Costa Rica boasts clean energy -- and bad car pollution

Yahoo – AFP, Marco SIBAJA, November 19, 2015

The Churchill Mamiche ice-cream parlour in Caldera, Puntarenas, 80 km 

southwest of San Jose is entirely powered --day and night-- by solar panels

(AFP Photo/Ezequiel Becerra)

Caldera (Costa Rica) (AFP) - At dusk one weekend on Costa Rica's tropical Pacific coast, Mamiche is catering to a line of customers in front of the beachside ice-cream stand he tends.

All looks balmy and typical -- except for one little detail: the stand's refrigerator, fan and lighting are not connected to the electricity network and there's no noisy generator.

Instead, solar panels on the roof are providing the power, another sign of an eco-friendly push in Costa Rica that has made the country a model of development and clean energy.

Costa Rica expects 97% of its energy 

generation to come from renewable

 sources this year (AFP Photo/

Ezequiel Becerra)

The ice-cream outlet's owner, Luis Diego Vasquez, recalls how he used to spend up to $40 a day on fueling a smelly generator to keep the shop running.

"Fed up with the noise and the pollution, we started thinking about putting up solar panels to use the sun -- something we have a lot of here," he told AFP.

Land of renewable energy

With an electricity grid supplied by hydroelectric dams across rivers, from the heat of its numerous volcanoes, and from wind and the sun, the small Central American nation expects 97 percent of its energy generation to come from renewable sources this year.

"Costa Rica has renewable resources -- a sun that shines. The wind. It has hydro resources. And all of that, along with geothermal and biomass energy, allows us to have such a renewable energy network," Javier Orozco, planning chief at the national energy company ICE, told AFP.

Next to him, ICE's CEO, Carlos Obregon, said the ultimate aim was to eventually have 100 percent renewable energy, "but that requires us to find a balance between different energy production, and that's not a question of a year, but of many years."

Still, the country caught the attention of the world ahead of December's COP21 UN Convention on Climate Change in Paris by being totally reliant on renewable energy for the first 75 days of this year, with no recourse to its thermal plants using fossil fuels.

A report by the environmental protection group WWF last year highlighted the country as a Latin American leader in clean energy and predicted that in 2021 it would have an entirely renewable energy supply.

Owner Luis Diego Vasquez installs more solar panels for the Churchill 

Mamiche ice-cream parlour (AFP Photo/Ezequiel Becerra)

Polluting cars

But there is another side to Costa Rica, one that tarnishes its image as an environmentally conscientious nation: that of its congested roads, saturated with old cars and buses, many spewing smoke.

According to the Environment and Energy Ministry, the transport sector is responsible for 66 percent of hydrocarbon consumption and 54 percent of carbon-dioxide emissions, one of the principal gases responsible for climate change.

Despite its clean-energy network, Costa Rica produced 1.7 metric tons of CO2 per head of population between 2011 and 2015, on a level with other countries at a similar stage of development, such as Colombia or Uruguay, World Bank figures show.

Costa Rica has nearly 1.4 million cars for a population of five million. RITEVE, its roadworthiness inspection agency, says the average age of the vehicles is 16 years, which aggravates the emission problem.

In an effort to address the issue, one lawmaker, Marcela Guerrero, of the governing Citizen Action Party, last month presented a bill to lift import duties on electric vehicles for five years and to encourage ownership of CO2 emission-free cars.

She told AFP that she hoped to see 100,000 electric cars replace ones with conventional engines.

"We want users, with clear signals, to get behind a new pattern of consumption that will lower emissions," she said.

Wind turbines of the National Power and Light Company in Santa Ana, 

Costa Rica (AFP Photo/Ezequiel Becerra)

Electric train?

Another initiative is to start up an urban electric train system in the most populated center of the country, where the congested capital San Jose lies.

Although considered crucial from transport and environmental perspectives, lawmakers have made little headway in having the train project approved because of funding discrepancies.

Guerrero said she was confident a consensus allowing a vote would be reached by April 2016, and that the trains would be operational in the following five years.

The question is whether Costa Rica can maintain its clean energy goal while providing the sparks needed for electric transport.

