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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 26th 2024 - 20:50 UTC

Stories for April 2017

  • Monday, April 3rd 2017 - 08:05 UTC

    Incumbent candidate winning in Ecuador's presidential runoff

    Moreno, designated heir to a decade of President Correa’s “21st-century socialism,” had 51.07% of the vote to 48.93% for conservative ex-banker Guillermo Lasso

    Socialist candidate Lenin Moreno had a slim lead Sunday in Ecuador’s presidential runoff, setting up a tense wait for the final count in a race that could change the political map of Latin America.Moreno, the designated heir to a decade of President Rafael Correa’s “21st-century socialism,” had 51.07% of the vote to 48.93% for conservative ex-banker Guillermo Lasso, with 94.2% of districts reporting, said the National Electoral Council.

  • Sunday, April 2nd 2017 - 08:34 UTC

    Electoral Court decides this week on continuity of Temer's presidency

    Ex President Rousseff and Temer are accused of taking undeclared campaign funds from corrupt donors.

    Brazilian President Michel Temer is facing a terrible week, with a court theoretically annulling his presidency and forcing him to step down from office. Temer is widely expected to find a way to escape this. But the mere fact that a court is considering such a thing shows the depths of uncertainty in Latin America’s biggest country as it tries to survive in a huge corruption scandal, a two-year recession and record unemployment.

  • Sunday, April 2nd 2017 - 06:02 UTC

    Trump will host Xi at his Florida resort April 6/7; anticipates “difficult meeting”

    Trump predicted “a very difficult” meeting in a tweet just hours after both governments announced the summit.

    United States President Donald Trump will meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for the first time on April 6-7 at Trump's Florida resort, China's Foreign Ministry announced, amid a range of pressing issues including trade, North Korea and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 23:40 UTC

    Will Ecuador confirm the conservative-turn-tendency in South America?

    Moreno beat pro-business banker Lasso by more than 10 points in the eight-way first round in February. But 60% of voters opted for candidates opposing Moreno

    Voters in Ecuador will be going to the polls on Sunday for the presidential runoff and a choice between a traditional South American leftist and a conservative ex-banker, that will steer the oil exporting country for the next four years. It will also show if South Americans are effectively abandoning populist ideas as happened in Argentina, Peru and Brazil.

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 23:12 UTC

    Domestic (military) and foreign pressure force Maduro to revoke annulment of Congress

    “This controversy is over,” Maduro said just after midnight to a specially convened state defense security committee that ordered the top court to reconsider.

    Venezuela's pro-government Supreme Court on Saturday revoked its controversial annulment of the opposition-led Congress amid international condemnation and protests against populist president Nicolas Maduro. Unprecedented pressure from other Latin American nations and dissent within its own ranks, and the military, appear to have been the catalyst for the court reversing its Wednesday ruling.

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 22:58 UTC

    Macri will receive Malvinas' Families and Combatants on Sunday 35th anniversary of the war

    President Macri will host Sunday at Olivos residence a delegation of 25 people from the Malvinas Families Commission plus a group of 20 veterans

    Argentina prepares to commemorate this Sunday the Malvinas War Veterans and Fallen Day, which according to the official calendar marks the 35th anniversary of the start of the 1982 war when the Falklands were invaded by Argentine forces, leading to a 74-day conflict, which left 907 dead, (649 Argentines, 255 British and three Falkland Islanders).

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 19:34 UTC

    Paraguay officials pledge the reelection amendment will be submitted to binding referendum

    Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police at the headquarters of a liberal youth activist group, the Paraguayan opposition said. (Pic AP)

    A protester was killed in Paraguay after violent clashes overnight sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment that would allow conservative President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The political move also had the support and Senate votes from the left leaning former removed president Fernando Lugo, which polls show he has significant support ahead of the 2018 presidential election.

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 09:43 UTC

    Paraguay: protestors set Congress on fire following secret vote allowing presidential reelection

    Television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress after several hours of escalating violence and confrontations with police.

    Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election, a change that will also require approval by the Lower House. The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989.

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 09:09 UTC

    Chavism divided: Chief prosecutor says there has been a ”rupture of constitutional order

    Loyalist Luisa Ortega said it was her “unavoidable historical duty'' as top judicial authority to denounce what she called a ”rupture'' of the constitutional order.

    Venezuela's chief prosecutor broke with the government on Friday and rebuked a Supreme Court decision stripping Congress of its last vestiges of power, showing a crack in the unity of the embattled populist government of President Nicolas Maduro as it came under a torrent of international condemnation over what many decried as a major step toward dictatorship.

  • Saturday, April 1st 2017 - 08:37 UTC

    Falklands begins process for new port facilities to support economic growth

    The Executive Council approved a temporary, immediate augmentation of FIPASS capacity, at least until the end of 2018.

    The Falkland Islands has approved the commencement of work that will lead to the delivery of new port facilities to support economic growth into the next decade. According to a release from the Falklands elected government, the new work will build on the substantial previous studies completed in 2012 and 2014, which investigated the viability of various sites, and resources are expected to be allocated during the 2017/18 budget process.

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