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Calls for the president to resign were heard throughout Mexico Monday, as people took to the streets in huge numbers to express discontent with the current administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
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Published on 28 November 2014 by Cuba News Agency
Representatives of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) of Argentina and Havana's Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) signed on Thursday 17 scientific cooperation agreements for the next few years.
Among the projects signed in the First Integration Workshop we find the creation of a laboratory for the research, development and assessment of medicaments produced by the two institutions and jointly, which will be named Ernesto Che Guevara.
In addition, other areas of common interest that could constitute future projects in the use of biotechnology in humans and in agriculture were identified.
The expert showed his satisfaction for working with persons linked to the highest level of scientific research in the field of biological system studies, which will make it possible to generate modern alternatives created in the context of South-South cooperation.
Roberto Carlos Salvarezza, president of Conicet, told ACN that the first agreements were signed in 2009, of which there are currently four projects in execution, one of them related to therapy against cancer.
We can learn a lot from Cuba and strengthen the links of solidarity existing between the Argentinean and Cuban scientific communities, specified the head of Conicet.
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Published on 17 November 2014 by Granma Internacional
Latin America is today experiencing new times which, after 10 years of work resulting in undeniable achievements, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) is facing the challenge of consolidating itself, stated the organization’s Executive Secretary Bernardo Álvarez.
The ALBA-TCP has the unique feature of brining together political forces which involved in a common project based on diversity, noted Álvarez in statements to Prensa Latina. “In addition it understands that there are other mechanisms of integration in the hemisphere which play an equally important role, such as the Union of Southern Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,” he commented.
“We aspire to be a political consciousness for the left, for the world, for progress within new Latin American integration, with respect, but doing everything necessary so that the transformation and social agendas are part of debates in Latin American. This is where the challenge lies,” stated Álvarez, adding that, the challenge also consists of continuing to promote and support integration and, to be an expression of this transformative political vision in the heart of Latin America.
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Published on 14 November by TeleSUR English
According to the Foreign Ministry, 136 projectiles were fired during the drills.
The Argentinian government issued Thursday a statement rejecting military exercises conducted by the United Kingdom (UK) in the Malvinas islands.
The HMS Iron Duke warship conducted a series of maneuvers which included shooting 136 projectiles.
The Argentinian government denounced the exercise as a violation of United Nations General Assembly resolution 31/49 which calls upon both Argentina and the UK to abstain from any actions that would alter the status-quo whilst still in negotiations.
The statement also considers the exercises a provocation against the South American country.
The Malvinas islands were occupied by the UK in 1833, and since are disputed with Argentina. The issue led to a war between both countries in 1982.
The UK responded later on Friday to Argentina's complaint, claiming the exercises are routine and should not be considered a provocation.
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Published by TeleSUR
The Cuban state-owned pharmaceutical and chemical company Labiofam announced that it will construct a factory in Bolivia that would allow the country to fulfill 100 percent of its demand for basic medicine, which updated it’s list of essential medicines last month.
The plant is scheduled to be operational by 2020 and will provide pharmaceutical goods that will benefit both countries and in other countries across the Latin America region.
The two countries signed a cooperation agreement last May, which seeks to boost and incentivize local production of medicines across Latin America.
Currently, Bolivia imports 70 percent of the pharmaceuticals used in the country at an estimated cost of US$56.4 million dollars a year.
Labiofam director general Jose Antonio Fraga told Reuters that the project has the potential to significantly reduce prices and improve access for certain medicines, with positive outcomes for Bolivian healthcare system.
"This is basically for poor people because they can't afford the prices set by the trans-nationals,"Fraga said. "So these industries will be subsidized by the state or their products will be sold at a very small profit margin, just to sustain themselves, not to get rich."
The announcement coincides with a recent decision made by Bolivian President Evo Morales who stated that his government seeks to invest US$350 million in the local pharma industry in order to reduce dependence on international pharmaceutical imports.
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Based on the official election results Dilma Rousseff has won the Brazilian presidential Elections.
According to the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has won the Brazilian presidential elections with 51.45 percent of the vote compared to her political rival Aecio Neves who captured 48.55 percent, a difference of two million votes.