Obregon is convinced that ICE will be able to handle the increased demand by deepening investment in non-conventional sources such as wind and solar power, which currently play a marginal role in its mix.

"We are preparing for a future where consumers are also (energy) generators," making contributions to the grid through private solar panels and the like, he said.

If it goes that way, Mamiche's little stand may end up selling not only ice, but fire.

Related Article:

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Colombia Transforms Old Tires Into Green Housing

Jakarta Globe, Paula Carrillo, Mar 31, 2015

View of houses made with tires in Choachi, Cundinamarca, Colombia on March 16,
 2015. In the same way as igloos, thermally efficient and resistant to quakes,
a particular kind of house in central Colombia takes advantage of a material which
 is thrown away: tires. 5.3 million tires are thrown away each year in Colombia, and
since they take millions of years in decomposing, using them for building becomes
a potential. (AFP Photo/Eitan Abramovich)

Choachí, Colombia. The highlands around the Colombian capital are scattered with small buildings that look like out-of-place igloos but are in fact innovative houses made from the tires that litter the country’s roads.

The woman behind the project is Alexandra Posada, a 35-year-old environmental activist who sports a cowboy hat and jeans while she works, her buff biceps rippling in her tank top as she slings around old tires and shovels them full of dirt.

“I get these tires for free because it’s a huge problem for people to get rid of them,” she told AFP.

“They take thousands of years to decompose — which we’ve transformed from a problem into an opportunity,” she said. “If you use them as construction materials, they become virtually eternal bricks.”

Posada is currently at work on several houses in the mountains of Choachi, a city of about 15,000 people an hour’s drive east of Bogota.

She and her team take truckfuls of old tires and fill them with earth, turning them into massive bricks that weigh 200 to 300 kilograms each.

Using a range of tires from semi trucks to cars, they stack them together around iron bars to create round structures that are at once solid and flexible — well insulated against the heat and cold, but also rubbery enough to withstand the earthquakes common in this seismically active Andes region.

The houses have rounded cement-and-steel ceilings over the bedrooms and kitchen, and flat wood-plank ceilings over the living room and dining room.

Both are covered by another layer of tires, making “an almost non-degradable, impermeable” roof, said Posada.

The houses may be made from waste, but they have a captivating beauty.

The sweeping curves of the roofs are often painted in bright colors.

The walls are covered with tan mortar made of lime and sand, giving them a smooth adobe look interrupted by flashes of color from old glass bottles inserted in the masonry.

Posada also uses glass bottles to make skylights in the bedrooms, inserting them vertically in the concrete ceilings to create a pixelated stained-glass effect.

“These houses are made with reused materials, but they’re also beautiful, airy, with more indirect light,” she said.

Millions of tires

It is an ingenious solution to a tricky problem.

Colombians throw out more than 5.3 million tires a year, according to official figures — nearly 100,000 metric tons of rubber that pollute the environment.

They often end up abandoned in unsightly piles along the country’s roads, or are burned to get rid of them, adding their acrid smell to the clouds of car exhaust that often choke Bogota, a sprawling city of more than seven million people.

“It’s a huge problem in terms of the public space, the environment and the landscape,” said Francisco Gomez, who heads the environment ministry’s response to the issue.

Tire manufacturers and importers in Colombia are only required to recycle about 35 percent of the country’s total consumption.

And sanitation workers are not responsible for removing abandoned tires because they are considered “special waste.”

“The response we’ve been able to implement is pretty small in terms of the quantity of waste being generated,” said Gomez.

Posada has so far used about 9,000 old tires to make the walls, roofs, terraces and steps of her rubber “igloos.”

One of her workers, William Clavijo, a 57-year-old mason, said the job has taught him a lesson in “valuing things.”

“People usually just throw this stuff away. Now you see that it can be put to good use,” he said as he slapped layers of mortar across a wall of tires, hiding its past as rubbery waste abandoned on the streets of Bogota.

