Mercosur

• Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 02:39 UTC

  Maduro proclaimed elected president; Capriles continues to protest for a recount of ballots

  

  Venezuela's election authority on Monday formally proclaimed Nicolas Maduro the winner of Sunday's presidential vote, despite insistence by the opposition that the ceremony be suspended until a complete recount of votes was carried out given the very tight result.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 06:39 UTC

  Capriles won’t accept presidential result until “every vote is recounted, one by one”

  

  Denouncing election irregularities, Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski demanded a recount and said early Monday that he will not recognize the country's presidential results ”until every vote is counted”. His comments came less than an hour after officials said the man former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez handpicked to be his successor had won the country's presidential vote.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 06:07 UTC

  Bad start for Maduro: Capriles showing debilitates him inside the Bolivarian nomenclature

  

  Following five hours of a long recount process Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced early Monday morning that acting president Nicolas Maduro is the new head of state, having defeated Henrique Capriles by less than a two percentage point difference.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 03:10 UTC

  Mujica envoy to Buenos Aires to try and re-establish ‘normal contacts’ with Cristina Fernandez

  

  Uruguay’s Deputy Foreign minister Roberto Conde is scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires this week as part of President Jose Mujica’s administration efforts to rebuild bilateral relations with Argentina following his ‘coarse, jail-slang’ descriptions of president Cristina Fernandez and her late husband Nestor Kirchner, which were refuted as ‘unacceptable and denigrating”.

• Saturday, April 13th 2013 - 05:36 UTC

  Brazil determined to lower inflation; Central bank could raise Selic rate at next meeting

  

  Brazil's top two economic policymakers warned on Friday that high inflation will not be tolerated. Central bank chief Alexandre Tombini and Finance Minister Guido Mantega said at separate events the government will not hesitate in taking measures to combat high inflation.

• Saturday, April 13th 2013 - 05:29 UTC

  President Rousseff pledges to double Brazilian per capita income by 2022

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Friday that the government intends to double per capita income by 2022, when Brazil celebrates 200 years of independence from Portugal.

• Friday, April 12th 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  Maduro pledges he will be elected president and later ‘president’ of Mercosur

  

  In his closing massive campaign rally in Caracas, Thursday evening incumbent candidate Nicolas Maduro pledged that next Sunday he will win the Venezuelan presidential election and later will take over the presidency of Mercosur.

• Saturday, April 6th 2013 - 03:50 UTC

  Brazil claims trade situation with Argentina is “less than satisfactory”

  

  Brazil admitted that the trade situation with Argentina is “less than satisfactory”, given the ongoing barriers and restrictions imposed by Buenos Aires and revealed that the bilateral trade balance is now inclined in favour of its southern neighbour and Mercosur associate.

• Saturday, April 6th 2013 - 03:44 UTC

  Brazil hopeful an EU/Mercosur trade accord can be concluded this year

  

  Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota said he was hopeful that the European Union and Mercosur could advance this year towards a trade agreement they have been negotiating so far unsuccessfully for almost fifteen years and also warned about the coming EU/US trade talks for a comprehensive accord.

• Friday, April 5th 2013 - 07:18 UTC

  Argentina strongly protests President Mujica remarks about Nestor and Cristina Kirchner

  

  Uruguayan president José Mujica’s controversial statements caught on an open microphone referred to President Cristina Fernandez and her late husband Nestor Kirchner, triggered a strong response from the Argentine government saying that such comments are “unacceptable, denigrating and offend the memory of a dead person”.