Category: Latin America & the Caribbean

By Nadia Pontes | IDN-InDepthNews Feature

This story is the first in a series of news features related to the 21st UN Climate Conference (COP21) from November 30 to December 11. It was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to Megan Rowling and @alertnetclimate.

Pesqueira / Pernambuco, Brazil (IDN) – For the rural community of Pacheco in northeastern Brazil, the local school has never been so important. It is now the only place in the drought-stricken area that has water on tap.

The Central American country of Costa Rica is a model state that embodies the concept of global citizenship by pursuing a culture of peace and aspiring to achieve complete carbon-neutrality.

By Fabíola Ortiz | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

SAN JOSE (IDN) – With less than five million inhabitants, Costa Rica became famous for abolishing its army in the late 1940’s, when its Central American neighbours were involved in armed conflicts. After becoming a model of peace in the region, the country now wants to be known as a laboratory for a deep decarbonisation process of the world economy.

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – Uruguay has become the 10th member country in Latin America and the Caribbean to join a group of 50 OECD and non-OECD countries that are already members of the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Explaining the accession, a press release said, Uruguay’s structural characteristics, development experience and challenges offer rich opportunities for knowledge sharing among the Centre’s member countries.

Since its banking and financial crisis in 2002, it added, Uruguay has made remarkable progress. Stable macroeconomic policies and a favourable external environment permitted brisk growth and the financing of social policies, yielding the longest period of economic growth in decades.

By INPS* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

Washington DC (IDN) – An emerging-markets focused U.S. hedge fund that bought Peru’s 5.1 billion dollar decades-old military debts is threatening to sue the country.

Gramercy argues that the Peruvian government’s current repayment plan is inadequate and that if payments do not increase, it will sue Peru through a tribunal system embedded in the United States-Peru Free Trade Agreement (PTPA) that entered into force on February 1, 2009.

By Daniela Estrada | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

SANTIAGO DE CHILE (IDN) – Latin American and Caribbean countries registered an average global deficit of 2.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013, but their fiscal revenues rose and kept their public debt situation stable, giving them more room to increase investment and social spending, according to a new study by the UN Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

By Peter Tase* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (IDN) – Over the last two years, the Colombian government has given high priority to diplomatic efforts meant to shore up its immediate security situation, actively pursuing bilateral, trilateral and multilateral agreements with various governments in the region and beyond.

Colombia occupies a strategic position in the western hemisphere: it has a large territory connecting North America with the South, and it has enormous shores on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This geostrategic advantage allows Colombia to act as a gate of entry for South America, and its network of sea ports processes a large volume of commodities and other shipments coming in and out of the United States and Europe on a daily basis.

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

TORONTO (IDN) – Chile has received kudos for making significant economic progress in the previous three years but has been faulted for “some glaring inequalities”. A new study finds that – together with Mexico – Chile displays “the greatest inequality gap” in the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The average income of the wealthiest 10 percent in Chile and Mexico is 27 times that of the poorest 10 percent, in other words, a ratio of 27 to 1. By contrast, the OECD average is around 10 to 1, informs the 2013 Economic Survey of Chile.

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

TORONTO (IDN) – Latin America has achieved economic growth and made significant progress in poverty reduction over the course of the last decade. But it is now facing headwinds, according to the latest Latin American Economic Outlook.

Jointly produced by the OECD Development Centre, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, the report was released in Panama City during the XXIII Ibero-American summit on October 18-19, 2013.

“Between 2003 and 2012, the region grew at an average annual rate of 4% thanks to the rapid rise of global trade and increasing commodity prices, and this despite the contraction brought about by the international financial crisis,” states the report.

By Oscar Ugarteche, Valentina Ballesté* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

QUITO (IDN) – With no haste, but without pause, the participation of women in the labour market has seen accelerated growth since the 1970s, according to the Panorama Laboral 2012 of the International Labour Organization (ILO). There is a gradual closing of the differences in participation between men and women in the labour force.

The participation rate of women in Latin America in 2012 was 49.8%, the employment rate was 40.2% and the unemployment rate 7.7%, while for men the participation rate was 71.4%, employment 59.8% and unemployment 5.6%. (1)