Agence France-Presse

US-Cuba thaw could spell end for island's iconic cars

Yahoo – AFP, Alexandre Grosbois, 21 Dec 2014

Old American cars are seen on a street in Havana, Cuba, on December 19, 

2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

Havana (AFP) - Cuba's iconic stock of refurbished vintage American sedans from the 1950s may be facing their last trips to the garage soon, following the historic thawing of ties between Havana and Washington.

Flashy Pontiacs, Plymouths, Dodges and Chevrolets, as well as crudely patched and rickety classics make up the Communist island's 70,000 "almendrones," cars affectionately called large almonds for their rounded shape.

Fancier classic models are rented for special occasions while their more rundown counterparts are driven as taxis and by families.

An old American car is seen on a 

street in Havana, Cuba, on December

19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

But they all have one thing in common: they survived the Cuban Revolution, the Cold War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The almendrones owe their lasting nature to the master skills of local mechanics, as well as to the American embargo and Cuban authorities who put the brakes on replenishing the the island's stock of cars.

Purchasing and selling the vehicles, which has only been allowed for the past three years, is only permitted for Cubans.

'Puts food on table'

The easing of the five-decade US trade embargo, one part of the rapprochement announced Wednesday, is likely to awaken the attention and desire of car connoisseurs worldwide, who are eager to snatch up the classic models.

"You would have to pay me good money to sell my car," Aramis Carmona, 40, told AFP, watching tourists from his white and red 1953 Chevy with hubcaps and a chrome bumper.

"It puts food on the table," the amateur mechanic said. "When I have a little money, I buy motor oil instead of cooking oil, because I know that that will help me feed my family."

He said he had given new life to the "wreck" he bought ten years ago for $7,000.

During the Revolution, Fidel rode around in an Oldsmobile with guns hidden in the seat. Ernesto "Che" Guevara went for rides, cigar in mouth, at the wheel of a Studebaker.

This was before Cuba decided to swap its Western cars for more "revolutionary" vehicles, like the famous Russian GAZ-69 jeep adopted by "El Comandante" Castro.

Never blotted out

In the 1960s and 1970s, Peugeot 404s made in Argentina, then Czech Skodas and Soviet Ladas tried to take over the road but with limited success, as the vintage American models kept passing from hand to hand.

Peugeots and Chinese models appeared on Cuban roads in the 1990s and 2000s, but they, too, never overpowered the omnipresent American classics.

Old American cars are seen in Havana, Cuba, on December 19, 2014 

(AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

However, few original parts remain under the cars' hoods after numerous patchups from crack mechanics who have brought them back from the dead multiple times.

Carmona said that he replaced his Chevy's original motor four years ago with a BMW diesel model that consumed far less fuel. The original went only 6 kilometers per liter (14 miles per gallon).

British architect Norman Foster, struck by the cars' looks and upkeep during a recent trip to Cuba, paid tribute in the book "Havana: Autos and Architecture," where he describes a tight relationship between the island's history and its vehicles.

He tells of Ruben Hernandez, who in 1951 bought a Buick Super Dynaflow. In 1959, his family's belongings were confiscated in the Cuban Revolution, but Hernandez managed to save the car.

The collector's item now belongs to his youngest son William Hernandez, who inherited it in 1989.

Since then, he's taken it every day to display alongside other flashy cars at Havana's tourist hot spots. For $25 per hour, he offers passersby a ride back in time, in a vehicle whose days may now be limited.

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Dozens of children die as fire tears through Colombian bus

Deutsche Welle, 19 May 2014

More than 30 children have been reported dead after a fire engulfed a bus in northern Colombia. There were reports of unrest outside the home of the driver, who was said to have fled the scene.

The children, who had been returning home from a religious service, were reported to have burnt to death aboard the bus in the northern town of Fundacion Cesar Uruena on Sunday.

Another 25 people, including one adult, suffered serious burns. The death toll could rise. A senior police chief for the town, 750 kilometers (465 miles) north of Bogota, told the AP news agency that some 50 people were aboard the bus, which was only rated to carry 38 people.

Mayor of Fundacion Estella Duran told reporters that the majority of children aboard the bus when it exploded were aged between one and eight. She said that an investigation was under way.

