Mercosur

• Tuesday, August 5th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Perú. Mercosur's next member.

  Peru expects to join Mercosur this month in similar conditions as Chile and Bolivia that are associate members of the regional block. The announcement was made following the Mercosur and Andean Community, CAN, Foreign Secretaries summit held in Montevideo to speed the South American integration timetable.

• Monday, August 4th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Crucial Mercosur-CAN summit.

  Mercosur and Andean Community Foreign Affairs Ministers will be holding a crucial meeting this Monday in Montevideo in an attempt to conclude a common free trade area between the two regional blocks by December 31.

• Monday, August 4th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Wall Street and Fantasyland-Argentina.

  Wall Street investment bankers, brokers and money managers who touted Argentina in the late nineties as one of the world's hottest economies, -as they raked in fat fees for marketing the country's stocks and bonds-, ended helping to actively create the most spectacular economic collapses in modern history, claims this Sunday's edition of “The Washington Post”.

• Monday, August 4th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina and Colombia in Lan Chile's roadmap.

  Argentina and Colombia's air markets are in Lan Chile's strategic expansion agenda, although there's no timetable for theses operations.

• Sunday, August 3rd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  New visa requirements for layovers in United States

  Many travelers making layovers in the United States to catch connecting flights between international points will now be required to obtain visas, the U.S. departments of State and Homeland Security announced.

• Friday, August 1st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Caribbean Islands Will Be National Parks

  Three Caribbean islands home only to sea birds and turtles are soon to become national parks in the British Virgin Islands, the natural resources minister said Thursday.

• Thursday, July 31st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula ponders about IMF support.

  The administration of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is assessing whether it can free itself from International Monetary Fund support financing, or will it have to renew the current accord that expires next November.

• Thursday, July 31st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Claims of press censorship in Chile

  The Inter-American Human Rights Committee Freedom of Expression Special Rapporteur formally requested Chilean authorities to lift the ban on a controversial television documentary that was taken off the air last July 23.

• Thursday, July 31st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina recalls ambassador from Paraguay

  Argentina recalled its ambassador from Paraguay and is demanding an official explanation of remarks by a Paraguayan official characterizing Argentines and Brazilians as “scoundrels,” diplomatic sources

• Thursday, July 31st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner favors trying rights abusers in Argentina.

  President Nestor Kirchner said Wednesday that former members of the nation's 1976-1983 military dictatorship who have been accused of committing human rights violations “should be tried in Argentina.”