Mercosur

• Tuesday, January 6th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil invests 3,5 billion in upgrading Air Force.

  The Brazilian Air Force announced this week the refurbishing of its 53 AMX fighter bombers with the incorporation of state of the art intelligent bomb technology that will enable it to reach any target in Latinamerica. The operation is estimated will cost 1,5 billion out of a total 3,5 billion US dollars that will be invested in the upgrading of the force.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina and Chile deny “spying” incident in Patagonia

  The Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chilean Embassy in Buenos Aires denied this Monday an alleged “spying” incident involving Chileans nationals taking pictures of a military garrison in the south of Argentina.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Honours for Brazilian transition.

  Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his predecessor, former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, have been selected co-recipients of the 2003 Notre Dame Prize for Distinguished Public Service in Latin America.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Bolivian gas referendum for March 28.

  Bolivian President Carlos Mesa has announced a referendum will be held on March 28 to decide the future of the country's vast natural gas reserves, an issue which led to the resignation of his predecessor, Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada.

• Monday, January 5th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina to legalize undocumented aliens.

  The Argentine government plans to legalize the labor situation of some 700,000 illegal immigrants hailing from neighboring countries that belong to or are associated with Mercosur.

• Monday, January 5th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Thousands of Brazilian Indians invade ranches.

  Armed with shotguns and bows and arrows, thousands of Brazilian Indians invaded ranches near the border with Paraguay to claim what they say is ancestral land, state officials and police said on Sunday.

• Saturday, January 3rd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina's first century in Antarctica.

  A century ago, January 2, 1904, Argentina officially took over the running of the Meteorological and Magnetic Observatory established by the Scottish Antarctic Expedition in the South Orkneys.

• Friday, January 2nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil applies same medicine to US visitors.

  Brazilian Migration officials began Thursday January first to photograph and fingerprint all arriving American visitors following instructions from a federal Judge who compared the Unites States new anti terrorist security policies, to which Brazilians and other countries' citizens are subject, as “horrors of Nazi times”.

• Friday, January 2nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile presides Security Council.

  Chile will be presiding during January the United Nations Security Council. Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz will be coordinating this month's agenda that includes a visit of the Council members to Iraq and a session dedicated to Afghanistan following a report from the UN special representative in that country.

• Friday, January 2nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  “British interests” and the Pinochet 1973 military coup.

  United Kingdom archives made public this week reveal London's positive attitude towards the military coup of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile in 1973, describing military officers as “decent professionals”, who “stand on our side”.