Mercosur

• Friday, November 23rd 2012 - 13:06 UTC

  Bolivia accepts invitation to become a full member of Mercosur

  

  Bolivia accepted the official invitation to become full member of Mercosur and hopes to sign the first accords during the coming summit of the block in early December in Brasilia, said President Evo Morales.

• Friday, November 23rd 2012 - 09:27 UTC

  Unasur delegate in non-official fact finding mission in Paraguay

  

  The head of the Unasur High Level Group for Paraguay, former Peruvian Prime Minister Salomon Lerner is currently in the country where he arrived as a simple tourist with plans to meet local political leaders, members of the country’s Electoral Tribunal and get a feeling of the atmosphere in the run to presidential elections next April 2013.

• Thursday, November 22nd 2012 - 14:50 UTC

  Argentina’s outbursts backfire: Judge Griesa orders payment to holdout bond investors

  

  Argentina suffered a stinging blow late Wednesday when New York federal judge Thomas Griesa, citing threats by the country's leaders to defy his rulings in a decade-old dispute over defaulted sovereign bonds, ordered immediate payment.

• Thursday, November 22nd 2012 - 13:55 UTC

  Bolivia formally invited to join Mercosur as full member at December’s summit

  

  Bolivia was formally invited to join Mercosur as a full member for which negotiations can begin in the coming summit December 7 in Brasilia. The invitation was made official by Mercosur High Commissioner Ivan Ramalho during a visit to La Paz where the met with Foreign minister David Choquehuanca and Economy and Planning ministers Luis Arce and Viviana Caro.

• Tuesday, November 20th 2012 - 00:51 UTC

  Peruvian ambassador expected to return to Paraguay in near future

  

  Another gap is anticipated in the diplomatic isolation ring imposed on Paraguay by Unasur and Mercosur, when as happened with Chile and Colombia, the Peruvian ambassador also returns to his post in Asuncion after several months of consultations in Lima.

• Saturday, November 17th 2012 - 22:53 UTC

  Mercosur condemns “disproportionate use of force” in Gaza; calls for immediate cease fire

  

  Mercosur condemned the “disproportionate use of force” in Gaza and called on Israel and Palestinians for an immediate cease fire of the conflict that has already left al least forty people killed, mostly civilians.

• Friday, November 16th 2012 - 06:11 UTC

  Rajoy would have liked Cristina Fernandez to have attended the summit

  

  Spanish President Mariano Rajoy stated that he “would have liked” his Argentine counterpart, President Cristina Fernández to have attended the XXIIth Ibero-American summit, starting Friday in Cádiz.

• Thursday, November 15th 2012 - 19:00 UTC

  Uruguayan industry criticizes imports policy, labour costs and Mercosur

  

  Uruguay’ Chamber of Industries, CIU, criticized the ‘indiscriminate’ influx of foreign goods, labour costs and Mercosur, and called on government to change the focus of its policies towards manufacturing underscoring that the domestic market represents 55% of industries’ GDP.

• Thursday, November 15th 2012 - 02:08 UTC

  Uruguayan populist president Jose Mujica, as described by BBC

  

  It's a common grumble that politicians' lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president - who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay.

• Tuesday, November 13th 2012 - 20:51 UTC

  Latam rapidly turning into middle class continent, says World Bank

  

  A World Bank report released Tuesday found that Latin America and the Caribbean registered a 50% jump in the number of people joining the middle class during the last decade, which was called by economists an historic achievement for a region long exposed to wealth inequality.