July 1, 2007        www.LatinEPR.com        

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LATIN AMERICA - NEWS BRIEFS

 

MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Venezuelan TV Station to Look At Broadcasting from Mexico

 

Radio Caracas Television is not being deterred by the Venezuelan government’s decision to revoke its broadcasting license last month.  The move to bar the opposition-led television station was regarded by many as politically motivated and an ominous sign of the condition of journalistic freedoms in the country.  But instead of going quietly, owner of Radio Caracas Television Marcel Granier recently spoke to reporters in Mexico City, declaring the company’s commitment to reestablish contact with the Venezuelan public “either from Venezuela or from abroad, by any means possible” (AHN).  With many friends in the country’s broadcasting industry, it seems most likely that Radio Caracas Television’s immediate future work lies with Mexico.

 

YouTube Courts Brazil Audience

 

Brazil was recently named among the nine countries chosen by online video leader YouTube.com in its plan for global expansion, the announcement coming on the heels of Google Inc.’s $1.76 billion acquisition of the company at the end of last year.  Backed by Google’s computing power, YouTube has set about making its sites available around the world.  The first in line are Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the UK.  Each country-specific site will be translated into the native language of its audience and feature videos with the greatest cultural appeal.  With recent legal issues in the US, there is concern, of course, that YouTube may encounter similar problems with copyright authorization abroad.  Already there exist pending lawsuits by various international sporting associations like the English Football Premier League regarding unauthorized content posted on the US site.  However, YouTube is countering this by working out licensing agreements with a range of content providers, 150 alone across Europe (Canadian Press).  In Brazil, the company has already negotiated a partnership with major TV network Globo, allowing the website to show content produced by the broadcaster.  Br.youtube.com will also work with Brazil’s web portals Terra and IG. 

 

TRAVEL

 

Dominican Republic is No. 1 with US Market

 

The Dominican Republic is fast becoming the No. 1 vacation destination for U.S. travelers, reported the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in an article this past month, and indeed the small island nation is gaining in visibility.  Having steadily enjoyed popularity as an affordable option compared to its exclusive Caribbean neighbors, the Dominican Republic has now set about blending its cost-friendly image with a variety of high-end tourism products that bring the country into a class by itself.  The latest marketing boost comes from Donald Trump, who appointed the recent winner of the successful Apprentice reality show as director of operations at his US$1 billion-plus resort and residential Cap Cana development project.  The Sun-Sentinel asserts that “Trump’s entry at the sprawling Cap Cana project underscores a recent shift to more upscale offerings, geared…to U.S. visitors with less time and more buying power”.  Boosting its image further, the Dominican Republic was recently appointed official country partner of ITB Berlin 2008.  The annual global tourism conference chose the DR for its firm establishment as a year-round destination, as well as for its stable political and investment climate.  According to ITB Berlin figures, the Dominican Republic is estimated to receive 4 million visitors this year.

 

Central America Visitor Numbers up 11.7%

 

Caribbean News Digital has published figures that indicate visitor numbers to Central America for the first quarter of 2007 are up 11.7% compared to the same period last year.  In total, the region received 1,761,916 visitors from January to March, in contrast to the 1,577,321 visitors that traveled during those months in 2006.

 

LAN Expands Flights to LA and New York

 

This past June, LAN Airlines expanded its routes to the U.S., adding five weekly non-stop flights between Santiago and Los Angeles, and three between the Chilean hub and New York City. These flights are in addition to existing flights between Santiago and the two U.S. destinations via Lima, Peru.  Scheduled to depart Santiago in the evenings, the flights are designed to minimize the stress of such long-haul journeys and allow travelers to fully enjoy their holidays.

 

Aeromexico Offers New Service to Central America

 

Aeromexico, Mexico’s largest airline, announced it has begun new service with two weekly flights from Mexico City to both Honduras and Nicaragua, providing their U.S. gateways in Houston, Los Angeles and Miami with access to Central America’s important business destinations.  Effective July 9, the schedule will change for both markets, with twice weekly flights to Honduras and flights five days a week to Nicaragua. The new schedule will also provide continuing service to Guatemala from both Managua and San Pedro Sula.

 

Falkland Islands’ Cruise Industry Flourishes

 

(Penguin News) – The Falklands’ flourishing tourism industry continues to grow, particularly in the cruise ship sector.  Figures indicate a 13 percent increase in the last year, while passengers visiting the Falklands have more than doubled since 2001.  In a report released earlier this month, Liz Dimmlich from the Falkland Islands Tourist Board says that a total of 51,282 passengers were cleared by Immigration to land in the Islands during the last season, paying a total of US$1.412 million in passenger landing taxes to the government.  This income was boosted by vessels paying a further US$400,616 in harbor dues to Falkland Islands Government.  The season was an extended one, starting on October 21 with the Nordnorge and ending some five months later on March 30 with the Norwegian Crown.  Stanley is the top destination, receiving 91 of the 182 cruise ship visits with Carcass Island, New Island and West Point respectively being the most popular Camp ports.  March 12 was the busiest day for Stanley with 3,947 passengers being cleared from three vessels.  Americans are still the nationality most keen to visit the Falklands, with a total of 21,298; 6,736 British people made the journey as did 1,082 Argentineans.

 

Airbus Expands in LatAm, Adds to Avianca Fleet

 

Colombia’s national flag carrier Avianca has signed a firm contract for 19 additional Airbus aircraft of which 14 A320 Family aircraft and five A330-200s. This additional order brings the total of firm orders from Avianca up to 57 Airbus aircraft.    Including this order, Airbus has received a total of 390 orders from 16 airlines in Latin America. Since 1990 Airbus has taken 54 per cent of all Latin American orders for new aircraft. Furthermore, Airbus has tripled its presence in Latin America over the last seven years. Avianca is Colombia’s largest airline and is also the second oldest commercial airline in the world.

