Mercosur

• Saturday, January 12th 2013 - 17:53 UTC

  Methanex Canada to idle plant in Punta Arenas because of insufficient gas provision

  

  Chilean Energy minister Jorge Bunster regretted on Friday Methanex Canada announcement on its decision to idle operations in Chile in March due to lack of adequate natural gas supply. The company stated that it does not have sufficient feedstock to keep the plant in operation given the natural gas supply challenges.

• Saturday, January 12th 2013 - 17:45 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez meets Chavez family and has lunch with the Castro brothers

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez is flying Saturday to Emirates the first leg of a trade tour that includes the Far East after spending 24 hours in Cuba where she met the Castro brothers, visited the relatives of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez and late Friday held a mini summit with Venezuelan Vice president Nicolas Maduro and Peruvian head of state Ollanta Humala.

• Friday, January 11th 2013 - 08:52 UTC

  President Mujica calls for unity and peace for ‘the day when Chavez is not with us’

  

  The shortest and most sober of a day of emotional speeches and promises was that from Uruguayan president Jose Mujica who asked the massive rally in support of President Hugo Chavez that if the Venezuelan leader “tomorrow is not with us”, then unity, peace and work must prevail.

• Thursday, January 10th 2013 - 18:56 UTC

  FAO food price index finished the turbulent 2012 down 7% compared to 2011

  

  The United Nations reported on Thursday that food prices fell for the third month in a row in December last year, balancing out sharp increases registered earlier in 2012, which had previously sparked fears of a food crisis.

• Thursday, January 10th 2013 - 12:57 UTC

  Venezuelan opposition leader accepts high court ruling but tells government ‘back to work’

  

  Opposition leader Enrique Capriles accepted Venezuela’s high court sentence endorsing the postponement of President Hugo Chavez inauguration on Thursday and the ruling that the cancer-stricken leader and his administration remained in office, since “as president re-elect there is no interruption of performance of duties”.

• Thursday, January 10th 2013 - 11:56 UTC

  In a highly political speech CFK appealed to the motherland and blasted hedge funds

  

  President Cristina Fernandez (CFK) as expected made the welcoming ceremony for the Argentine frigate ARA Libertad (retained in Ghana for 78 days) into a ‘sovereignty and dignity’ political rally including the support of 20.000 militants, mostly bused in by political organizations, in which she blasted hedge funds, ‘global social predators’ and warned that through extortion and force nobody is going to obtain anything from Argentina.

• Thursday, January 10th 2013 - 03:54 UTC

  Brazilian corporations fearful of Venezuelan situation despite Brasilia support for Maduro

  

  Brazilian corporations with strong interests in Venezuela have expressed concern about the future of the country and its impact on Mercosur if the political transition, because of President Hugo Chavez health condition, does not follow the constitutional process

• Wednesday, January 9th 2013 - 05:26 UTC

  Mujica flies to Caracas “to support the government and people of Venezuela”

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica leaves for Caracas “to support the government and people of Venezuela” on Thursday 10 January, the date in which convalescent re-re-elected president Hugo Chavez is supposed to take the oath of office.

• Friday, January 4th 2013 - 22:15 UTC

  EU expects to advance trade talks with Mercosur late this month in Chile

  

  The European Union expects to advance cooperation and trade discussions with Mercosur late this month in Chile in the sidelines of the EU/Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), said EU ambassador in Chile, Rafael Dochao Moreno.

• Thursday, January 3rd 2013 - 17:57 UTC

  Argentina “again ignores the rights and wishes of the Falkland Islands people”

  

  The Falkland Islands are an British Overseas Territory by choice, entirely self-governing except for defence and foreign affairs and have been settled for at least nine generations, well before Argentina even claimed what is today Tierra del Fuego, points out the Falklands’ elected government in a release-reply to the open letter from Argentine President Cristina Fernandez published on Thursday in the British press.