Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 27th 2025 - 19:15 UTC

Latin America

  • Monday, July 13th 2015 - 09:21 UTC

    Venezuela will stop buying Guyana rice amid escalating border dispute

    Finance minister Jordan said Venezuelan officials informed him that they will be acquiring rice from other suppliers, including Suriname, by the end of the year.

    Venezuela has decided to stop buying much of Guyana's rice crop amid an escalating border dispute between the two neighboring countries, the Guyanese finance minister said. The administration of president Nicolas Maduro has in the past four years purchased about 40% of Guyana's rice production, about 200,000 tons, paying for it with oil that amounts to about half of Guyana's daily supply needs.

  • Monday, July 13th 2015 - 09:03 UTC

    The Peronist pope: Francis’s balancing act in Latin America, according to The Economist

    The pope’s criticisms of free-market capitalism chime both with traditional Catholic social doctrine and with Peronism

    Under the heading of “The Peronist pope”, The Economist has a piece on “Francis's balancing act in Latin America” dedicated to the eight day tour of three of the continent's poorest countries, but with the largest percentages of Catholics. But for Francis it is also a delicate balancing act since several current leaders in the region tend to blend the Church's 'option for the poor' with Marxist ideology.

  • Monday, July 13th 2015 - 06:36 UTC

    Argentina' Cristina Fernandez flies to Paraguay meets Francis for the sixth time

    The Argentine president had been invited by Paraguay's Cartés to attend the mass, and was the only regional head of state to visit Paraguay.

    President Cristina Fernández was present on Sunday in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción to hear Pope Francis give mass during his visit, and greeted the Argentine citizens who had travelled to see the leader of the Catholic church. The head of state left the open mass at around midday, handing Francis a gift before retiring after witnessing the ceremony with Paraguayan counterpart Horacio Cartés.

  • Saturday, July 11th 2015 - 05:59 UTC

    Falklands/Malvinas, Puerto Rico and Bolivia's sea outlet claim, in Pope's agenda, reveals Morales

    “You told me there are three pending issues in Latin America and the Caribbean: Puerto Rico, Malvinas and the sea for Bolivia”, said Morales

    Bolivian president Evo Morales revealed on Friday that Pope Francis told him that there are three pending issues in the continent, Puerto Rico, Falklands/Malvinas and Bolivia's sea outlet claim. The pope has been recognized by all sides as the 'bridge' which helped bring together Cuba and the US after over half a century of mutual distancing.

  • Saturday, July 11th 2015 - 05:43 UTC

    Francis calls on Paraguay to consolidate democracy and end corruption

    Pope's reception included women dancing in long swaying dresses as Guarani music played and people dressed as saints were carried on platforms.

    Pope Francis urged Paraguay to consolidate democracy and end corruption and drug trafficking, after receiving a colorful welcome on Friday at the start of the last leg of his eight-day South American tour.

  • Friday, July 10th 2015 - 07:44 UTC

    IMF sharply lowers Latin America's growth for 2015 and 2016, as commodities' prices plunge

    The WEO report on Latin Americas' largest economies predicts that Brazil will contract 1.5% and Mexico will grow 2.4% this year.

    The International Monetary Fund sharply lowered its growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean to 0.5% in 2015 and 1.7% next year, citing lower commodity prices and China's transition to a new growth model. The figures are down from the IMF's April projections for 0.9% growth this year and 2% next year.

  • Friday, July 10th 2015 - 07:21 UTC

    Francis blasts consumerism and tells a million crowd “no one has to be discarded”

    Society cannot ignore people, the pope said, “no matter how little they possess or seem capable of contributing.”

    Pope Francis, a champion of the poor and social justice, on Thursday called on a million faithful to reject today's consumer society, at an open-air mass in Bolivia. On the second stop of his three-nation tour of South America, the pope addressed the throng in the vast Christ the Redeemer Plaza in Santa Cruz, including many people who camped out overnight to see him.

  • Thursday, July 9th 2015 - 06:51 UTC

    Francis in Bolivia greeted as a 'brother' with 'a message of hope and liberation'

    Francis welcomed the “important steps” Morales' government had made “to include wide sectors in the country's economic, social and political life.”

    Pope Francis greeted Bolivia with a message of inclusion, a central theme of his three-nation tour to his home continent, as he arrived in South America's poorest nation. Landing in La Paz early in the evening, thousands of faithful -- many of whom had spent a chilly night outdoors waiting for him -- welcomed the pope as choirs sang in the indigenous Aymara language.

  • Wednesday, July 8th 2015 - 09:14 UTC

    Pope addresses one million faithful and calls for dialogue and inclusion at all levels

    “Fight for inclusion at all levels,” implored Francis, while pleading for “dialogue” on the third day of a tour that also includes Bolivia and Paraguay.

    Pope Francis called for dialogue in front of nearly one million people at an outdoor mass in Ecuador's capital, before launching an appeal for better care of the Amazon. The pope addressed over 900,000 faithful who braved the cold and rain to hear his homily in Bicentennial Park, Quito -- a city recently rocked by anti-government protests.

  • Wednesday, July 8th 2015 - 08:30 UTC

    Carnival cruises to Cuba expected for next May; waiting for Havana green light

    Under the initiative, some 37,000 travelers a year will either volunteer or be immersed in educational and cultural exchanges in local communities

    Carnival Corporation, the world's biggest travel and leisure firm, plans to launch cruises to Cuba in May, following the historic thaw between the Castro brothers nation and the United States. US Treasury Department and Commerce Department granted the company approval for the plans, Carnival announced Tuesday, though it has yet to receive Cuban authorization.