canal Expansion
(AFP) - A plan to expand the Panama Canal and build a third set of locks has won the support of 76.6% of the 924,029 voters who cast ballots in a referendum, Panama's electoral court recently announced. Voters threw their support behind the $5.25 bn plan to widen the countries transcontinental canal, to allow the world's biggest ships to sail between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. About 80% of the gross domestic product of Panama, which has a population of 3 mn, is linked directly or indirectly to canal activity, with the waterway's main users being the US, China and Japan.
Argentina and Brazil work on Biofuels Development
Argentina and Brazil have agreed to work together on the development of biofuels, announced Argentine officials in October. Brazil is the world's biggest producer of ethanol from sugarcane, and is expanding exports of its biofuels and expertise. Argentina, meanwhile, is stepping up production and the use of biodiesel and ethanol to ease demand for fossil fuels in the face of a declining supply of oil and natural gas that is pushing the energy-exporting country to greater reliance on imported gas oil, fuel oil, and natural gas. This prompted a meeting last month between Argentine Planning Minister Julio De Vido and Brazil's Development and Industry Minister Luiz Furlan, aimed at employing Brazil's experience to help Argentina reach its new energy goals: by 2010, all diesel and gasoline must contain at least 5% plant-based fuels. Argentina has ample supplies of corn, soybeans and other feedstock for ethanol and biodiesel, and many companies are already planning major investments to develop the products with an eye to exporting so as to tap growing demand for the fuel additives.
Mexico, Dominican Republic and Central America Sign Security Declaration
The leaders of Central America, the Dominican Republic and Mexico agreed to implement stronger security measures as well as expand commercial borders during an October summit in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, reported Dominican Today. The leaders drafted an agreement entitled the "Tegucigalpa Declaration" which highlights more than twenty points related to security, including the need for shared information between the different security and justice institutions in Central America. In addition, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua signed an agreement which will allow commercial and private flights to enter each other's airports as national flights, in order to save on immigration costs and redirect funds into tourism promotion and improved transportation. The summit also signaled the first international trip for Mexico's President-elect Felipe Calderon, who took the opportunity to ask the Central American leaders to join him in the fight against the construction on the proposed wall separating the US-Mexico border.
Peru Leads Latin America in Development Projects
(Xinhua) - Peru is at the vanguard of promoting millennium development goals in Latin America, Undersecretary General of the United Nations Ad Melkert recently stated on a visit to China. Melkert, who is also head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), said that the Andean nation had an open mind towards learning good practices from other countries and speeding up effective programs within the country, which included projects in investment, education, health, drinking water and sanitation. He particularly praised the Rimac Reborn Project, which covers the protection of property rights, the boosting of employment, and also the National Project to Directly Help the Poorest. Melkert emphasized the importance of maintaining these projects on the long term, in order to be truly effective and to create the perception that the country’s resources are being used to benefit the whole of society.
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
Campaign: No A Las Armas De Fuego
Humanitarian organization Red Solidaria, has launched a new campaign in Argentina called ‘No a Las Armas de Fuego (Say no to Firearms) that encourages children and their parents to trade in their bellicose toys for brand new soccer balls. The campaign is being conducted in association with Argentine soccer club River Plate and various governmental entities such as the Ministries of Sport and Culture.
New Bird Species Discovered
British experts have discovered a new bird species in the Yariguies Mountains of northern Colombia during the first biological expedition to the remote region. Aptly named the Yariguies Brush finch (Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum), the bird is brightly colored with striking black, yellow, and red plumage. Blanca Huertas, a curator at the Natural History Museum in London, has told the Daily Mail, that the description of a new bird is a rare event in modern times. Many other species are now joining the catalog of unstudied animals in the Yariguies Mountains and a national park has been established in the region.
Mexico City Residents Stage Largest Chess Tournament
During the last week of October, Mexico City became eligible for the Guinness Book of World Records by staging the largest chess tournament in history. According to city officials, 13,446 players took part in the mass tournament, which was held in the middle of El Zocalo square. Players dressed in alternating white and green shirts and were arranged in square table sections, so that the tournament would appear from the air like a giant chess board. Participants included thousands of amateurs as well as hundreds of grandmasters. The most famous of these was Russian chess master Anatoly Karpov, a world champion for 16 years between the 1970s and the 1990s. Karpov signed books and played 25 games with local children during his visit. The mass tournament in the Zocalo beat the previous record of 12,388, set last year in the nearby Mexican city of Pachuca.
