Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, January 22nd 2026 - 16:45 UTC

Paraguay

  • Sunday, July 15th 2018 - 22:15 UTC

    Paraguayan Liberal lawmaker agrees retirement should be at age 75

    ”It is not my position that will prevail, I want the voice of the rest to prevail,” said Congresswoman Amarilla.

    Liberal deputy Celeste Amarilla agreed 75 years is a right age for retirement. She made those remarks during a radio interview as she argued that at 60 people still have a lot of intellectual and physical strength and called for the matter to be discussed.

  • Monday, June 18th 2018 - 11:14 UTC

    Uruguay chair of Mercosur, targets accord with China, exhausted of negotiations with the EU

    Nin Novoa fears negotiations with EU could temporarily “breakdown”, although he anticipated he was committed to avoid such a situation.

    Uruguay will be handed the rotating chair of Mercosur this Monday in a brief summit ceremony to take place in Paraguay. Attending will be Brazil's Michel Temer, Uruguay's Tabare Vázquez, the host Paraguay Horacio Cartes and in representation of Argentina, vice president Gabriela Michetti. President Mauricio Macri is in the midst of a cabinet reshuffle and waiting for market reaction this Monday following the naming of a new Central Bank chairman.

  • Monday, June 11th 2018 - 08:16 UTC

    WHO certifies Paraguay malaria-free

    “Success stories like Paraguay’s show what is possible. If malaria can be eliminated in one country, it can be eliminated in all countries” said Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus

    The World Health Organization (WHO) certified Paraguay as having eliminated malaria, the first country in the Americas to be granted this status since Cuba in 1973. “It gives me great pleasure today to certify that Paraguay is officially free of malaria,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, in a recorded statement.

  • Thursday, May 31st 2018 - 08:57 UTC

    Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in history

    Parliament is due to confirm Cartes' resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president this week. Pucheta is from the right-wing Colorado Party

    Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes decided to step down ahead of schedule. Vice-President Alicia Pucheta, 68, will complete Cartes' mandate after he resigned to become a senator.

  • Tuesday, May 22nd 2018 - 08:24 UTC

    Paraguay officially moves embassy to Jerusalem: Cartes-Netanyahu summit

    Netanyahu gave a speech at the ceremony in which he emphasized that both countries “have great cooperation and it will be even better.”

    Paraguay officially moved the country's embassy to Jerusalem on Monday, with President Horacio Cartes in Israel for the ceremony, also attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Paraguay, a member of Mercosur, is now the third country to move its embassy to Jerusalem, following the United States and Guatemala. The inauguration ceremony took place at noon at the embassy’s new home in the Malkha technology park, which also houses the Guatemalan embassy.

  • Friday, May 11th 2018 - 08:35 UTC

    Paraguay's president “soul brother” accused by Brazil of money laundering

    A Brazilian financial crimes prosecutor on Wednesday accused the president's friend, Dario Messer, of money laundering and criminal association.

    Paraguayan authorizes have issued an arrest warrant for a man President Horacio Cartes has described as his “soul brother” as part of a sweeping investigation into corruption in Latin America.

  • Wednesday, April 25th 2018 - 08:50 UTC

    Paraguay soy farmers hopeful newly elected Senate will not slap levy on exports

    Surveys had projected that the ruling Colorado Party could lose up to seven of the 20 seats it currently controls in the 45-member Senate.

    Paraguay's business-friendly ruling party lost fewer seats in Sunday's Senate election, than expected, ensuring strict fiscal policies while lessening chances of a tax hike on the key soy sector. Farmers in the world's No. 4 soybean exporter had feared that the new Senate might approves a measure, defeated last year, that would slap a 10% levy on exports.

  • Monday, April 23rd 2018 - 09:52 UTC

    Ruling party wins election in Paraguay, but with surprise performance of the opposition

    Mario Abdo Benitez won slightly more than 46% of the vote, with his centrist opponent Efrain Alegre taking almost 43% in a race that was far closer than expected.(Pic AFP)

    Paraguay's Mario Abdo Benitez, “Marito”, who represents the country's long-dominant Colorado Party, was elected as president on Sunday, landing the top job in the country with the smallest economy in Mercosur. The US-educated son of a senior aide to the country's late dictator, Abdo Benitez won slightly more than 46% of the vote, with his centrist opponent Efrain Alegre taking almost 43% in a race that was far closer than expected.

  • Thursday, April 19th 2018 - 07:58 UTC

    All is ready for Paraguay Sunday's presidential election

    Ex Costa Rica president said that on Election Day, “observers will be deployed throughout the country and throughout the day to different polling stations.”

    Former Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla began this week her activities as head of the Organization of American States (OAS) mission that will observe Paraguay’s April 22 elections. During an event at Paraguay’s TSJE electoral court, Chinchilla and the president of the TSJE, Jaime Bestard, signed an agreement establishing the terms of the mission, which will include 39 observers from 14 countries.

  • Wednesday, April 18th 2018 - 07:13 UTC

    Landlocked Paraguay votes on Sunday: ruling party candidate expected to win

    The ruling Colorado Party’s Mario Abdo Benitez and Efraín Alegre (R) of the left-leaning Grand National Renovating Alliance are battling for the presidency.

    With Latin America’s three most populous countries voting for president this year, it’s easy to overlook the election in landlocked Paraguay (population 7 million) that takes place on April 22.