Mercosur

• Saturday, May 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Garré opens Malvinas' conflict round of debates

  “Malvinas is a national cause which unites all Argentines”, although the 1982 conflict “was manipulated” by a “terrible dictatorship” which was foundering, said Argentina's Defence minister Nilda Garré Friday during the opening of a round of conferences on the Argentine-British war.

• Saturday, May 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Urgent financial support needed to consolidate Haiti

  The international community must give urgent financial support to the Government of newly elected President Réné Préval of Haiti, who will lack the money to pay State workers in the immediate future the United Nations Secretary-General's outgoing Special Representative in that country, Juan Gabriel Valdés, said Friday.

• Saturday, May 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Cruise vessels calling in Chile up 20%

  The number of luxury line cruise ships calling at Chilean ports grew to a record breaking 120 in 2005, up by 20% over the previous season. Industry leaders say that even more cruise ships are on the horizon.

• Saturday, May 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mill chat runs out of meaning

  The Uruguayan government believes there is nothing left to discuss personally between their president, Tabaré Vázquez, and his Argentine counterpart regarding the construction of two pulp plants in Uruguay.

• Friday, May 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  “We'd rather have Chavez inside, than on the loose”

  Mercosur is suffering a “serious institutional problem” because there hasn't been effective understanding between country members on how to address macroeconomic synchronization difficulties, admitted Brazil's presidential advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia during an interview with Folha do Sao Paulo.

• Friday, May 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean industry invested two billion US dollars in 2005

  Tourism projects in Chile for 2005 totalled two billion US dollars and prospects of greater expansion are expected once the casinos bill is sorted out according to the country's Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism, (CNC).

• Friday, May 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez, Morales and Castro helping Peru's Garcia

  A majority of Peruvians disapprove of presidents Evo Morales from Bolivia; Fidel Castro from Cuba and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez according to a public opinion poll released Friday by the University of Lima.

• Friday, May 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Strong Chilean peso hitting wine exports

  Chilean wine exports dropped in value for the first time since 1994, when the boom in international sales of Chilean wines first began.

• Friday, May 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Malvinas parliamentarian observatory in Argentina

  The creation of a Parliamentarian Observatory on the Malvinas issue with the purpose of debating and promoting academic activities linked to sovereignty aspects of the Islands was passed Thursday by the (Argentine) Lower House and is en route of approval by the Senate, reports the Buenos Aires press.

• Friday, May 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Opinion polls confirm Colombian president re-election

  The re-election of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe next May 28 seems certain according to the latest public opinion polls published Friday in Bogotá.