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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 21st 2024 - 14:40 UTC

Stories for December 2023

  • Friday, December 29th 2023 - 10:45 UTC

    Essequibo crisis: Venezuela launches defensive military operation

    The Trent's presence in the area has been “synchronized with actions by the United States Southern Command,” Maduro's government also pointed out

    Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered preventive measures be taken as the Royal Navy's HMS Trent was reaching the area to side with Guyana amid tensions over the disputed oil-rich Essequibo area.

  • Friday, December 29th 2023 - 10:44 UTC

    Lula enacts so-called “poison law” in Brazil

    Brazil is the largest consumer of pesticides worldwide

    Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Thursday signed into law the so-called “pesticides bill” easing down restrictions on the use of those chemicals, albeit with partial vetoes, it was reported in Brasilia.

  • Thursday, December 28th 2023 - 10:33 UTC

    Milei sends multi-item reform bill to Argentine Congress

    The bill, named the “Bases and Points for Argentine Freedom Act,” has 664 articles

    Argentine President Javier Milei Wednesday sent to Congress a multi-item bill providing for the suppression of the Mandatory, Simultaneous, and Open Primary (PASO) elections, tougher police control in case of protests, and the privatization of 41 public companies, among other measures to rescue the South American country from its current crisis.

  • Thursday, December 28th 2023 - 10:19 UTC

    Dengue kills man in Argentine province of Corrientes

    So far this year, 1,079 deaths from dengue have been recorded in Brazil

    Argentine health authorities have issued an epidemiological alert after a man died of dengue in the city of Corrientes. The patient, who was reported to have underlying pathologies, had been rushed from his San Luis del Palmar residence to the “Escuela Hogar” hospital, in the provincial capital.

  • Thursday, December 28th 2023 - 09:53 UTC

    Uneventful protest in Argentina ends in arrests and other incidents in adjacent areas

    Clashes erupted between departing demonstrators and riot police who tried to apply Security Minister Patricia Bullrich's new protocol

    Several people were arrested in downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday after a demonstration in front of the main Courthouse in which the country's unions and some social organizations demanded that President Javier Milei's sweeping emergency decree (DNU) of last week be overturned by the judiciary through a declaration of unconstitutionality.

  • Thursday, December 28th 2023 - 09:04 UTC

    Chile's state-owned Codelco strikes deal with SQP for lithium extraction

    “We are fulfilling the task of ensuring the state's participation in the extraction of the so-called white gold,” Boric celebrated

    Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font Wednesday celebrated a new agreement between the state-owned National Copper Corporation (Codelco) and Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM) to create a public-private partnership to exploit the country's lithium, with the state as the main shareholder, it was reported in Santiago.

  • Thursday, December 28th 2023 - 08:37 UTC

    Antisemitism case against Roger Waters admitted in Buenos Aires

    Waters' expressions arguably harm the feelings of members of the Jewish community, the plaintiffs insist

    An Argentine court has agreed to review an antisemitism complaint filed by Shoah survivor Carlos Zigelbaum and his son Sergio Zigelbaum against British pop musician Roger Waters, it was reported this week in Buenos Aires.

  • Thursday, December 28th 2023 - 08:05 UTC

    Bolivia declares epidemiological alert as number of Covid-19 grows

    The system must remain attentive, Minister Castro said

    Bolivian authorities Wednesday decreed an epidemiological alert in the face of an increasing number of cases of Covid-19. “It is not the first alert that it is launched,” Health Minister María Renée Castro explained. “When we have some diseases that begin to circulate we launch an alert to tell the system that it must remain attentive, so that we are all there, with all the protocols,” she added.

  • Wednesday, December 27th 2023 - 10:36 UTC

    Milei eyes plebiscite if DNU fails through Congress

    If the economic plan goes wrong, Argentina blows up, “but if nothing is done, it also explodes,” Milei reckoned

    Argentine President Javier Milei said he would call for a popular consultation if his most-encompassing emergency decree (DNU) issued last week fails through Congress.

  • Wednesday, December 27th 2023 - 10:29 UTC

    Lowest rainfall in over 40 years affects Amazon basin rivers

    A study from the EU showed that a series of heat waves from August to November raised the temperature by a record high for this time of year

    A recent study from the European Union Science Center showed that rivers in the Amazon basin have been severely affected by historic poor rainfalls, Agencia Brasil reported. The region's biodiversity has also been hit by the meteorological conditions, particularly in the headwaters of the Solimões, Purus, Juruá, and Madeira rivers (Brazil's Amazonas state) and also in parts of Peruvian and Bolivian forests.