
Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi has departed for China at the head of a roughly 150-strong delegation, framing the trip as a bid to “increase commercial and economic development” with Uruguay’s top trading partner. Before leaving, Orsi formally handed executive authority to Vice President Carolina Cosse, while the mission’s schedule in Beijing and Shanghai blends top-level political meetings with trade promotion and academic cooperation.

Seven sitting heads of government and one president-elect from Latin America and the Caribbean shared the stage in Panama on Wednesday to call for deeper regional integration, an increasingly rare show of cross-ideological alignment in a polarized region. The message was delivered at the International Economic Forum Latin America and the Caribbean, backed by CAF and designed as a high-level convening point for governments, business leaders and multilaterals.

Uruguay’s Rural Association (ARU) is warning that the slide in the U.S. dollar is pushing the farm sector into a “critical situation,” arguing that while a stronger peso may feel beneficial for people paid in local currency, the broader impact can be job losses in export-oriented activities.

Viridien (CGG Services) has told Uruguay’s Environment Ministry it aims to begin offshore seismic exploration in February, after submitting the environmental management plan required by the National Directorate for Environmental Quality and Assessment (Dinacea) as a precondition to operate in Uruguayan waters, according to local media reporting.

Uruguay’s Central Bank (BCU) cut its benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to 6.5% and said monetary policy “enters an expansionary phase,” framing the move as a way to prevent inflation from drifting away from its 4.5% target and to respond to recent strains in the foreign-exchange market.

Uruguay’s Public Health Ministry confirmed this week it had detected for the first time two cases of the so called ‘super flu K’ H3N2, both from people returning to the country, a boy who recently arrived from Finland, and a woman who visited next of kin in United States.

Bolivia’s Vice President Edmundo Lara said fugitive Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset may be hiding in Urubó, an affluent residential area on the outskirts of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and urged security forces and Interpol to carry out “urgent” raids to verify the lead. In a video posted on social media, Lara questioned why major operations had not been conducted in the area “for a long time,” suggesting a gap in enforcement that could be shielding the suspect.

Uruguay will deploy a contingent of around 40 firefighters to Chile to help battle the wildfires ravaging the country’s south-central regions—particularly Biobío and Ñuble—where Chilean authorities have reported at least 20 deaths and thousands of people affected.

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi expressed disapproval over the absence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the signing of the landmark free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur bloc, held in Asunción on January 17.

The European Union and South America’s Mercosur bloc signed their long-negotiated association and free trade agreement on Saturday in Paraguay, with Argentina’s President Javier Milei attending the ceremony and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva absent, represented instead by his foreign minister.