
The presidents of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, and Chile, José Antonio Kast, agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation against transnational organized crime, following a meeting held on Wednesday at the Suárez y Reyes presidential residence in Montevideo. In a joint statement, the leaders announced understandings on security, fisheries, Antarctica, the bi-oceanic corridor and economic integration, as part of Kast's official visit to Uruguay.

The fight against transnational organized crime emerged as one of the central themes of Mercosur's 68th summit of heads of state, held on Tuesday in the Paraguayan city of Luque, where several leaders called for building a regional security architecture with concrete goals and deadlines. The issue ran through the addresses of the bloc's presidents and those of its associated states, at a summit where Paraguay handed over the pro tempore presidency to Uruguay.

The leader of the Topos Chile rescue group, Francisco Lermanda, alleged that his teams deployed in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira have been harassed by soldiers during search operations in the area hardest hit by the June 24 twin earthquake, which according to the official toll has left at least 1,943 dead. The Venezuelan authorities have not commented on the accusations.

The confirmation of right-wing Keiko Fujimori's victory in Peru's presidential runoff drew a wave of congratulations from leaders across the region, who framed the result within the shift to the right underway in several Latin American countries. With Fujimori's arrival in power, the right will add a new government, alongside those of Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay and El Salvador, and the recent victory of Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia.

Chile's government on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to Valparaíso's candidacy to host the Executive Secretariat of the High Seas Treaty, a key instrument of ocean governance, and held that the port city has relevant strengths to secure it. The Foreign Ministry said the bid responds to the importance that Chilean foreign policy places on protecting the ocean and to the country's maritime vocation.

More than fifty institutions and cultural centers located around Santiago's main avenue agreed on Tuesday to expand their cooperation and coordinate their programming to turn that historic thoroughfare into a cultural hub, similar to those in other capitals such as Buenos Aires or Madrid. Museums, theaters, libraries, cinemas and universities created the Red Alameda Cultural, a platform on which they will publish all their activities to enliven the corridor and offer citizens a complete cultural experience.

Seven of the eight deputies of the National Libertarian Party (PNL), the far-right group founded by Johannes Kaiser, presented a resolution in Chile's Congress asking President José Antonio Kast to create a Museum of Truth devoted to what they describe as the abuse, hunger and humiliation of the Popular Unity government, led by Salvador Allende from 1970 until his overthrow on September 11, 1973.

Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Monday delivered his first annual Cuenta Pública address before the National Congress, based in Valparaíso, in a speech of two hours and twenty-five minutes centred on the country's fiscal situation and on criticisms of the outgoing administration of leftist Gabriel Boric (2022-2026). The president denounced that the incoming executive received a preliminary structural fiscal deficit of 3.6% of Gross Domestic Product, more than double the 1.6% committed to by the previous government, and characterized the situation as an economic emergency requiring urgent measures.

Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Sunday defended the first 81 days of his administration and reaffirmed his main campaign promises on security and migration, on the eve of his first Cuenta Pública address to the National Congress, scheduled for Monday in Valparaíso. The far-right leader took office on 11 March and faces on Monday his annual accountability address amid a sustained decline in approval ratings and on the eve of the first legislative test for his government, the Senate vote on the so-called tax megareform.

US citizen Kyle Adler, taken as a nine-month-old baby during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile, was reunited this year with his biological mother, Chilean national Ana María Navarrete, thirty-five years after the forced separation. The reunion, which took place on Valentine's Day at Santiago airport and was documented by the Associated Press news agency, illustrates the scale of a network of fraudulent adoptions that during the Chilean military regime (1973-1990) took more than twenty thousand children from poor and indigenous families, according to official estimates.