Voting began at 8 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Voters also selected federal parliament and state governors.
More than 142 million Brazilians have voted in the country's presidential election, marking the end to a dramatic campaign.
Some 15,000 soldiers have been deployed in 280 cities across Brazil to provide security, down from the 30,000 troops deployed during the October 5 runoff election.
Rousseff won the first-round vote with 41.6 percent versus 33.6 percent for Neves, a difference of eight million votes. Neves was endorsed a week ago by Marina Silva, a popular environmentalist who placed third with 22 million votes.
As Brazil’s first female President, Rousseff was first elected in 2011. Born in 1947, she was raised in an middle-class household in Belo Horizonte.
In 1970 she was captured and imprisoned for three years where she subjected to torture, including electric shocks, for her role in the underground resistance against the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Under her first presidential term, Brazil's economy grew by an average of more than four percent each year, transitioning more than 30 million people out of poverty.
The incumbent focused her campaign message on expanding the social programs that reduced poverty and inequality in the country during her Workers' Party 12-year rule.
In addition, she has promised to continue to invest in infrastructure, particularly in connecting important economic zones to ports by rail. She has said that she would like to bring universal broadband Internet access to the country.
Meanwhile, the loosing candidate Aeicio Neves had vowed to cut back on government spending, and implement austerity if elected.
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Following the triumph of Evo Morales in Bolivia's 12 October Presidential elections we republish data circulated by Centre for Economic and Policy Research on 8 October 2014
Below are ten graphs on economic and social developments since Evo Morales' election in 2005 that help explain the strong support for his re-election.
1. Economic Growth: Bolivia has grown much faster over the last 8 years under President Evo Morales than in any period over the past three-and-a-half decades.
Source: International Monetary Fund.
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Published on 21 October 2014 by Venezuela Analysis
At the request of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, member countries of the ALBA trade bloc met yesterday at a special summit in Havana, Cuba to discuss methods of preventing the spread of the ebola virus in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Venezuelan government has donated US$5 million to the United Nations to fight the spread of the virus.
“I am of the conviction,” Cuban president Raul Castro said in his opening statement, “that if this threat is not stopped and resolved in West Africa, with an efficient international response backed by sufficient resources, coordinated by the World Health Organization of the United Nations, it could become one of the gravest pandemics in human history.”
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Evo Morales, re-elected Sunday, gave a press conference at the Government Palace in La Paz, Bolivia.
President Evo Morales welcomed both local and international press Monday morning for a press conference to discuss his victory and the gains made by his party Movement Toward Socialism (MAS).
Morales declared that “We are very happy, it is not easy to be reelected with more than 60 percent, We have made history in Bolivia.” He signaled that the electoral results constitute a victory for the social movements in the country as well, adding, “It moves me to share this triumph with all of you, with the Bolivian people.”
Morales emphasized that this victory also carries symbolic weight, “[In Bolivia] we have changed, it is important to ratify that politics is about service for the people,” saying “Nationalization has won here and that our services are a human right.”
He called on the opposition, who suffered a large defeat to work with his government and to offer concrete proposals, explaining “Bolivia no longer wants confrontation, it is for that reason that we invite all sectors to work together with us.”
President Morales then opened the floor up to questions, where he analyzed his own personal trajectory to the Presidency. The final question came from a North American reporter who asked the President to respond to accusations that his government acts in authoritarian manner. Morales responded by asserting that his government has always worked hand-in-hand with social movements, putting forward proposals together. He criticized the governments of the past who “Never left the Government Palace” and who ruled, not by winning the confidence of the people, but rather through so-called mega coalitions.
Last night, when greeting his supporters, Morales dedicated his victory to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, saying “This victory of the Bolivian people is dedicated to all the peoples in Latin America and the world that struggle against capitalism and against imperialism.”
Elections were also held for the 130 seat Chamber of Deputies, where MAS won 117 of the seats — 13 more than before — results for the Senate elections were not immediately available but are expected to be consistent with the results in the lower chamber. With two thirds of the seats in the Congress, Morales and the MAS party will be free to implement their program and policies.