Mercosur

• Monday, September 5th 2016 - 07:13 UTC

  Macri meets Temer in China; Brazilian president will visit Buenos Aires next month

  

  Argentina's president Mauricio Macri greeted Brazil’s confirmed head of state Michel Temer for the first time since Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment and removal last week as the two met briefly during the G20 summit taking place in China.

• Friday, September 2nd 2016 - 16:44 UTC

  Strong support for Temer and his government from China

  

  Brazil's new president Michel Temer received strong support from Beijing when Chinese president Xi Jinping expressed confidence in Brazil's ability to maintain stability and cooperation between the two countries, during a meeting on Friday with Temer in Hangzhou, the resort that will host the G20 summit

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 23:29 UTC

  Uruguay's Home Secretary questions the legitimacy of Temer, and calls removal of Rousseff, a “coup”

  

  Uruguay's Home Secretary Eduardo Bonomi described the removal of Brazilian ex president Dilma Rousseff as a “coup” and underlined her successor Michel Temer “has no legitimacy” to occupy the Executive. He added that the events of this week in Brazil have had an impact on Brazilian democracy and the region overall.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2016 - 20:29 UTC

  Brazil's political system confirms President Temer, removes 'outsider' Rousseff

  

  The Brazilian Senate on Wednesday midday impeached suspended president Dilma Rousseff, and removed her from office for the rest of her term, ending a power struggle that has consumed the nation for months but has not solved any of its mounting problems, rather the contrary. Vice-president and interim president Michel Temer will formally replace the first woman president of the country.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2016 - 04:38 UTC

  Mercosur members who disagree and don't accept consensus “can walk out”...

  

  Paraguay said Mercosur will continue to function and is waiting for a reply from Uruguay to confirm a collegiate presidency of the block, until Argentina takes the helm at the end of the year. If not, “Mercosur members are well aware that the the same way they decided to belong to the group, they can walk away...”

• Sunday, August 28th 2016 - 03:59 UTC

  Eight Paraguayan soldiers executed by rural guerrillas following an attack on a patrol

  

  Eight Paraguayan soldiers died on Saturday in a rural roadside explosion, followed by execution of survivors, 500 kilometers north of the capital Asunción, the government said, blaming it on a criminal group which identifies itself as the EPP, acronym for Paraguayan People's Army.

• Sunday, August 28th 2016 - 03:56 UTC

  Rousseff takes the stand on Monday, following the round of defense witnesses

  

  Suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's former economy minister testified Saturday that Rousseff did not break any laws justifying impeachment, as her trial closed in on next week's climax. Rousseff is accused of taking illegal state loans to help bridge budget shortfalls and mask the true state of the economy during her 2014 reelection campaign. The president argues the charges are trumped up and amount to a rightwing coup.

• Saturday, August 27th 2016 - 05:45 UTC

  Mercosur founding members confident of a solution to the Venezuela situation

  

  The foreign ministers of Mercosur founding members will adopt a common position regarding the current disarray of the group following on Venezuela's unilateral attitudes said Paraguayan economic affairs and integration deputy minister Rigoberto Gauto.

• Friday, August 26th 2016 - 11:53 UTC

  Nin Novoa exposes Mercosur disarray: “It's her; I'm the only minister she talks to”

  

  The fracture in Mercosur was candidly revealed by Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa during an agro-business conference of cooperatives in Montevideo when he received a phone call from his Venezuelan peer Delcy Rodríguez.

• Thursday, August 25th 2016 - 09:14 UTC

  Mercosur fractured and in disarray: Venezuela isolated

  

  Mercosur on Wednesday displayed another chapter of its internal disarray, almost farcical, when Venezuela which proclaims the presidency of the group convened a meeting at the Montevideo administrative offices that was only attended by full member Uruguay and aspiring member Bolivia.