A fierce storm packing 140-kilometer an hour winds tore across the heart of South America on Wednesday, killing five people in Paraguay and wreaking havoc in Argentina and Uruguay.
Spain has not invited Paraguay to the Ibero-American summit in Cadiz scheduled for next November confirmed Paraguayan Foreign minister Jose Felix Fernandez Estigarribia, who also admitted that the number of countries ‘disgusted’ with the new administration of President Federico Franco has diminished considerably.
President Federico Franco and the head of the Spanish government Mariano Rajoy will address the participation of Paraguay in the coming Ibero-American summit scheduled for November in Cadiz, taking advantage of their presence in New York next week for the UN General Assembly.
A top Spanish official made a low profile and unexpected visit to Paraguay last week with the purpose of trying to convince the administration of president Federico Franco to remain absent from the coming Ibero-American summit scheduled for November since Madrid fears his presence could turn the event into a failure.
Paraguay is considering demanding “moral and economic” compensation from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay for having been suspended from Mercosur as full member and at the same reiterated its rejection to Venezuela’s admission, according to the country Foreign Ministry.
Brazil rolled out additional stimulus measures to bolster its sluggish economy on Thursday, extending tax breaks to more than two dozen industries and reducing the cost of acquiring capital goods in a bid to help struggling local businesses.
Argentina’s inflation advanced 0.9% in August and 6.8% in the first eight months of the year according to the controversial official stats office Indec. Whole sale prices were up 1% over July and the construction cost increased 1.3%.
Uruguayan former presidents Jorge Batlle and Luis Alberto Lacalle came in support of the current Paraguayan authorities and political process and claimed the only “coup” was that of Mercosur against Paraguay. They also questioned the removed president Fernando Lugo’s ‘pitiful reaction’ and statements.
Standard & Poor’s credit risk rating agency improved the prospects of Paraguay, removing the country from credit-watch where it had been placed with negative implications last June 25 when the political situation that removed Fernando Lugo as president and subsequent suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur.
Latin American Minerals Inc., Lampa, announced on Wednesday the delivery of the first gold doré bar produced at its Paso Yobai Gold Project pilot plant in Paraguay, to the Johnson Matthey Ltd. gold refinery in Brampton, Ontario.