MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 3rd 2026 - 11:21 UTC

Argentina

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 23:38 UTC

    Argentina opens economic bids for Paraná-Paraguay waterway amid warnings of irregularities

    The winning company will gain access to revenues of close to USD 600 million per year in tolls, according to the tender conditions

    The government of Javier Milei proceeded on Tuesday to open the economic bids submitted by the two international consortia competing for the 25-year concession of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway, Argentina's main fluvial trade artery, despite a warning from the Public Prosecutor's Office about the existence of “serious and obvious irregularities” that could give rise to criminal and administrative consequences. The Peronist opposition has filed a bill in Congress demanding the immediate suspension of the process.

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 12:17 UTC

    Falklands marks in May the landing of British forces and the liberation of Goose Green

    British forces unloading supplies from landing craft at San Carlos

    May is a month of commemoration for the population of the Falkland Islands, as the 44th anniversary of the Argentine armed invasion falls this month — an occupation that was defeated and expelled following the landing of the Task Force dispatched by London.

  • Monday, May 18th 2026 - 05:37 UTC

    The Falklands turn into a small South Atlantic economic power as the ghosts of 1982 return

    The Falklands have 3,662 inhabitants and a per capita income higher than that of the United Kingdom

    The Falkland Islands are going through their traditional “commemoration season,” the cycle of ceremonies that recall the 1982 war each year, culminating in Liberation Day on 14 June, at a moment defined by two overlapping realities: the consolidation of the archipelago as a small economic power in the South Atlantic and the reactivation of diplomatic tensions with the United States and Argentina. A feature published on Saturday by the British newspaper The Sunday Times, written by Matthew Campbell from Fitzroy, captures the contrast between growing economic prosperity and the anxiety generated by the recent leak of a Pentagon memorandum.

  • Sunday, May 17th 2026 - 13:53 UTC

    Argentine Air Force bought a used aircraft at double its market price, Clarín investigation finds

    Regional One Inc. won the bid with an ERJ-140LR for $4.085M and 33,516 flight hours, despite cannibalized parts, corrosion, leaks, and four fewer seats than the only other bidder's aircraft.

    The Argentine Air Force (FAA) acquired in 2025 an Embraer ERJ-140LR aircraft for USD 4.085 million, nearly double the price the same provider had quoted for an equivalent and better-conditioned plane to a private client just months later, according to an investigation published on Saturday by the newspaper Clarín. The transaction, awarded to the US firm Regional One Inc. in a tender resolved in record time and challenged by a competitor, displays irregularities in the design of the bidding terms, the technical evaluation, and the payment circuit, and forms part, according to the publication, of a pattern replicated in at least three other aircraft purchases by the force since 2021.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 04:16 UTC

    Paz thanks Milei for sending Hercules aircraft to bring food to blockaded Bolivian cities

    “My deepest gratitude to President Milei for the invaluable support extended to Bolivia with the dispatch of the Hercules aircraft for humanitarian assistance tasks,” Paz wrote

    Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Friday thanked his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, for sending two C-130 Hercules military aircraft to reinforce the airlift aimed at supplying food and basic goods to the cities of La Paz and El Alto, affected by ten consecutive days of road blockades by peasant unions from the highlands. The regional gesture comes during one of the most critical weeks of the centrist leader's six-month tenure, against a backdrop of shortages and growing political tension with sectors aligned with former president Evo Morales.

  • Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 17:23 UTC

    Patagonian Tragedy to Be Remembered at London’s Royal Albert Hall

    The project began when acclaimed Welsh composer Robat Arwyn visited Patagonia and met local historian Jeremy Wood in Esquel

    A little-known but deeply poignant chapter of Patagonian history will be brought to life this June at one of the world’s most prestigious venues, London’s Royal Albert Hall.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 13:14 UTC

    Argentina sees new university protest as government pledges post-march dialogue

    The National Interuniversity Council estimates that transfers to national universities fell by 45.6% in real terms between 2023 and 2026, while sector salaries rose 158% against accumulated inflation

    Argentina's public universities are staging the fourth Federal University March on Tuesday against the budget adjustment imposed by Javier Milei's government, with the main rally in Plaza de Mayo and simultaneous mobilizations in the country's major cities, while the national administration announced it will meet with rectors after the protest to discuss the allocation of funds for university hospitals. The day combines a strike with suspended classes, a broad opposition turnout, and an official discursive shift aimed at opening a dialogue channel without yielding on the substance of the dispute.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 02:27 UTC

    Labs across three continents confirm passenger-to-passenger spread on hantavirus cruise

    Hantavirus shows a reduced capacity to mutate compared with other pathogens such as influenza or coronaviruses

    A comparative genomic analysis of five people infected aboard the polar cruise ship MV Hondius has confirmed that the hantavirus spread from passenger to passenger during the voyage, according to a study published on the open scientific platform Viriological and produced jointly by laboratories in South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The scientific finding supports the hypothesis handled since the outbreak began, which has left ten people infected and three dead, and completes the epidemiological picture after weeks of investigation.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 20:32 UTC

    Milei government cuts nearly 1.79 billion dollar from budget with sharp education adjustment

    The politically most sensitive cut affects the Education Secretariat, with a reduction of 78.7 billion pesos (around 56 million dollars)

    The government of Javier Milei amended Argentina's 2026 budget on Monday with a cut of nearly 2.5 trillion pesos (around 1.79 billion dollars at the parallel exchange rate) —equivalent to approximately 1.6% of the total— in an administrative decision that deepens the adjustment effort to sustain the fiscal surplus target agreed with the International Monetary Fund. The measure, signed by Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni and Economy Minister Luis Caputo, comes one day before the fourth Federal University March, called for Tuesday with its main event in Plaza de Mayo.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 03:40 UTC

    Paraná waterway: Milei's largest privatization advances amid tailored-bid suspicions

    The process has drawn controversy. A group of opposition lawmakers requested the tender's suspension after alleging that a technical report attributed to the United Nations had been forged

    The tender to concession Argentina's Paraná-Paraguay waterway for 25 years —the country's main fluvial artery, through which roughly 85% of foreign trade is shipped— has entered its final stretch with two Belgian finalists, Jan de Nul and DEME, and mounting political questions over the tender's design, the local partners involved, and the integrity of the supporting technical documentation.