Latin America

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 21:24 UTC

  Brazil offers Paraguay Mercosur chair, but apparently Argentina is not convinced

  

  Brazil offered Paraguay the rotating chair of Mercosur as of next December, as part of an overall understanding to have the landlocked country return to the block, while accepting the incorporation of Venezuela as a full member of the group. Paraguay rejects Venezuela’s membership alleging it was done against the will of its Senate and in breach of national and international law and of the Mercosur charter.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:29 UTC

  Collapse of a 35bn dollars empire; Brazil’s Eike Batista defaulted on 45 million interest payment

  

  Two days ago, former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista crossed a line. He started to default on a 45 million dollars interest payments on his oil and gas company, OGX's, bonds. The default will be official on October 30th, according to Bloomberg. That leaves bondholders, like PIMCO, the largest bond fund in the world helmed by legendary investor Bill Gross, taking a massive hit. And what's worse is that there could be more to come, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:17 UTC

  Moody’s lowers Brazil’s credit rating to stable from positive: rising debt and weak growth

  

  Brazil’s currency Real declined from its highest level in two weeks after Moody’s Investors Service cited rising debt and weak growth in lowering its outlook on the country’s credit rating to stable from positive.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 07:19 UTC

  Repsol expands 70% a natural gas processing plant capacity in Bolivia

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales and the chairman and CEO of Spanish energy major Repsol, Antonio Brufau, inaugurated the newly expanded Margarita natural gas processing plant, with a capacity increased of nearly 70%.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 07:09 UTC

  Argentina will challenge Uruguay’s decision to expand pulp mill production at The Hague Court of Justice

  

  Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman has confirmed that Argentina will go before the international court of justice at The Hague over the decision of Uruguayan president José Mujica, who on Wednesday authorised increased production at the UPM (ex-Botnia) paper plant.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 06:58 UTC

  Spain proposes sharing embassies and consulates with Pacific Alliance countries

  

  Spain has proposed sharing embassies, consulates and trade offices with its Latinamerican associate-members of the Pacific Alliance, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Foreign minister Jose Manuel García Margallo said that the idea of sharing some embassies and consulates already is operational in the European Union.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 06:31 UTC

  Colombia, Chile and Peru move to integrate foreign exchange markets

  

  Colombia, Peru and Chile announced on Wednesday the integration of their foreign exchange markets in the framework of MILA to facilitate money exchange operations between the three associates which add to a daily average turnover of 2,798bn. So far the Latinamerican Integrated Market, MILA, is operating with a combined stock market for the three nations.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 08:22 UTC

  Rousseff reminds Cartes that Paraguay belongs to Mercosur and is strategic for Brazil

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff received her peer from Paraguay, Horacio Cartes with full head of state honours but at the same time reminded him that Paraguay is a full member of Mercosur and “bilateral relations are in the context of multilateral relations with all countries of the hemisphere”.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 07:25 UTC

  Falklands Chilean residents celebrate National Day and strong links with Chile

  

  Chilean residents of the Falkland Islands celebrated at Government House in Stanley their national day and the strong connections between the Islands and Chile.

• Tuesday, October 1st 2013 - 06:46 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez and Mujica in a prudent silence over the pulp mill controversy

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández met on Monday with her Uruguayan counterpart José Mujica after the pair inaugurated a new vessel belonging to the ferry company Buquebús, (which joins Montevideo with Buenos Aires), in order to discuss matters related to the controversial UPM pulp plant formerly known as Botnia.