Emergency response coordinator Major Eduardo Velez said the fire had spread quickly and that a canister of gasoline had been inside the cabin of the bus, with reports that the driver had been trying to pour fuel into the engine from inside the vehicle.

Velez said the driver had escaped unharmed and was being questioned by police, with reports that angry locals had gathered outside his home, throwing rocks at windows.

Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper said there was a suspicion that the fire was accelerated by contraband fuel that was being carried on board.

Charred remains of the victims were set to the nearest major city of Barranquila for identification. Meanwhile, Colombian President Manuel Santos traveled to Fundacion to meet relatives of the victims after staging a final re-election campaign ahead of voting on May 25.

rc/crh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Colombia gets tough on drunk driving

Google – AFP, Lissy De Abreu (AFP), 17 January 2014

Police officers stand guard along the road between Cali and Yumbo, Colombia,

on August 26, 2013 (AFP/File, Luis Robayo)

Bogota — Colombia is cracking down on drunk driving, imposing a fine nearly 50 times the country's minimum monthly wage as it tries to set an example for Latin America.

After a series of deadly accidents last year, Colombia's Congress used the holiday period -- usually a well-lubricated one -- to pass the tough new law against people who drink and drive.

Until now, the fine could be the equivalent of $900 and 20 hours of community service.

But now, depending on the driver's blood-alcohol level, the fine can reach as much as $14,600 -- in a country where the minimum monthly wage is about $320.

In general, Latin America is not known for road safety.

The mortality rate stemming from highway accidents was 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012, according to a report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). That compares to 10.3 in Europe, according to the World Health Organization, and 5.8 in France.

In the Andean region, where roads are poorly maintained, cars are in bad condition and police checkpoints are rare, the figure goes up to 22.1.

"The two risk factors, which are our top priority, are driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding," said Eugenia Rodrigues, an official with the Pan American Health Organization who works on road safety issues.

The organization, which recommends a maximum permitted blood alcohol level of 0.5 grams per liter of blood, is constantly urging Latin American countries to set up more drunk driving checkpoints and toughen penalties for offenders.

The psychological effect

The PAHO delegate in Colombia, Teofilo Monteiro, welcomed the new legislation in the country, saying the astronomical new fines will surely have a stinging psychological effect on drivers.

"People are going to be very careful not to be hit with such a big fine," Monteiro said. "The main thing is to set up checkpoints."

The PAHO cites Brazil as an example, with its zero tolerance law: 0.05 gram of alcohol per liter of blood and fines of up to $830 for repeat offenders.

Another country cracking down is Chile. Since March 2012, the blood alcohol level there has been reduced from 0.5 to 0.3 grams. A drunk driver is jailed, fined up to a relatively mild amount starting at $80 and their driver's license is suspended.

In the Caribbean, Panama is also preparing Colombia-style punishment, with fines ranging from $1,500 to $12,000, license suspension and outright revocation for a fourth offense.

Uruguay opts for community service as punishment, while Cuba decided last year to suspend drunk drivers' licenses for a period ranging from six months to five years.

In other countries, such as Venezuela or Paraguay, the legislation looks tough, with fines and prison sentences. But civic associations complain that these measures are rarely applied.

Take this example: a Paraguayan representative of the regional trading bloc Mercosur was caught fleeing the scene of an accident after leaving a young man seriously injured last May. But his immunity protected him from prosecution.

Imported vehicles go on sale in Cuba ending decades-old ban

Deutsche Welle, 3 January 2014

Cars imported from abroad have gone on sale in Cuba for the first time in 50 years. The decades-old ban was lifted last month as part of President Raul Castro’s plans to liberalize the communist country’s economy.

Cubans were able to purchase foreign made new and old automobiles for the first time since 1959 on Friday, just weeks after Cuba's council of ministers had agreed to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices.

Until now, Cubans wishing to purchase an imported late-model car were first required to obtain special permission cards issued by the country's transport ministry. This was strictly regulated, with the government often granting authorization to its employees or doctors.

Cuba largely banned the sale of cars built in the wake of the 1959 revolution, meaning most had to make do with pre-revolution era automobiles.

