Although flooding rain has already hit parts of Brazil so far in 2020, more rain and flooding could strike the southern part of the country in the coming week. In addition to southern Brazil, other parts of South America may also be threatened.
At least 75 inmates, many of them members of a notorious Brazilian gang, escaped from a Paraguayan prison in a border town on Sunday, according to authorities who said they immediately fired the prison’s director. Officials said they discovered a tunnel and found cells filled with as many as 200 bags of earth.
The upcoming Summit of Heads of State of the Southern Common Market Mercosur, to be held in late June or early July this year, will be held in Encarnacion, capital of Itapúa Department, Paraguay.
US President Donald Trump and his Paraguayan colleague Mario Abdo Benítez Friday discussed in Washington a free trade agreement with Mercosur as well as other items of mutual interest, including beef import/exports and the crisis affecting various countries in South America.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that Mercosur trade block needs to hurry up and implement agreements the group has negotiated.
Brazil on Thursday handed over the six-month rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc (Southern Common Market) to Paraguay. During a ceremony at the bloc's 55th summit in Bento Goncalves, Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro expressed confidence in his Paraguayan counterpart Mario Abdo Benitez and his leadership skills.
The South American four-nation trade bloc Mercosur began a tense meeting on Wednesday reeling from US steel and aluminium tariffs and a spat between its two biggest members. Foreign ministers of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay opened the two-day meeting in the southern Brazilian town of Bento Goncalves, paving the way for a head of state summit on Thursday.
Brazilian police are seeking the arrest of Paraguay’s ex-President Horacio Cartes as part of an investigation into money laundering. On Tuesday, Brazilian authorities alleged Cartes provided US$500,000 to a criminal organization at the request of Dario Messer, a Brazilian associate who was then a fugitive facing corruption charges, prosecutors told reporters.
Ivanka Trump met with Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez and female artisans on Friday as part of her tour of South America, announcing the commitment of an additional US$ 500 million for a fund to help women entrepreneurs in the region.
United States Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan will travel with Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump to Colombia, Argentina, and Paraguay September 3-6.