MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

News in Brief

Headlines: “Gauchos” contest in Uruguay; Duhalde in Morocco for Mercosur-Arab League talks; IMF board congratulates Lula; Chagas' disease alert for visitors to Brazil; Canadian Speaker visit Buenos Aires; Chile-Peru dispute; Frozen billions; Petrobras to raise its investment in 25 %; Colombian Police Find Submarine for Drugs.

Gauchos contest in Uruguay

An Uruguayan 'gaucho' or cowboy rides a wild horse during the annual celebration of the Prado criolla week, in Montevideo. Gauchos from Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil have come to the Uruguayan capital during the Easter week to compete for the award of best rider, the main event during which gauchos from the southern cone nations celebrate traditional cowboy folklore.

Duhalde in Morocco for Mercosur-Arab League talks

Former interim president Eduardo Duhalde, currently the head of the Mercosur trade bloc permanent commission, yesterday attended in Morocco preliminary talks for the first summit of South American and Arab League countries, schedule for May 10 and 11 in the city of Brasilia, Brazil. Today, Duhalde will fly back to Montevideo to head the ceremony marking Mercosur's 14th anniversary, which will be held on Monday

IMF board congratulates Lula

The board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday congratulated Brazil for its "impressive economic achievements in the last two years," following a thorough review of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's fiscal and monetary programme. The IMF's board said that the Brazilian macroeconomic policies have kept "solid" over the last 24 months, and that the country also achieved important "structural reforms," or budget overhaul. These policies have aided Brazil to make a "significant economic transformation, with the result of a strong economic recovery, income and employment improvements, a decrease in the state debt burden, and an increase in international reserves."

Chagas' disease alert for visitors to Brazil

Uruguay health authorities yesterday advised tourists who visited the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, during February and March to undergo medical checkups after several cases of Chagas' disease were reported in the Brazilian southern state. The recommendation is especially aimed to those who consumed guarapo, a drink made with sugar cane, Health Ministry officials said. In Brazil, five people have recently died from Chagas' disease, a heart-weakening infection, and 16 are hospitalized. Because of the outbreak, Brazil advised neighbouring countries to take precautions.

Canadian Speaker visits BA

Canadian House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken visited Argentina from March 16-19 with three other MPs in what he called an exercise in "parliamentary diplomacy" ? while Canada has a pretty good general record for bilateral contacts over the last decade with Team Canada visits. Speaker since 2001, Milliken has been presiding over Canada's first hung Parliament in quarter of a century since last year's elections. Milliken indicated that Canada would be backing Luis Ernesto Derbez, the candidate of Canada's NAFTA partner Mexico, in the election of the next Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general on April 7 ? he reads the contest as a race between Derbez and Chile's Luis Miguel Insulza which will be decided by where the other votes go in the second ballot.

Chile-Peru dispute

Peru and Chile hope next month to end a dispute triggered by a reported arms sale by Santiago to Ecuador in 1995 during a brief border war between Ecuador and Peru. Peru's Foreign Minister Manuel Rodríguez and his Chilean counterpart Ignacio Walker held talks in Morocco this week on the sidelines of a meeting of Arab and South American foreign ministers.

Frozen billions

NML Capital, a Cayman Island-based investor that holds 204 million dollars in bad debt, asked Judge Thomas Griesa of the New York Federal District court to attach the old bonds, due to be swapped for new ones through the clearing agent the Bank of New York, claiming they were the property of creditors. "On March 21 the judge issued an order for an attachment in two of the bond cases by NML against the republic of Argentina," the court said in a statement yesterday. "The order does provide for the attachment of up to seven billion dollars in Argentine bonds, which... were currently being held by the bank of New York as a consequence of Argentina's exchange offer," the statement said.

PETROBRAS to raise its investment in 25 %

The oil company Petrobras will invest 80 million dollars this year in the exploration and production of oilfields located in Santa Cruz, Argentina, which represents an increase of 25 percent in relation to the amount assigned in 2004 in the province, as stood out Governor Sergio Acevedo.

Colombian Police Find Submarine for Drugs

Authorities discovered a submarine-like vessel Friday still under construction by drug traffickers who planned to use it to smuggle cocaine, the head of Colombia's secret police said. Officials didn't provide details of its size. But Colombian authorities have caught drug traffickers using subs on a few occasions. They have been small, fibreglass vessels that travel just below the surface. But in 2000, police on a raid of a warehouse near Bogota were stunned to find a 100-foot-long steel submarine being built to transport up to 150 tons of cocaine.