By Rafael Rincon - The following piece tries to explain how Lady Thatcher was seen in Latin America and the reactions her death has triggered in the region. ‘An Iron legacy’ was written by Chilean commentator Rafael Rincon, an expert in international relations and strategy and also linked to the oil industry.
Followers of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinocher published two obituaries in the country’s leading newspaper expressing their condolences on the death of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom they describe as “an extraordinary stateswoman” and friend of Chile “in very difficult moments in recent history”
The Uruguayan parliament voted overwhelmingly to legalise gay marriage, becoming the second country in Latin America to do so, after Argentina. The bill was approved by more than two-thirds of the lower chamber, despite opposition from the Catholic Church.
Election fever in Argentina: the administration of President Cristina Fernandez froze the price of gasoline and diesel sold at service stations for six months and convinced banks to cut interest payments on arrears. Last month supermarket chains and other suppliers agreed to extend the current price freeze.
The opposition candidate in Venezuela’s next Sunday’s presidential again pounded on his country’s foreign policy and claimed that Argentina has a pending debt of 13 billion dollars arising from oil contracts.
A clear majority of Montevideo residents support Uruguayan president Jose Mujica controversial comments on Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and her deceased husband Nestor Kirchner, “the old lady is worse than the one eyed man”, according to an opinion poll made public on Tuesday by a local broadcasting station.
The countries of the Americas face an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ for sustained growth supported by a newfound sense of optimism, said the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza at the Palm Beach Strategic Forum.
President Juan Manuel Santos led Colombians in a massive march for peace on Tuesday, calling for an end to decades of armed conflict at a time when peace talks in Havana are under fire from extreme conservative groups.
Uruguay’s per capita consumption of meats last year reached 98 kilos which represents a 3.4% increase over 2011 and above the average of developed countries that stands at 78 kilos per person per year, according to stats released by the country’s National Meats Institute, INAC.
The death of Baroness Thatcher, Prime Minister when the recovery of the Falklands by a British Task Force did not inspire a single word from the Argentine government, but other Latinamerican leaders and countries sent their condolences and praised the courage and determination of the Iron Lady.