Restrictions were somewhat eased in October 2011 when private individuals were again allowed to buy and sell new and used vehicles from each other.

The reform to the car market is just the latest small step that President has introduced in recent years designed to slowly integrate private enterprise into the communist country's state-controlled economy. In some cases, the government has later introduced new restrictions when unanticipated problems have cropped up.

ccp/jlw (dpa, AFP)

Cuba lifts 50-year-old car import ban

End of the road for 1950s vintage cars as restrictions are lifted in Cuba

The Telegraph - AFP, 19 Dec 2013

Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful
 consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.
Photo: Getty Images

Cuba will allow unrestricted car imports for the first time in 50 years, marking the end of an era for the 1950s Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs that have survived the ban.

The decision to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices on the island was taken on Wednesday by Cuba's council of ministers, according to the official newspaper Granma.

It said the decision will gradually free up retail sales of all manner of vehicles – automobiles, vans, trucks and motorcycles – and ends the practice of granting some Cubans special permission to bring in vehicles as a privilege.

Granma acknowledged the so-called "letters of authorisation" issued by the transport ministry had generated "resentment, dissatisfaction and, in not a few cases ... (were) a source of speculation and enrichment."

Holders of the letters, however, will still be first in line to buy cars while the new system is phased in, Granma said.

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Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.

But the changes are a long-awaited element of President Raul Castro's attempts to gradually liberalise Cuba's Soviet-style economy.

Separately, Mr Castro's brother Fidel praised his brief encounter and handshake with Barack Obama in South Africa.

"I congratulate comrade Raul for his brilliant performance, and especially for his firmness and dignity when with a friendly but firm gesture he greeted the head of government of the United States and said to him in English: 'Mr President, I am Castro.'"

Mr Obama stopped and shook hands with the Cuban president on his way to the podium December 10 to speak at a memorial in Soweto for the late Nelson Mandela.

Neither side made much of the exchange but Fidel's remarks, in an article published in Granma, made clear that he approved of his brother's handling of the moment.

The handshake was the first between leaders of the two Cold War adversaries since 2000, when then US president Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel at the UN General Assembly in New York.

It was only the second time that American and Cuban presidents have shaken hands since the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Raul replaced Fidel as Cuba's president in 2006, but as the father of the Cuban revolution the elder Castro remains hugely influential.

Edited by Chris Irvine

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

Peru bus crash kills all 51 on board

Authorities say 14 children among dead after vehicle returning from party plunged 200 metres down ravine

theguardian.com, Associated Press in Lima, Sunday 13 October 2013

Bodies are lined up for identification after a bus crash in Peru killed 51 people,
including 14 children. Photograph: Associated Press/La Republica newspaper

A makeshift bus carrying 51 people back from a party in south-eastern Peru has plunged off a cliff into a river, killing everyone on board including 14 children.

The accident happened as the red and yellow cargo truck made its way back from a party in the provincial capital of Santa Teresa, an area about 310 miles (500km) south-east of Lima. It went off the road and fell about 200 metres into a deep ravine, ending up in the Chaupimayo river below.

Rescuers equipped with little more than flashlights spent the night searching without success for survivors amid the twisted steel and large boulders, pulling bodies from the water. Authorities said victims were found as far as 100 metres from the impact site, suggesting they were thrown from the vehicle.

"We haven't found a single survivor," said firefighter Captain David Taboada, who was leading the rescue operation.

Firefighters had said 52 people died in the accident but later in the day Santa Rita police issued a press release saying the official death toll was 51, including 14 children.

The cause of the accident had not been determined, Taboada said, adding that the vehicle was "coming from a party in Santa Teresa at which a lot of alcohol was consumed".

Firefighters were placing the recovered bodies on a soccer field above where the crash took place. Throughout the following day relatives of the victims arrived to identify their loved ones.

Fedia Castro, mayor of the district where Santa Teresa is located, told Canal N television that rural farmers must rely on informal forms of transport, such as this cargo truck, because no public buses exist in the area.

The high-altitude roads of the Peruvian Andes are notorious for bus plunges, with poor farmers comprising many of the victims. Last year, more than 4,000 people were killed in such accidents.

