by the El Reportero’s news services
Carlos Fernando Chamorro
Carlos Fernando Chamorro, son of Nicaragua’s former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-97) and former editor in chief of Sandinista newspaper Barricada, was served a search warrant to search the Communication Research Center, Cinco’s facilities in Managua, that he rans, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008.
According to Associated Press, Chamorro, says that all charges against him and Cinco are part of persecution toward those who criticize the government of Nicaragua’s current President Daniel Ortega. He said the charges against him were not specified.
Energy reforms in Mexico Senate agenda
An energy reform about to be discussed at the Senate is causing great expectation in Mexican political circles.
According to legislative sources, in the next few days seven laws should be voted to transform the state Petroleros Mexicanos, after consensus was reached in the high chamber of the House of Representatives.
This Saturday, 11 of 19 senators that, indistinctively, make up the commissions of legislative studies and energy in the Senate met with the goal of advancing to make a fi nal decision on the topic.
However, the outlook seems tense because of the silence that has prevailed in the talks held in the Senate.
“It’s very grave to negotiate giving our backs to the Mexican people in something that is decisive for our future,” said former senator Manuel Bartlett.
For the member of the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) there is an interest to approve the bill in a very fast manner which will mean the privatization of the industry.
PT edges municipal elections; Serra and PMDB boost presidential hopes
President Lula da Silva’s popularity helped candidates from his Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) to win six state capitals, as well as many small and medium-sized cities, in the first round of municipal elections on Oct. 5. But Lula’s support was not enough to earn the PT an outright victory in Brazil’s largest – and richest – city of São Paulo, where state governor José Serra, of the opposition Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB), is likely to see an allied mayor win the second round vote at the end of the month – boosting his chances of winning Brazil’s presidency in 2010.
Latin American markets buck global trend
Latin America’s two biggest stockmarkets, Brazil and Mexico, fell by much less than US markets on Oct. 9. International investors may have finished their selling in the most liquid Latin American markets. Brazil, especially, looks well placed to profi t if the world economy performs in 2009 in line with the forecasts in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook rather than collapsing, as stockmarkets around the world are suggesting.
Bolivia pulls back from the brink
The tensions resulting from the Aug. 10 recall vote which saw both President Evo Morales and the opposition prefects confi rmed in power [RA-09-08] exploded last month with some of the worst violence to afflict Bolivia in recent years, culminating in a massacre in Pando which left at least 18 dead. Precipitating an emergency summit of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) which saw an overwhelming show of support for Morales, the shocking events forced the opposition prefects to attend talks regarding the issues behind the dispute – the new constitution, autonomy and the redistribution of gas (IDH) revenues. However, negotiations refused to yield any positive result.
(Latin News, Associated Press, and Prensa Latina contributed to this report).
