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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, February 14th 2026 - 20:38 UTC

Latin America

  • Tuesday, August 15th 2023 - 10:15 UTC

    Paraguay’s new President wants change at home and abroad

    Paraguayan president Santiago Peña with Brazilian leader Lula da Silva

    By Julieta Heduvan (*) – Santiago Peña assumes Paraguay’s presidency this Tuesday August 15 with a number of advantages, including a supportive Congress. But he faces also numerous challenges, as he tries to unite his party, manage the influence of his political mentor—businessman and former President Horacio Cartes—and handle international negotiations, from the Itaipú accord to U.S. sanctions against Paraguayan politicians.

  • Tuesday, August 15th 2023 - 10:02 UTC

    Another Ecuadorian politician shot dead

    Briones belonged to Revolución Ciudadana of former President Rafael Correa

    Ecuadorian politician Pedro Briones of former President Rafael Correa's Revolución Ciudadana (RC) party, was shot dead just days after the killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio of the Movimiento Construye.

  • Monday, August 14th 2023 - 10:08 UTC

    Ecuadorian party picks yet a new candidate to replace Villavicencio

    Zurita and González Náder wear police bulletproof vests

    Only hours after announcing that Vice Presidential candidate Andrea González Náder would pick up the baton from the assassinated Fernando Villavicencio, Ecuador's Movimiento Construye recanted Sunday and picked journalist Christian Zurita to top the ticket for the Aug. 20 elections. Náder thus returned to her original slot, it was explained in Quito.

  • Sunday, August 13th 2023 - 19:53 UTC

    Slain candidate's party picks successor for Ecuador's elections

    As a vice-presidential candidate, González Náder had pledged to work on green economy, sustainable development, and climate change

    Ecuador's Movimiento Construye of slain presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio announced Saturday that his former running mate Andrea González Náder will pick up his baton for the Aug. 20 elections. Villavicencio, 59, was shot dead on Aug. 9 as he was leaving a rally in Quito after receiving threats from drug traffickers.

  • Sunday, August 13th 2023 - 19:47 UTC

    Peruvian prosecutor files new charges against Castillo

    Castillo's administration is believed to have encouraged the promotion of officers linked to the head of state

    Peru's Public Prosecutor's Office has filed new charges against former President Pedro Castillo Terrones for the alleged crimes of abuse of authority and passive bribery, among others, it was reported in Lima during the weekend.

  • Saturday, August 12th 2023 - 10:41 UTC

    Chile's Social Development Minister resigns amid scandal

    Jackson is known to be a close friend of President Boric's

    Giorgio Jackson, of President Gabriel Boric Fnt's Democratic Revolution (RD) party, Friday turned in his resignation as Social Development Minister following his involvement in a corruption scandal splashing several cabinet members and even the head of state, it was reported in Santiago.

  • Friday, August 11th 2023 - 12:36 UTC

    FBI's help requested in Ecuadorian candidate's murder probe

    All six suspects arrested in connection with Villavicencio's death plus the one killed during a police raid were Colombian nationals

    Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso Thursday asked the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to support his country in the investigation of Wednesday's murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, it was reported in Quito. An FBI team is due in Ecuador shortly, Lasso said.

  • Friday, August 11th 2023 - 11:17 UTC

    Major haul of cocaine in Rotterdam: eight tons in a shipment of Ecuadorean bananas

    The cocaine was hidden in a container alongside bananas on a ship that had arrived from Ecuador. Some 8,000 packets of the drug were discovered in the containers.

    Ecuador again is headlines. Netherlands authorities have seized eight tons of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam, prosecutors announced on Thursday. The drug is valued at an estimated US$660 million and represents the biggest haul ever recorded at the port. The last biggest was a 4,500-kilogram haul made in 2020.

  • Friday, August 11th 2023 - 09:12 UTC

    Ecuador: Six Colombians accused of killing presidential candidate; State of emergency and elections ratified

    Interior Minister Juan Zapata described the killing as a “political crime of a terrorist nature” aimed at sabotaging the August 20 presidential election

    Six people have been arrested in Ecuador late on Thursday in connection with the killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio following a political rally a day earlier.

  • Thursday, August 10th 2023 - 11:25 UTC

    Hitmen assassinate Presidential candidate in Ecuador

    A former journalist and assemblyman, the 59-year-old Villavicencio was said to be very close to President Lasso

    Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio died after being attacked by hitmen on his way out of a campaign rally in downtown Quito ahead of the upcoming Aug. 20 elections, Interior Minister Juan Zapata confirmed in the Ecuadorian capital. Other people were wounded, it was reported.