Stories for December 9th 2023

Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 11:05 UTC
Uruguayan president clashes with potential successor

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou exchanged verbal flak with his likely successor Friday while shaking hands at a business event in Progreso. “If you want to maintain a good relationship, try to mind your manners,” Lacalle told Canelones Mayor (Governor) Yamandú Orsi of the opposition Frente Amplio.
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 11:00 UTC
Singapore signs free trade agreement with Mercosur at the Rio summit

The city-state of Singapore and a leading business and financial hub in Asia finally signed a free trade agreement with Mercosur during the South American countries summit held in Rio do Janeiro. It is Mercosur's first deal with a Southeast Asian nation.
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 10:44 UTC
1982 war veteran slated for Argentine Defense Ministry's “Number 2” job?

Argentina's future government of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) is entertaining the possibility of appointing retired Colonel Daniel Esteban, a Malvinas War Veteran, as Deputy Defense Minister as of Dec. 10, according to Buenos Aires daily Clarín. Esteban would serve under former Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) Vice Presidential candidate Luis Petri, who has been picked to head the Ministry following the now-defunct alliance's support to Javier Milei against Sergio Massa at the Nov. 19 runoff.
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 10:37 UTC
Uruguayan Navy delegation off to South Korea to bring home patrol boat

A 7-member team of the Uruguayan Navy has been dispatched to South Korea to take delivery of a Chamsuri-class patrol boat donated to the South American country, it was reported in Montevideo. The unit is due in the River Plate by early 2024, aboard a specialized transport vessel, it was explained.
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 10:26 UTC
Essequibo: Guyanese president hopes Maduro will not act recklessly

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said that Venezuela's latest actions regarding the dispute over the Guaiana Essequiba were “a regional threat” and hoped Nicolás Maduro's regime would not act “in an adventurous and very irresponsible manner.”
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 10:23 UTC
Guatemalan Prosecutors want June 25 elections annulled

Guatemala's Public Prosecutor's Office said this week that the voter rolls used in the elections won by Bernardo Arévalo de León “were not authorized” by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and therefore the results thereof were “null and void.” Arévalo had warned on Sept. 1 that Attorney General Consuelo Porras was carrying out a “coup d'état” against him to prevent him from taking office on Jan. 14 to succeed Alejandro Giammattei.
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 09:57 UTC
Moody's downgrades China's debt; Beijing insists “unnecessary to worry”

Credit risk agency Moody's is warning about growing problems with the Chinese economy, and has cut its outlook on government-s debt to negative from stable. China has become the world's second largest economy and the main trading partner, among others of South American countries.
Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 08:32 UTC
Case of type 4 dengue reported in Rio de Janeiro

Health officials in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro have confirmed a case of type 4 dengue fever, which has not been seen in the area since 2018, Agencia Brasil reported. In response, measures are being considered to control the spread of the mosquitoes that transmit the disease (Aedes aegypti). More than 6,000 dengue virus cases have been identified this year, with 5,532 type 1 cases, 820 type 2 cases, and only one type 4 case.