Paraguay

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 07:05 UTC

  European Parliament begins fact-finding mission in Paraguay

  

  A delegation from the European parliament begins this Monday an in-situ data collecting mission in Paraguay following the situation triggered a month ago when then President Fernando Lugo was impeached and removed from office, but which has caused the new regime a certain freezing of international links.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 03:05 UTC

  Mercosur reduced to a group “of bear-hugging and kissing compañeros”

  

  The influential British business and politics magazine The Economist anticipates that following the latest decisions by Mercosur, the South American group has little if any future. The Economist argues that the mounting protectionism and the rule-breaking admission of Venezuela have fatally undermined a once-promising trade block.

• Friday, July 13th 2012 - 23:34 UTC

  Paraguayan presidential hopeful said the country should in no way abandon Mercosur

  

  Horacio Cartes a presidential hopeful from the Paraguayan hegemonic Partido Colorado said that exiting Mercosur would only cause the closure of industries and the loss of thousands of jobs in the country.

• Friday, July 13th 2012 - 07:01 UTC

  Brazil calls OAS to consider Mercosur and Unasur statements on Paraguay

  

  Brazil considers “important” that the Organization of American States, OAS, takes into consideration the decisions from Mercosur and Unasur relative to the suspension of Paraguay from the two regional groupings.

• Thursday, July 12th 2012 - 07:05 UTC

  Washington says Paraguay should not be suspended from OAS and calls for regional unity

  

  Paraguay should not be suspended from the Organization of American States, OAS, despite the removal of President Fernando Lugo, said on Wednesday Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

• Thursday, July 12th 2012 - 02:03 UTC

  Paraguayan Supreme Court receives unconstitutional appeal on Lugo’s removal

  

  The Paraguayan Supreme Court accepted on Wednesday an unconstitutional appeal against the removal of President Fernando Lugo which requests the annulment of the political impeachment undertaken and voted by Congress.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 07:17 UTC

  Defence of Argentine sovereignty over Malvinas has become “a regional issue”

  

  The Argentine ambassador in London Alicia Castro said that South America has reached such a degree of unity that it is possible to think “on the defence of Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas in regional terms”.

• Tuesday, July 10th 2012 - 23:48 UTC

  OAS report to the Permanent Council does not favour suspending Paraguay

  

  The Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said that to suspend Paraguay from the OAS “would not contribute to the achievement of our objectives”, governance, the electoral process and institutional normality.

• Monday, July 9th 2012 - 21:07 UTC

  Paraguayan industry lobby says forget Mercosur, calls for talks with Pacific Alliance

  

  The president of the Paraguayan Industrial Union Eduardo Filippo said it was essential for the country to establish negotiations outside Mercosur, following the suspension from the group by the remaining three members allegedly because of the rupture of the democratic order.

• Monday, July 9th 2012 - 05:59 UTC

  Chavez announces trip to Brazil for Venezuela’s formal admission to Mercosur

  

  President Hugo Chavez said he will be attending at the end of July the coming Mercosur meeting in Brasil when Venezuela will officially become the group’s fifth full member, a decision that has proved controversial and exposed differences inside the Common Market of the South.