Europe losing out to Chinese conquista

Deutsche Welle, 26 January 2013

China's growing economic presence in Latin America comes at Europe's expense. European leaders are trying to make up lost ground at this year's annual EU-Latin America Summit in Chile.

A battle for access to Latin America's markets is being waged between Europe and Asia. German companies, too, are increasingly exposed to Asian competition. That is why German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to seek closer ties with her Latin American counterparts at the summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the Chilean capital Santiago this weekend (26-27.01.2013).

"The most important Latin American countries have very dynamic trade with the countries of the Pacific Rim and China," said Günther Maihold, deputy director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, who currently teaches at the Humboldt Institute in Mexico City. "The Europeans need to consider how to position themselves," Maihold told DW. "More is expected of them than just free trade agreements."

China conquers Latin America

Ten years ago, Asia's presence in Latin America was insignificant.Chinese and South Korean cars on Latin America's roads were as unthinkable as Chinese trains and roads.

But today, Chinese manufacturers JAC Motors and CN Auto have set up shop along with Ssangyong from South Korea - and competition for European manufacturers such as VW, Audi or BMW is gearing up.

German investors like ThyssenKrupp have invested in Latin America

"Chinese companies sometimes come with very attractive financing options with which we can not compete," said Rafael Haddad, head of Brazil Board, an association of German companies investing in Brazil, concedes.

Chinese companies are increasingly trying to buy up Latin American companies, Haddad told DW.

"Germany can't catch up"

According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), China increased its direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean from $ 621 million in 2001 to nearly $ 44 billion in 2010 (including investment in the Caribbean offshore financial centers).

By comparison, German direct investment in the region grew over the same period from $41 billion to $50 billion.

Oliver Parche, coordinator of the German industry's Latin America Initiative, does not see the growing competition between Asia and Europe as a huge problem. "We cannot catch up with the Asian countries," he says, "but we will certainly improve our position in the coming years." As Division Head for North and South America at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Parche says he believes there is a "great future" for collaboration between German and Latin American small and mid-sized businesses.

Günther Maihold: Europe needs to
reach out to Latin America

Germany is still one of the major foreign investors in Latin America. The production volume of local German subsidiaries alone totaled $160 billion in 2010. According to a survey by the Chamber of Commerce's Latin American Association, German direct investment in Latin America doubled from 2001 to 2010, from $ 36 billion to $ 72 billion.

Germany is losing market share

However, Germany's economic influence in Latin America has waned compared to the 1990s. "After German reunification, the door opened to the east, and mid-sized businesses concentrated their resources there," Parche said.

In the 1990s, many Latin American countries embarked upon radical privatization programs. But Germany lagged behind its European neighbors when it came to buying up Latin American companies and resources: Spain became the second-largest investor after the United States, while Germany lost market shares.

In trade relations with the EU, Latin America still occupies a relatively modest position. In 2010, the 27 countries of the EU together exported more goods to Switzerland than to Brazil and Mexico: 105 billion euros worth of exports went to Switzerland, while exports to Brazil and Mexico together totaled a mere 52 billion euros.

Only one of the EU's ten most important trading partners is Latin American: Brazil.

At the summit in Santiago, the EU aims to bridge the growing economic distance between the two regions, at least politically. "A fresh start with less arrogance" is what Maihold is calling for: "The summit is an opportunity to reach out to Latin America," he said.

Because of its financial crisis, Europe needs to look more closely at Latin America as an equal partner. "If we do not seize this opportunity, there will be no future for this languishing relationship."

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Solar Vehicles in Chile Race Across World's Driest Desert

Jakarta Globe, Roser Toll, November 17, 2012

A member of Chilean team "Atenea II " competes with a solar car during the first
 stage of the Atacama Solar Challenge — a solar car race in Atacama Desert,
northern Chile — in Calama, some 1500 km north of Santiago, on November 15, 2012.
 Fifteen teams from four countries are participating in the three-day 1300 km race.
 (AFP Photo/Martin Bernetti)  

       

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Calama, Chile. Fifteen solar panel vehicles, some that look like small space ships, raced across Chile’s Atacama desert Friday as part of a contest to build low-cost environmentally-friendly cars.

