Latin America

• Monday, May 27th 2013 - 02:54 UTC

  Brazil warns Uruguay on Pacific Alliance plans: Mercosur can only act as ‘a block’

  

  Mercosur must negotiate any possible incorporation to the Alliance of the Pacific “as a block” since it is important that its member countries remain ‘united’ and respect the current charter, said the Mercosur High Representative, Ambassador Ivan Ramalho from Brazil.

• Monday, May 27th 2013 - 01:49 UTC

  Paraguay demands respect from Mercosur, “if not leave us as we are”

  

  The Argentine ambassador to Uruguay, Dante Dovena, assured that authorities are “working intensely” in preparations for the next Mercosur summit scheduled to take place on June 28th in Montevideo. However news form Paraguay doesn’t indicate the same optimism and are demanding respect for ‘the country’s dignity and rule of the law”.

• Saturday, May 25th 2013 - 05:34 UTC

  Falkland Islands elected lawmaker will attend C24 regional seminar in Ecuador

  

  Falkland Islands elected lawmaker Mike Summers will attend next week the Caribbean Regional Seminar of the Special Committee on Decolonization which is to be held in Quito, Ecuador in anticipation of the main C24 annual meeting in New York.

• Saturday, May 25th 2013 - 05:16 UTC

  Former Guatemalan president extradited to face money laundering charges in US

  

  Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited on Friday to the United States to face money laundering charges, the US embassy in Guatemala said. A US grand jury decided in 2009 that Portillo, who was in office from 2000 to 2004, should face charges that he laundered 70 million dollars through US banks.

• Saturday, May 25th 2013 - 05:11 UTC

  Brazil’s employment rate remains stable but job creation slowed in recent months

  

  Brazil's jobless rate rose slightly in April for the fourth straight month but remained near record lows, suggesting that tight labour conditions bolstered a gradual recovery and fed into inflation, statistics agency IBGE said this week.

• Saturday, May 25th 2013 - 04:29 UTC

  Paraguay becomes observer of the Alliance of the Pacific, despite Brazil and Mercosur

  

  The Alliance of the Pacific announced this week that Paraguay had been accepted as an observer of the regional group. Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos chair and host of the alliance summit in Cali made it official during the reading of the final declaration.

• Friday, May 24th 2013 - 07:50 UTC

  Pacific Alliance agrees to eliminate tariffs for 90% of goods beginning July

  

  The Alliance of the Pacific bloc that includes Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Chile on Thursday agreed to eliminate tariffs on most goods to promote free trade between the countries and increase exports to Asia.

• Friday, May 24th 2013 - 07:36 UTC

  South America re-election rash: Ecuador’s Correa takes office for the third consecutive time

  

  Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa will be inaugurated on Friday for his third consecutive mandate, something which Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez just managed before his death, and something which Bolivia’s Evo Morales aspires.

• Thursday, May 23rd 2013 - 07:01 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez administration limits overseas dollar extractions to a minimum

  

  Continuing with the so called ‘dollar clamp’ Argentine institutions issuing credit cards will further limit the extraction of dollars from automatic cashiers: travellers to neighbouring countries will only be allowed 100 dollars every three months and those visiting non neighbouring countries, 800 dollars per month.

• Thursday, May 23rd 2013 - 00:45 UTC

  Penn calls for Dakar rally to cancel Bolivia unless a US citizen is released

  

  Actor and humanitarian Sean Penn called for the Dakar Rally to cancel its debut run in Bolivia unless an ailing American businessman being held under house arrest there is released. Penn, a friend of President Evo Morales has angered Bolivian authorities with his request.