Mercosur

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 17:34 UTC

  Argentina dollar markets waiting for implementation of the ‘whitewashing bill’

  

  The US dollar in Argentina’s parallel or ‘blue market’ finished on Friday the month of May down 6.4% from the 9.40 Pesos at the end of April, including a slight drop in the last day of trading, that took it to 8.75 Pesos and 8.80 Pesos, buying and selling price.

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 17:32 UTC

  Buenos Aires city mayor challenges CFK by launching ‘a price index audited’ by the civil society.

  

  Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri launched on Friday a price index to be “permanently audited by the civil society” in Argentina’s capital, in a move that steps up the pressure on the inflation controversy surrounding President Cristina Fernandez administration.

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 17:27 UTC

  Argentina insists with self-sufficiency in oil production in four years

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández administration agreed with oil-producing provinces and unions from the sector to strictly control the levels of exploration, production, the amount of equipment in use and the total number of jobs in each of the oil fields across the country, with the goal of reaching hydrocarbon self-sufficiency within four years.

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 17:22 UTC

  Chile’s measures to appease Mapuches are failing; more violence expected

  

  Chile’s Araucania Prosecutor this week filed charged against Celestino Córdova Tránsito, an indigenous Mapuche who stands accused of arson leading to the death of an elderly couple of landowners last year. Francisco Ljubetic is also charging Córdova Tránsito with terrorist acts. Córdova Tránsito (26) is currently jailed pending trial.

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 03:38 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez with her mind set on October elections launches the 500 frozen-prices list

  

  The Argentine government has made public the list of the 500 products with ‘frozen prices’, until next October when mid term elections are scheduled. Consumers can check the information online at the website of the state news agency Télam and with the sites of several of the main supermarkets of the country.

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 02:39 UTC

  OAS warns about ‘distinct categories of citizens’ in terms of access and quality to basic services

  

  The Organization of American States (OAS), Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, highlighted the “important progress” made in the region’s democratization in recent decades, but also warned about worrying “risks of deconstruction” which are creating ‘distinct categories of citizens’ particularly in terms of access and quality to basic services such as education, health and security.

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 02:33 UTC

  “All we want is for things to go well for Venezuela”, Santos replies to Maduro

  

  Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday dismissed as “preposterous” Venezuelan charges that his government is backing a conspiracy to destabilize the leftist-ruled neighbor.

• Tuesday, May 28th 2013 - 00:11 UTC

  Paraguay has received no invitation for the Mercosur June summit

  

  Paraguayan Foreign minister Jose Fernandez Estigarribia said on Monday that so far Asuncion has not received any invitation from Mercosur to attend the coming summit at the end of June, and there haven’t been any talks about the issue. Last week the Argentine ambassador in Uruguay Dante Dovena had anticipated that Paraguay would be attending the Mercosur summit.

• Monday, May 27th 2013 - 02:54 UTC

  Brazil warns Uruguay on Pacific Alliance plans: Mercosur can only act as ‘a block’

  

  Mercosur must negotiate any possible incorporation to the Alliance of the Pacific “as a block” since it is important that its member countries remain ‘united’ and respect the current charter, said the Mercosur High Representative, Ambassador Ivan Ramalho from Brazil.

• Monday, May 27th 2013 - 01:49 UTC

  Paraguay demands respect from Mercosur, “if not leave us as we are”

  

  The Argentine ambassador to Uruguay, Dante Dovena, assured that authorities are “working intensely” in preparations for the next Mercosur summit scheduled to take place on June 28th in Montevideo. However news form Paraguay doesn’t indicate the same optimism and are demanding respect for ‘the country’s dignity and rule of the law”.