MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 3rd 2025 - 01:10 UTC

Latin America

  • Tuesday, January 28th 2025 - 10:55 UTC

    Argentina to build fence along Bolivian border

    Aguas Blancas is known to be particularly porous to uncontrolled traffic from Bolivia

    Authorities in the Argentine province of Salta called for tenders to build a “perimeter fence” 200 meters long and 2.5 meters high on the border with Bolivia along the Bermejo River between the Aguas Blancas bus terminal and the immigration checkpoint, in a move to keep irregular aliens and drugs from entering the country.

  • Tuesday, January 28th 2025 - 08:47 UTC

    Things back to normal but not for Colombians seeking a US visa

    Colombian would-be travelers will have to wait until the tide caused by Petro's challenging Trump subsides

    The US State Department confirmed Monday that delays were still to be expected by Colombian nationals seeking a visa to travel to the United States after the incident between Presidents Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro over the weekend regarding two deportation flights.

  • Monday, January 27th 2025 - 21:42 UTC

    Investigation launched into attack against Venezuela's Embassy in La Paz

    Sosa explained that shots had been fired against the diplomatic mission on Sunday

    Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa said her country's government had launched an investigation into the attack against Venezuela's Embassy in La Paz. “From the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia we strongly repudiate these vandalism acts that violate the rights and immunities of Venezuelan diplomats,” she stressed in a statement published on social media.

  • Monday, January 27th 2025 - 10:55 UTC

    Petro and Trump exchange threats amid troubled deportation flights

    In the end, the tug of war between Petro and Trump amounted to little more than reciprocal warnings

    Washington and Bogotá played cat-and-mouse this weekend after the Colombian leftwing Government Gustavo Petro refused to allow US military planes carrying deportees to land in the South American country. In response, President Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs on all Colombian imports, after which Petro adopted a reciprocal measure.

  • Monday, January 27th 2025 - 09:14 UTC

    Honduran President calls for “emergency” Celac Summit

    The immigration crisis is expected to relaunch Celac's regional role among progressive leaders

    Honduran President Xiomara Castro launched an appeal Sunday for leaders of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) to convene “urgently” to discuss the ongoing crisis sparked by US President Donald Trump's decision to speed up deportations.

  • Saturday, January 25th 2025 - 10:00 UTC

    Fitch downgrades Bolivia's credit rating

    Fitch's pessimistic projections generate unnecessary uncertainty, Bolivian authorities argued

    The international agency Fitch Ratings Friday downgraded Bolivia's status to “CCC-” and warned that corrective measures were needed urgently to avoid a deeper slide. In issuing its grades, Fitch took into account the unavailability of foreign currency and the country's poorly designed economic and fiscal policy.

  • Friday, January 24th 2025 - 10:42 UTC

    Lula and Scheinbaum discuss regional matters over the phone

    Lula invited Sheinbaum over to Brazil to further boost the excellent ties between the two countries

    Progressive Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico discussed Thursday during a telephone conversation the relevance of cultivating “productive relations” with the United States, now once again under the Republican Donald Trump.

  • Thursday, January 23rd 2025 - 23:17 UTC

    Petro and Maduro discuss cooperation in tackling drug trafficking

    It was the first contact between both leftwing leaders after Maduro's questionable Jan. 10 inauguration following the controversial July 28, 2024, election results

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro discussed with Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro the possibility of tackling drug trafficking together on the border between the two countries, particularly “in the Catatumbo River” where a joint action plan is under development given the security crisis stemming from activities by the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.

  • Thursday, January 23rd 2025 - 08:44 UTC

    Former Salvadoran President Funes dies in his Nicaraguan exile

    As a journalist, Funes interviewed world leaders such as Felipe González, Hugo Chávez, Fidel Castro, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

    Former Salvadoran President Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena, better known as Mauricio Funes, died Tuesday local time in exile in Nicaragua where Daniel Ortega's Sandinista regime had granted him citizenship, the Health Ministry announced in a statement.

  • Wednesday, January 22nd 2025 - 10:48 UTC

    Cuba back on US list of terrorism-sponsoring nations under Trump

    The Republican head of state placed Cuba among those nations where he had already included it during his first term in office (2017-2021)

    US President Donald Trump added Cuba once again to the list of nations sponsoring terrorism and announced tougher measures against Venezuela's Bolivarian regime which stayed in power past Jan. 10 despite half the world not recognizing Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 28, 2024, elections.