MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South America Breaking News.

Royal Caribbean in Uruguay

Miami based Royal Caribbean cruise company is discussing with Uruguayan officials conditions to set up its South America regional office in Montevideo. Talks were held between a delegation of Miami businessmen including Royal Caribbean CEO Armando Muñoz and Miami-Dade county Mayor, Alex Penelas, with Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle and Tourism Minister, Alfonso Varela. The idea is to make Montevideo the supply port for Royal Caribbean cruises while visitors would be taken ashore in the resorts of Piriápolis and Punta del Este, both famous for their beaches and surrounding hills. "What we are really interested in is selling Uruguayan produce to the cruise fleet", said Mr. Varlea, pointing out that Royal Caribbean has 64 vessels. The Miami delegation that spent five days visiting Uruguay said they would invest in the necessary infrastructure, including a parking lot for at least eighty coaches, and forecasted that if an agreement is reached American Airlines would link Montevideo and Miami directly twice a week during the summer months. Uruguayan tourist officials expect 80.000 cruise visitors to land in Montevideo this season.

Incident with Cuba

The main leaders of the Argentine ruling coalition are putting pressure on president De la Rúa and Foreign Affairs Minister Adalberto Rodríguez Giavarini requesting the country abstain from condemning Cuba in the coming United Nations Human Rights Committee meeting to be held in Geneva, in spite of Mr. Castro's "coarse language". Argentina and Cuba are in the middle of a serious diplomatic incident following Fidel Castro's remark that Argentina likes to "lick the yank boot". Mr. Castro's words were in response to insistent but unconfirmed rumors that Argentina, as happened last year, would add its vote to the United States, condemning Cuba for human rights violations. . The Cuban president in a public speech in Havana said that Argentina's vote was one of the several strings conditioning the financial aid package recently granted to the De la Rúa administration. Former president Ricardo Alfonsín and former vice president Carlos Alvarez have indicated that Argentina should join Brazil a