By N. H. Gill(Oct. 25, 2022) — On Oct. 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a criminal indictment against Nilsen Arias Sandoval, a high-ranking official at Ecuador’s state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, for taking part in a widespread bribery and money laundering scheme during the administration of ex-Pres. Rafael Correa. Sandoval allegedly “accepted and… Read More United States v. Nilsen Arias Sandoval
Landslides severed Ecuador’s two oil pipelines last week, spilling heavy crude into the Coca River in the country’s northeastern Amazon region. Now, amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis … Read More Ecuador Landslide Deepens Virus Crisis as Oil Pipelines Severed for Weeks
Like many global hot spots of the twentieth century, the Andes is marked by its history of structural inequality, racial conflict, and legacies of poverty and violence. … Read More Peasant Power in Andean History
When historian James Lockhart published “Encomienda and Hacienda” in 1969, the modern historiography on the topic was already more than forty-years-old.… Read More Between Two Worlds: Andean Haciendas in Colonial History
(Published originally in Mediato) La mina de oro y plata Río Blanco, atacada y quemada este mes por manifestantes de la comunidad, es emblemática en la industria minera ecuatoriana por todas las razones equivocadas. Haciendo caso omiso a la resistencia de las comunidades locales, del Municipio de Cuenca y de la provincia del Azuay, el gobierno… Read More Minería: del dicho al hecho
(Published originally in Mediato) El referéndum del 4 de febrero fue significativo. En su nivel más obvio, le dio al presidente Lenín Moreno una sólida victoria política y al expresidente Rafael Correa una derrota asombrosa. Pero más allá de las reacciones en Quito, los votantes en las zonas mineras de la Sierra y el Oriente… Read More Ecuador habló: La minería es peor que Correa
The historiography of the Honduras general strike of 1954 shows that the extent of communist influence and external Guatemalan involvement … Read More Communist Conspiracies and Imperial Plots in the Honduran General Strike
Oil-producing countries must take the necessary steps to stabilize the global crude market in a bid to improve prices, Ecuador Foreign Minister … Read More Latin America Oil Producers Call for Action to Improve Prices
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Ecuador, the world’s biggest grower of flavored beans used in fine chocolate, will probably lose about 15 percent of this year’s cocoa crop after heavy rains hurt farms in the Andean nation’s coastal region, the National Cocoa Exporters Association said. Anecacao, as the association is known, reduced its 2015 forecast… Read More Ecuador Cocoa Forecast Cut to 230,000 Tons After Rains Hit Crops
By Nathan Gill and David Wethe (Bloomberg) — Andes Petroleum Ecuador Ltd. and Repsol SA, Ecuador’s two biggest foreign oil producers, are shelving plans to drill exploratory wells amid a payment dispute with the OPEC nation’s government, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Andes, owned by China National Petroleum Corp. and… Read More China’s Andes Said to Join Repsol in Ecuador Oil Drilling Freeze
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Union Andina de Cementos SAA, Peru’s biggest cement supplier, expects growth in exports will help offset weakening demand from local miners. Overseas sales of clinker, an ingredient in cement production, will surge 18 percent to about 500,000 metric tons this year, Ricardo Rizo Patron, chairman of the company, said Wednesday… Read More Peru Top Cement Maker Unacem Says Exports to Offset Mining Slump
When Chile granted literate men over the age of 21 the right to vote in 1925, a new era marked by the rise of mass society had begun.[1] Similar to processes unfolding around the world, the enfranchisement of progressively-larger swaths of Chile’s population in the early-twentieth century upended traditional politics and undermined the economic status… Read More Mining for the Nation: Jody Pavilack
Thomas Rogers’ The Deepest Wounds argues that Pernambuco sugar planters “saw no distinction between land and labor” (8). Enslaved and free workers on cane plantations were demoted in elites’ eyes to a level equal with the animals and the earth – merely another natural resource to be commanded by the planters (72-73). This monograph shows… Read More The Deepest Wounds: Thomas Rogers
By Nathan Gill Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, Chile’s biggest fertilizer producer, tumbled to the lowest price in seven weeks after reporting a 57 percent drop in third-quarter profit. The Santiago-based company, known as Soquimich, retreated 2 percent in Santiago trading to 19,470 pesos, the lowest since Sept. 7.… Read More Chile’s Soquimich Falls to Seven-Week Low on Earnings Decline
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, Chile’s biggest fertilizer producer, reported a 57 percent drop in third-quarter profit as lower prices dragged down sales. Net income fell to $82.3 million from $191 million a year earlier, the Santiago-based company known as Soquimich wrote today… Read More Soquimich Profit Drops 57% on Lower Fertilizer Sales
By Matt Craze and Nathan Gill Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd. workers at the company’s Spence copper mine in Chile broke off wage talks with management, according to a union official. Workers at the mine, who began the 14th day of a strike today, will stage protests after government-mediated talks failed, union President… Read More BHP Spence Copper Workers End Chile Wage Negotiations
By Matt Craze and Nathan Gill Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd. workers at the Spence copper mine in northern Chile are prepared to go on strike for a “long time” unless the company improves its wage and benefits offer, a union official said. Spence workers are seeking similar terms to BHP workers at… Read More BHP Spence Workers Warn of ‘Long’ Strike Over Pay
By Nathan Gill Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, said copper production at its Spence mine in northern Chile continues at a “reduced rate” as a strike by workers enters an eighth day, an official said. BHP declined to specify the current production rate, according to Ruban Yogarajah, a… Read More BHP Says Spence Output Continues at ‘Reduced Rate’
