Mercosur

• Monday, October 29th 2012 - 12:14 UTC

  Piñera and Chilean political system shocked by 60% abstention in municipal elections

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera says the decision by many Chileans not to vote in Sunday's local elections is a “warning sign” that should be heeded. The polls, the first to be held since voting was made voluntary, were marked by an abstention of 60%.

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 06:53 UTC

  Mercosur and Unasur ‘need’ Paraguay; ‘other interests’ created current situation

  

  The Organization of American States, OAS special envoy said on Thursday that Mercosur and Unasur ‘need’ Paraguay and the suspension of the country from the two organizations can be tracked to other interests unrelated to those events.

• Tuesday, October 23rd 2012 - 07:33 UTC

  Brazil says all Mercosur leaders have to decide lifting Paraguay’s suspension

  

  Brazil said it is hard to see Paraguay rejoining Mercosur and Unasur before next year’s presidential election. The two blocks suspended the landlocked country following the removal of Fernando Lugo last June and replacing him with President Federico Franco.

• Monday, October 22nd 2012 - 06:27 UTC

  Mercosur to skip Paraguay in December and hand rotating chair to Uruguay

  

  Uruguay’s tenure of Mercosur rotating chair will be advanced six months meaning that at the coming summit in December Brazil will hand over the next six-month responsibility to the administration of President Jose Mujica, thus skipping Paraguay which remains suspended from the South American trade group.

• Friday, October 19th 2012 - 05:25 UTC

  Strong message from Lula da Silva to victorious Chavez: prepare your succession

  

  Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva said he believes it is time for Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, recently re-elected for another six years, “to begin preparing his succession”

• Thursday, October 18th 2012 - 22:56 UTC

  Venezuela/Paraguay rift spoils Brazil’s plans for a ‘normal’ Mercosur summit

  

  Venezuela’s expulsion of Paraguayan diplomats from Caracas, as a direct consequence of the ongoing conflict inside Mercosur has left Brazil with the challenge of recomposing relations inside the group ahead of Mercosur next summit in December which will be hosted by the administration of President Dilma Rousseff.

• Thursday, October 18th 2012 - 10:41 UTC

  Brazil-FAO sign agreement for cotton expertise transfer to small farmers in Africa

  

  A 20 million dollars agreement signed Wednesday by the United Nations and Brazil will seek to transfer the expertise of the South American country to support cotton farmers in developing economies.

• Thursday, October 18th 2012 - 07:29 UTC

  Mercosur conflict still alive: Venezuela expels Paraguayan diplomats

  

  Venezuela's government decided to expel Paraguay's remaining diplomats from the country, the top envoy at the Paraguayan Embassy said on Wednesday. Charge d'affaires Victor Casartelli said that he and three other Paraguayan diplomats in Caracas were told by Venezuela's Foreign Ministry to leave within three days.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2012 - 15:16 UTC

  Is Brazil the reservoir of future agriculture productive capacity?

  

  The following piece was published by Dorvers, CattleNnetwork and refers to the agriculture potential of Latinamerica and Mercosur largest economy. The column sources are Daryll E. Ray and Harwood D. Schaffer, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.

• Tuesday, October 16th 2012 - 13:44 UTC

  The message from the Venezuelan elections

  

  By Ambassador R. Viswanathan - The free, fair and peaceful Venezuelan elections on Sunday 7 October, with a clear and accepted outcome has restored the confidence of the world, which had some doubts about the vulnerabilities of Latin American democracies – especially after the constitutional overthrow of President Lugo of Paraguay in June this year and the unconstitutional removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.