Teams from countries like Argentina, Chile, India and Venezuela have crafted aerodynamic racers to speed across 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of the world’s driest desert in the second edition of the Atacama Solar Challenge.

The race, which began Thursday and ends Monday, pits teams from universities that build their cars on a tight budget in the slog across northern Chile.

Some of the vehicles powered exclusively by the sun’s rays, while others are solar- and pedal-powered hybrids.

The solar-powered vehicles are mostly flat rectangular contraptions lined with solar panels to absorb solar energy, which is stored in batteries, and with a cubicle to house the driver. The hybrids look like neighborhood go-carts with solar panels glued on.

The race started Thursday at the Humberstone saltpeter, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Chile’s capital, Santiago. The site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a ghost town that has been abandoned since saltpeter mining was halted ended there in the mid 20th century.

This year, a team from oil-rich Venezuela made their debut in the competition that celebrates an alternative to fossil fuels.

“In a country with a mono-economy based on oil, with an infinite potential of hydraulic energy, and without an energy problem, it is a miracle to build a car like this,” said the Venezuelan team captain Carlos Mata.

“The import laws in Venezuela meant we could not get all the necessary materials, so we had to adapt what we had. It was a huge effort,” he explained.

But his team persisted, eager to participate in an event organizers say is aimed at encouraging research into alternative sources of energy.

The solar vehicles shared the same northern Chilean highway with trucks, buses and cars, but are a long way from replacing them, said Leonardo Saguas, captain of the Antakar team from Chile’s Universidad de La Serena.

Yet Saguas, whose team built last year’s winning car, said he can envision a day when Chile is mass producing solar cars.

“We have plenty of resources, we just need to develop them,” he said.

Gabriel Martinez, proud team captain from the University of Concepcion, spent a year perfecting his vehicle.

“It has 244 solar cells” which capture the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity stored in batteries, he bragged, adding that the vehicle “weighs 300 kilograms and its peak power is 950 watts.”

“This race is awesome. It applies all the engineering and technology we learn into a sport. I love it,” he gushed.

Luciano Chiang, professor at Chile’s Catholic University, supervises the Solar Mecatronica team, one of five competing from Chilean universities.

“The market for [solar] panels belongs 90 percent to China, which no one can compete with on price,” Chiang said.

“Yet Chile is the country with the most potential solar energy in the world,” he said. “It is the same paradox as with batteries. We buy them from China, but they are made of lithium that surely comes from Chile,” the world’s leading source of the mineral.

Agence France-Presse

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Cuban authorities ease car sales

BBC News, 28 September 2011

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Cuba has eased a 50-year-old ban on private car sales.

Cubans could only sell pre-1959 cars
before the new rules came into force

Private property is severely restricted in the communist-run island and until now, Cubans could only trade in cars built before the 1959 revolution.

New cars can only be purchased with US dollars or convertible pesos, a special Cuban currency pegged to the dollar.

But ordinary Cubans can now buy post-1959 cars from foreigners and those whose jobs allowed them to import Soviet-made cars.

The new regulations were announced in the Official Gazette.

Raft of reforms

Under the new rules, foreigners residing in Cuba can buy new cars at approved dealerships or import them from abroad, but they are limited to two purchases for the duration of their stay.

Cubans earning dollars or convertible pesos because they are working for the government or "in positions of benefit to the government" can also buy new cars, as long as they get a permit from the transport ministry.

Tens of thousands of Cubans who were allowed to buy Soviet-made cars can now sell them freely to other individuals.

And artists and sports stars, who had been given permission to import modern cars from abroad, are now also free to sell them.

The changes had been widely expected since July, when Communist Party newspaper Granma had published details of the proposals.

They are part of a series of reforms driven by President Raul Castro aimed at updating the Cuban economic model.

Raul Castro has championed limited free-market reforms since taking the reins of power from his brother Fidel in 2008.

In April, the Communist Party Congress backed hundreds of reforms which included relaxing the laws on foreign travel and allowing Cubans to set up small businesses.