By Nathan Gill Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, said a strike at the company’s Spence copper mine in Chile entered a fifth day. Copper output at the Melbourne-based company’s 200,000-ton-a-year mine continued at a slower rate, spokesman Ruban Yogarajah said today in a telephone interview from London. Unionized… Read More Strike at BHP’s Spence Mine in Chile Enters 5th Day
By Nathan Gill Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, said copper output at its 200,000-ton-a-year Spence mine in Chile continues at a “slower rate” as a strike by workers entered a fourth day. Production was “the same as yesterday,” spokesman Mauro Valdes responded by text message to questions from… Read More BHP’s Spence Mine Copper Producing at ‘Slower Rate’
By Nathan Gill and Matthew Craze Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd. will cease production of refined copper tomorrow at its 200,000-ton-a-year Spence copper mine in Chile because of a strike, a union leader said. Workers stopped mining on Oct. 13, leaving BHP without enough raw materials to be turned into refined copper, union… Read More BHP to Stop Copper Output at Spence Mine, Union Says
By Nathan Gill Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) — Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said it won’t tap bond markets this year after Congress approved a bill to provide $1 billion in financing. Codelco may look to sell bonds from next year, Chief Executive Officer Jose Pablo Arellano told reporters today in Santiago. The company will… Read More Codelco Won’t Sell Bonds This Year, May Start in 2010
By Nathan Gill Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — Copper shipments from northern Chile’s Antofagasta port restarted today after two weeks of delays caused by a labor strike, the port’s operator said. The 14-day strike ended last night, Tamara Rebolledo, a spokeswoman for Antofagasta Terminal Internacional SA, said today in a telephone interview. The strike affected some… Read More Chile’s Antofagasta Port Ends Strike, Restarts Copper Shipments
By Sebastian Boyd and Nathan Gill Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — Chile’s budget deficit will be smaller this year than earlier forecast as rising copper prices trimmed the projected shortfall in tax revenue. This year’s budget deficit will be about 3.6 percent of gross domestic product as government income falls 22 percent short of initial projections,… Read More Chile Reduces Estimate for This Year’s Budget Deficit
By Nathan Gill and James Attwood Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — Workers at BHP Billiton Ltd.’s Spence copper mine in Chile agreed to delay a strike and extend wage negotiations to give the company time to sweeten a contract offer, a union official said. Workers, who had planned a strike starting tomorrow, will now walk out… Read More BHP Union Agrees to Delay Strike, Extend Wage Talks
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Workers at BHP Billiton Ltd.’s Spence copper mine in Chile may strike as soon as Oct. 8 after a labor union rejected an increased pay offer, a union official said. “The strike is almost imminent unless there’s a last minute miracle,” Pedro Marin, president of… Read More BHP Workers at Spence Reject Pay Offer, Union Says
By Nathan Gill and Sebastian Boyd Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Chile’s Senate approved a bill to provide $1 billion in financing for Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer. The vote was 21-to-six with one abstention in the Senate, which acted after the lower house passed the bill earlier today, according to a statement on the… Read More Chile Senate Approves $1 Billion Funding for Codelco
By Nathan Gill Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) — Workers at the Andina unit of Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, voted to reject a preliminary wage offer from the company, a union leader said. About 70 percent of the 1,140 unionized workers in a Sept. 30 vote rejected the offer for a 3 percent pay… Read More Codelco’s Andina Workers Reject Pay Offer, Union Says
By Nathan Gill Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, the world’s largest lithium producer, led declines on Santiago’s Ipsa Index after announcing price cuts for the metal used in batteries. Soquimich, as the company is known, fell 3.6 percent to 20,630 pesos, the steepest decline since June 22. The Ipsa… Read More Chile’s Soquimich Falls Most Since June on Lithium Price Cuts
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd. workers at the Spence copper mine in Chile voted in favor of a strike, rejecting a pay offer by the company, a union official said. Workers in the Spence mine union voted 525 to 1 late yesterday against BHP’s offer, Pedro Marin,… Read More BHP Spence Workers Reject Pay Offer, Approve Strike
By Nathan Gill Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Copper output in Chile, the world’s biggest producer, rose 7.8 percent in August from a year earlier after state-owned Codelco and BHP Billiton Ltd. boosted production, the government said. Output increased to 459,823 metric tons from 426,689 tons a year earlier, the country’s national statistics agency said in… Read More Chile Copper Output Rises 7.8% on Codelco, BHP Mines
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Molibdenos y Metales SA, the world’s largest molybdenum processor, said a plant near Santiago is operating normally after a fire broke out this morning. Industrial installations at the San Bernardo plant weren’t damaged and no one was injured in the blaze, the Santiago-based company, known… Read More Molymet Says Chile Plant Operations Normal After Fire
By Nathan Gill Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — Dell Inc., the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, sees “huge” prospects for growth in Latin America, where the company is looking to provide technology to Brazil’s oil industry. “Growth potential is huge in Latin America and Brazil,” Raymundo Peixoto, Dell’s manager for Brazil, said today in an… Read More Dell’s Peixoto Sees ‘Huge’ Growth Potential in Latin America
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