Latin America
Latin AmericaMercosur condemns violence in Venezuela and calls for dialogue
Mercosur country members, in an official release rejected all acts of violence and condemned the destabilization attempts against the government of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
Uruguay and Venezuela will further increase energy related cooperation
Uruguay will renew the contract for the purchase of Venezuela oil and accept the stake increase of that country in a local bio-fuels corporation during the scheduled visit of President Nicolas Maduro to Montevideo next month; it was announced by the Uruguayan Foreign affairs ministry.
Maduro blames Washington and expels three US consular officials
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Sunday he was expelling three U.S. consular officials, accusing them of conspiring with the opposition forces to foment unrest as violent protests ran into a fifth straight night. The expulsions come after two weeks of sporadic protests against across the country.
Hague underlines close links with Colombia; meets President Santos Monday
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague was received on Sunday in Cartagena by Colombian Foreign minister María Angeles Holguín and on Monday is scheduled to meet with Juan Manuel Santos at the Palacio Nariño, seat of the Executive in Bogotá. Mr. Hague on Monday evening will be flying to Brazil.
Uruguay's budget surplus reached 2.3% of GDP in 2013
Despite a decade of sustained growth Uruguay's fiscal deficit reached 2.3% of GDP last year, which is an improvement over 2012, when it reached 2.8%, but above the government's target of 2.1%. In money terms this means the budget red was equivalent to 1.154bn dollars, including 350 million dollar losses from government owned companies.
Argentina/Brazil diplomatic incident almost triggers another Mercosur stall
In what was described as a “shameful incident”, Brazil had to retract from statements made by one of its diplomats, a condition demanded by Argentina to continue negotiations for a Mercosur common tariffs reduction proposal which was taking place in Caracas. The incident occurred last week but only came to light over the weekend.
Brazil, the most dangerous country for Latam journalists, according to RSF
More than 20 years after the fall of the dictatorships and civil wars that dominated Latin America, the region continues to be marked by a strong retaliation against the press, according to Reporters Without Borders, RSF, most recent annual index on the state of press freedom, which was published on Feb. 12.
Thousands of landless peasants clash with police in Brasilia
Brazilian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at about 16,000 landless farmers marching for land reform in clashes that left 42 people hurt. The march on Brasilia on Wednesday was the latest in a series of protests rocking the nation, raising security concerns just four months before Brazil hosts football's World Cup.
Chilean president-elect Bachelet blasts Venezuelan repression and Maduro
Following the bloody events of last Wednesday, while countries such as Argentina, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua expressed their full support for the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro, others were more cautious such as Washington and the Europe Union calling for restraint and dialogue, but Chilean president-elect Michelle Bachelet openly twitted her rejection to repression, to President Maduro and called for a plebiscite.
Venezuela blocks twitter images, allegedly to avoid of pictures police and goons shooting students
Twitter said on Friday that Venezuela had blocked images on its service following an anti-government protest that turned bloody, and it offered a workaround for users who want to get tweets via text message on their cell-phones.
