“The Malvinas Islands are not only Argentine, they are Latinamerica”, said Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa who claimed it was time to put an end to the ‘colonial situation’ of the disputed Islands in the South Atlantic and blasted the Organization of American States, OAS for dragging its feet on this and other crucial issues for the continent.
An expert in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands dispute and professional diplomat has been accepted as the new Argentine ambassador in Ireland. Silvia Maria Merega has held important posts at the Organization of American States in Washington, before the European Union and at the Argentine embassy in the US.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez rallied a huge crowd Saturday night celebrating the 10-year government that she and her late husband Nestor Kirchner began in 2003. Her voice breaking, she called it a victorious decade, won not by a government but by the people and called for “the empowerment of the people” to defend what has been achieved in the ‘won decade’.
The United States biotech giant Monsanto says it respects people’s rights to express themselves, but that its genetically-modified seeds improve farm productivity and food quality.
Argentina's April industrial production rose 1.7% over the same month a year earlier with a big jump in automobile output and more modest gains in the production of building materials, government data showed on Friday.
Colombia and the Marxist-led FARC rebels have reached agreement on the critical issue of agrarian reform, the two sides said in what appeared to be a major step forward for the peace process aimed at ending their long war.
Mercosur must negotiate any possible incorporation to the Alliance of the Pacific “as a block” since it is important that its member countries remain ‘united’ and respect the current charter, said the Mercosur High Representative, Ambassador Ivan Ramalho from Brazil.
Brazil has announced that it will cancel or restructure almost 900m dollars worth of debt with Africa. Oil- and gas-rich Congo-Brazzaville, Tanzania and Zambia are among the 12 African countries to benefit. The move is seen as an effort to boost economic ties between the world's seventh largest economy and the African continent.
The Argentine ambassador to Uruguay, Dante Dovena, assured that authorities are “working intensely” in preparations for the next Mercosur summit scheduled to take place on June 28th in Montevideo. However news form Paraguay doesn’t indicate the same optimism and are demanding respect for ‘the country’s dignity and rule of the law”.
All is ready for the massive ‘decade won’ celebration that President Cristina Fernández plans to hold on Saturday May 25 to commemorate the ten years since her late husband Nestor Kirchner first took office, but which must also be interpreted as a rally in support of her administration battered by inflation, a slowing economy, political battles and growing claims of rampant corruption.