Mercosur

• Saturday, August 4th 2012 - 02:18 UTC

  Paraguayan senators challenge Chavez version of attempted bribes to favour Venezuela

  

  An international controversy has surfaced between President Hugo Chavez and Paraguayan senators as to who really tried to bribe whom regarding failed attempts to have Venezuela incorporated to Mercosur.

• Friday, August 3rd 2012 - 22:34 UTC

  Brazilians trust in future of their country, their jobs and President Rousseff

  

  President Dilma Rousseff continues to enjoy high popularity as Brazilian consumers sound very optimistic about the future of their country and trust they can hold on to their jobs despite the recent economic slowdown.

• Friday, August 3rd 2012 - 22:11 UTC

  Uruguay’s July inflation record low on government successful electricity saving campaign

  

  Uruguay’s annual consumer-price inflation dropped in July to 0.27% the lowest in 58 years, accumulating 7.48% in the last twelve months (down from 8% in June), and 4.41% in the first seven months of 2012.

• Friday, August 3rd 2012 - 08:20 UTC

  Chavez claims Paraguayan senators tried to blackmail him to vote for Venezuela in Mercosur

  

  President Hugo Chavez said that the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur was “exemplary” because it never yielded to “blackmail” from the Paraguayan extreme right and revealed that he met with Paraguayan Senator Lino Oviedo, considered the mastermind behind those attempts.

• Thursday, August 2nd 2012 - 07:38 UTC

  Paraguay urges OAS to take a position on the country’s situation

  

  Paraguay urged the Organization of American States, OAS, on Wednesday to say whether it will be taking measures or not against the country following the removal of Fernando Lugo from the presidency, a political incident that has reverberated in the whole continent.

• Thursday, August 2nd 2012 - 06:25 UTC

  Uruguay industries lobby questions the growing “political” predominance in Mercosur

  

  The ‘new’ Mercosur with Venezuela as a full member reinforces the regional block as a forum of ‘political understanding’ and no longer as an integration process ruled by international law.

• Wednesday, August 1st 2012 - 19:37 UTC

  Venezuela’s Mercosur membership “null and void” says Paraguayan government

  

  The Paraguayan government declared “illegal” and “null and void” the inclusion of Venezuela as a full member of Mercosur which was agreed on Tuesday during the extraordinary meeting held in Brasilia with the absence of Paraguay.

• Wednesday, August 1st 2012 - 08:08 UTC

  Dilma welcomes President Chavez to the world’s fifth economy

  

  Brazilian president DIlma Rousseff said that with the incorporation of Venezuela, Mercosur has become a global power in food and energy and becomes the fifth world economy with a GDP of 3.3tn dollars.

• Wednesday, August 1st 2012 - 08:03 UTC

  US government ‘sovereign right’ blessing to Venezuela’s inclusion in Mercosur

  

  The US government said that Venezuela as any other country has the “sovereign right” to join regional organizations such as Mercosur. The statement from the US State Department comes on the day that Mercosur officially incorporated Venezuela as full member of the block.

• Wednesday, August 1st 2012 - 07:46 UTC

  Argentina/Venezuela sign strategic cooperation agreement to boost energy

  

  After attending the Mercosur extraordinary meeting in Brasilia, President Cristina Fernández and her Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez, signed a cooperation agreement to develop a strategic energy plan between state oil companies YPF and PDVSA.