Full Coverage: South America

31.05.2006 According to a new report, China, India, and Brazil could cut their rapidly rising energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent using existing energy efficient technologies.

31.05.2006 The solution to the decades-long human rights agony inflicted on Colombia's people lies in a revived form of regional solidarity, argues international relations professor and long-time Colombia resident Juan Gabriel Tokatlian.

29.05.2006 With world energy prices and climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions ballooning in tandem with a surge in energy demand from the hot economies of China, India and Brazil, the world has a major stake in the success of energy reduction efforts, particularly in those three countries, say experts concluding a four-year international project.

26.05.2006 QUITO, May 26 (IPS) - Showing the door to Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and scuttling U.S. free trade negotiations have long been agenda priorities for Ecuadorian social movements and political sectors. But following government steps that have all but made these goals a reality, the atmosphere seems more anxious than celebratory.

24.05.2006 Interview with Nicaraguan lawyer Vilma Núñez de Escorcia.
Below are extracts from an interview by Noticias Aliadas collaborator Suzanne Timmons, with Nicaraguan lawyer Vilma Núñez de Escorcia, who presided over the hearings in the Permanent Tribunal of the People.

22.05.2006 In the past few days Greenpeace has repeatedly blocked the operations of US multinational Cargill, which it says is one of the leading culprits in the invasion of soya into the Amazon.

22.05.2006 The 'Usina Verde' project seeks to generate energy in Brazil while eliminating urban waste and helping to curb global warming. But its good intentions have not won over environmental groups because the plan involves burning the garbage.

19.05.2006 Charges that the Amazon is being internationalised by the presence of more than 3,500 NGOs are being debated at a meeting of Brazilian state legislatures.
* Kentucky Fried Amazon

19.05.2006 If the Colombian authorities fail to act swiftly to protect the Nukak - caught up in a civil war between guerrillas and government - the country's last nomads face extinction, the director of Survival International warned yesterday.

17.05.2006 One Man Uses Gas And Oil Money To Help The Poor. The Other Uses It To Buy Guns. Guess Who Gets Vilified.Civilisation has a new enemy. He is a former coca grower called Evo Morales, who is currently the president of Bolivia.

15.05.2006 Even though Ecuador has signed various international agreements for the protection of human rights, the country lacks a system to protect minors as well as an accurate count of how many Colombian children have sought refuge within its borders.

15.05.2006 President Chávez - currently on a visit to Britain - and Venezuela deserve the support of all who believe in social justice and democracy, says Ken Livingstone.

12.05.2006 Lola is at the top of her class of risk-running rodents being trained to sniff out landmines in Colombia, home to the world's highest number of mine-related deaths and injuries last year.

10.05.2006 A questão das relações entre ética e política se transformou na questão número um do debate nacional a partir das denúncias de corrupção no ano passado.

09.05.2006 With the nationalization of Bolivia’s gas and petroleum resources President Evo Morales--the country’s first Indian president--is dramatically reshaping his country’s destiny. On May 1st he proclaimed “an historic day has arrived. Now the gas and oil that flows from our land will no longer belong to foreigners.”

08.05.2006 RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, May 8 (ENS) - Brazil has inaugurated its first uranium enrichment facility to produce the type of fuel for nuclear power plants that Iran is running into trouble for attempting to produce. There are strong suspicions that the objective of the Iranian nuclear program is to eventually build a bomb, but Brazil has managed to assure the international community its intentions are industrial and commercial, not military.

08.05.2006 Brazil has officially inaugurated its first uranium enrichment facility to produce the type of fuel for nuclear power plants that Iran is running into trouble for attempting to produce.

05.05.2006 BUENOS AIRES, May 5 (IPS) - The presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela confirmed their interest in moving together towards regional energy integration, in a summit held Thursday in the northeastern Argentine province of Misiones to discuss the impact of the Bolivian government's decision to reassert state control over the country's energy resources.

05.05.2006 Children and adolescents in Colombia are asking adults to vote for candidates who have children’s rights on their agenda. Find out more about the campaign.

05.05.2006 Iraq and Afghanistan rank among the world's weakest states, according to an annual index based on a dozen social, economic, and political indicators. Venezuela made the greatest progress towards stability in the past year.