
A two day Mercosur summit begins Monday in Montevideo with Foreign Affairs ministers meeting Monday and the presidents on Tuesday when the rotating chair will be passed from Uruguay to Argentina for the next six month.

Uruguayan opposition called the government of President Jose Mujica “submissive” and “obsequious” with Argentina for having announced it was barring Falkland Islands flagged vessels from the port of Montevideo.

Argentina attempt to control capital flight through strict foreign exchange measures including the tax revenue office which gives its approval or denial to foreign money transactions have added another tool: sniffer dogs.

Spanish ambassador in Uruguay Aurora Diaz-Rato criticized Argentina following an incident with an Argentine Coast Guard unit which tried to intercept a Spanish flagged vessel when exiting Montevideo en route to the Falkland Islands.

As Spanish vessel with Falkland Islands fishing licence was harassed Saturday morning by the Argentine Coast Guard on leaving the port of Montevideo for the South Atlantic and had to reroute course in Uruguayan waters until reaching the high seas.

Uruguay considers that British control over the Falklands or Malvinas Islands constitutes a “colonial enclave”, which is “inadmissible”, and that is why Falklands’ flagged vessels are barred from entering Uruguayan ports, said on Friday Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro.

”The best way to defend workers is to look after the government” said Argentine Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, the first official response to organized labour union boss Hugo Moyano speech on Thursday to a packed stadium of 80.000 roaring teamsters

In a high voltage exchange with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, the head of the powerful organized labour unions CGT, Hugo Moyano said he was stepping down from all his posts in the ruling Peronist movement since it had become “an empty shell void of Peronism” but would continue fighting for the workers movement which is the essence of Peronism.

The consumer price index in Argentina during the month of November increased 0.6% according to the official stats office Indec, which is less than half the percentage released by private estimates through the so called Congress inflation index.

The British Embassy in Montevideo is discussing with Uruguayan authorities the implications of President Jose Mujica public statement that Falklands/Malvinas flagged vessels “are banned from docking in the port of Montevideo”.