 

ECONOMY AND POLITICS

 

Ecuador Expected to Rejoin OPEC

 

Following an official request from Quito to become a member, OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri has admitted he expects Ecuador to soon join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.  The statement was made in a recent interview with AFP at its headquarters in Vienna.  A final decision, to be made at a September conference in the Austrian capital, still depends on the other 12 member states, which include Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Venezuela.  Ecuador originally joined OPEC in 1973, but left the organization in 1992 on account of the high membership fee and OPEC’s refusal to raise Ecuador’s production quota (New York Times, 1992).  It also owed $5 billion, which some members might want repaid before agreeing to Ecuador’s request, reports the BBC.  In an April article, the BBC cited that renewed interest in the petroleum organization may partly stem from rising crude oil prices and the access to Middle East bank loans Ecuador would enjoy as a member.  Currently, Ecuador is South America’s fifth largest oil producer.

 

Chilean Senators Back Bolivia’s Access to Sea

 

(Prensa Latina) – The Bolivian government lauded the support expressed by visiting Chilean senators for the country's demand for access to the sea.  According to Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, the Chilean parliamentary position is part of a new stage of bilateral relations between the two countries.  Choquehuanca described the support as a step forward in the possibility of granting Bolivia a corridor in the north of Arica or a territorial enclave in Iquique.  Bolivia's access to the sea was snatched by Peru during the Pacific War (1879-1884).  Bolivia broke diplomatic relations with Chile in 1978, after a failed rapprochement between General Augusto Pinochet and Dictator Hugo Banzer, who were the de facto presidents of the two countries at the time.  After President Evo Morales and Michelle Bachelet took office, a new stage in bilateral relations opened for the two countries, Choquehuanca added.  He noted that the bilateral agenda, which included the issue of Bolivia's access to the sea, was signed by the two heads of state.

 

Brazil Sees Best Economic State in over Hundred Years

 

Brazil’s economy is in the best state since the country became a republic in 1889, stated Brazilian president Luiz Lula da Silva in his weekly radio program this past month.  According to the statesman, the key to Brazil’s success is that it has finally worked out how to combine economic growth with inflation control, and cites the GDP’s 4.3% year-on-year increase for the first quarter of 2007 as an indication of continued growth this year.

 

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

 

World Refugee Day Turns Focus on Millions of Colombian Displaced Persons

 

More than half a million Colombians are refugees and another 3 million are currently internally displaced persons (IDPs), the largest group of its kind in the world after Sudan and Angola, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently released. With the Colombian-based Consultancy of Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES) placing the UNHCR estimate even higher, at 3.7 million, it is clear that Colombians face a serious crisis, one which has led the UNHCR and 130 other organizations to declare 2007 the Year of the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Colombia.  Furthermore, a variety of special festivities were organized across Latin America for this year’s World Refugee Day (June 20).  In Quito, Ecuador, for example, the celebrations began a few days early with a cultural and trade fair meant to promote the integration of refugees.  Sponsored in part by the UNHCR, the fair was attended by over 25,000 people and featured handicrafts, food, and other goods from both Ecuadorians and Colombian refugees.  Integration is of great importance in Ecuador, as some 250,000 Colombians have now fled to the Andean nation.  Another 200,000 have escaped to Venezuela, while significant populations have sought refugee in Panama and Costa Rica.  The latter, a small country of 4 million, has a history of offering asylum, having provided a safe haven for thousands of Guatemalan refugees in the past decades.

 

It Takes 3.5 Million to Tango in Buenos Aires

 

More than 3000 people, 70% of them foreigners, dance or watch tango on any given night in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.  Adding up to 3.5 million people as either actors or spectators annually, the tango industry brings the city approximately US$130 million every year.  These are some of the figures recently compiled by the Buenos Aires City Culture Department.  According to a department’s survey, there are up to 300 events taking place every week, 52 of them tango shows for tourists, not to mention a booming number of tango schools springing up all over the city.  And last year over 275,000 people attended both the Buenos Aires World Tango Competition and the Tango Festival.  The popularity of this dance has even spawned tango tours which take tourists on a cultural tour of its origins in the seedy River Plate port slums of the 19th century, quite a contrast to its identity as a national treasure today.

 

Glacial Lake Disappearance Mystery in Chile

 

Scientists are investigating this past month’s mysterious disappearance of a glacial lake in Chile’s southern Andes, the Associated Press recently reported.  Park rangers at the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park said they found a 100-feet crater in late May where the lake had still been two months previous.  All that was left were the large chunks of ice that had used to float atop the water.  A possible explanation may be that the water filtered through cracks on the lake floor and into underground fissures, but there were no earthquakes in recent months to cause the cracks. The river that flowed out of the lake was also reduced to almost nothing.

 

Archaeology Finds World’s Oldest Observatory in Peru

 

Archaeologists believe they have found evidence in Peru of the world’s oldest astronomical observatory, according to a recent article in Living in Peru.  Based on carbon analysis of the wood in the structures, the towers of Chankillo, located in the country’s north coastal desert, are from around 200 to 300 B.C. and seem to predate observatories built by the Moche culture by 600 years.  Scientists claim the towers are positioned precisely to mark the Summer and Winter solstice, the sun rising and setting over them during those times to mark the solar year.