Yesterday, a school (vacant for summer vacation) was burned down. Last Friday, an elderly couple were found dead in their burned down home. It appears the seventy five year owner of the home, Werner Luchsinger, was managed to shoot one of the arsonists in the neck while defending his home and wife, Vivian McKay, during…
The government of President Hugo Chavez ordered the extension of public and private sector labor restrictions through 2013. The law, Ley Orgánica del Trabajo para las Trabajadoras y los Trabajadores (LOTTT), requires that neither public, nor private sector employees may be dismissed, demoted, or transferred without just cause (subject to prior approval by the regional…
An area of Brazilian rain forest larger than the US State Rhode Island was cleared from July, 2011, to July, 2012 according to data provided by the Brazilian government. A total of 1797 square miles (4,656 sq km) were cleared in that time; an area equal to 22% of Honduras’ land mass, and nearly twice…
Since Monday of this week, Chile been shaken by seven earthquakes of 4.5 or greater on the Richter scale according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Three of those reached 5.0 or greater, and the largest being a 5.5 which registered in Chile’s Biobío Region (one of fifteen administrative regions in Chile, and home to Concepción…
Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, has been forced to Cuba for medical attention for the third time due to concerns of a cancer recurrence. Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, has confirmed that Chavez was under going an operation for the cancer. Early in his administration, Chavez initiated an agreement with Cuba in which Venezuela agreed to…
Brazil produced a GDP of $2.4767 in 2011 (in current U.S. dollars) according to statistics from the World Bank. Globally, Brazil ranks sixth in the world in terms of GDP, after France, Germany, Japan, China, and the United States respectively. Regionally, this places the country first in Latin America, with a GDP nearly $1 trillion…
If one were to attempt a word association exercise starting with “Cuba,” it is very unlikely that “profits” would often follow, yet the island nation is counting on that unexpected connection to raise tax revenues. In short, Cuba needs more revenues to fund its socialist programs. To tax profits, of course, it is first necessary…
Launched on May 25, 2007 with images of select cities in the United States, Google began adding interactive 360° street views to its online map service. On September 25, 2012, Google finally added high quality street level images of Chile to their map service. So far, street view images can be seen of Valparaíso, Viña…
While Citgo traces it’s origins to Oklahoma in 1910, by the 1990s the company was fully acquired by Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) which is Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company. Many have criticized the way PDSVA has been used as a political tool for Hugo Chavez’s socialist government. In 2007, for example, PDVSA expropriated assets…
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