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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 18th 2026 - 23:21 UTC

Politics

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 14:14 UTC

    Strait of Hormuz closure, FAO warns of fertilizer scarcity and calendar for new planting season

    FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said. “This is not only a geopolitical crisis, but also a disruption at the core of the global agri-food system.”

    The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, warned that the global fertilizer scarcity caused by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to lower yields and tightening food supplies in the latter half of 2026 and into 2027.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 13:28 UTC

    UK Defense minister “sick and tired of journalists and armchair generals” talking our military are ‘unprepared’

    UK Defense Readiness & Industry Minister Luke Pollard, during a late 2024 visit to the Falkland Islands (Pic BFSAI))

    In a contradictory remark he would later retract, UK Defense Readiness & Industry Minister Luke Pollard said he was sick and tired of “journalists and armchair generals” talking down the military, as he was pressed in response to a BFBS Forces News audience poll.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 13:21 UTC

    How a British prime minister is replaced: the keys to a possible Starmer succession

    The statutory procedure requires at least one-fifth of the Labour parliamentary group to call for leadership primaries in order to force the prime minister to step aside. Photo: Phil Noble / REUTERS

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces the most serious political crisis since his arrival at Downing Street in July 2024, but a potential change at the head of the government runs up against a web of internal Labour Party rules, the absence of a consensus candidate, and the personal obstacles weighing on the figure best positioned in internal polling. Starmer, who won the 2024 general election with an overwhelming majority, has flatly ruled out resigning despite mounting pressure from his own parliamentary group following Labour's collapse in the local and regional elections of 1 May.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 13:14 UTC

    Argentina sees new university protest as government pledges post-march dialogue

    The National Interuniversity Council estimates that transfers to national universities fell by 45.6% in real terms between 2023 and 2026, while sector salaries rose 158% against accumulated inflation

    Argentina's public universities are staging the fourth Federal University March on Tuesday against the budget adjustment imposed by Javier Milei's government, with the main rally in Plaza de Mayo and simultaneous mobilizations in the country's major cities, while the national administration announced it will meet with rectors after the protest to discuss the allocation of funds for university hospitals. The day combines a strike with suspended classes, a broad opposition turnout, and an official discursive shift aimed at opening a dialogue channel without yielding on the substance of the dispute.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 03:14 UTC

    Peru's runoff to pit Fujimori's daughter against Castillo's political heir

    An Ipsos poll released in late April places both candidates in a technical tie at 38%, with 17% reporting they would cast blank or spoiled ballots

    Peru will hold a presidential runoff on 7 June pitting Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), against Roberto Sánchez, a congressman and self-proclaimed political heir of Pedro Castillo, the rural schoolteacher who reached the presidency in 2021 and is now serving an eleven-year, five-month sentence for the failed self-coup he attempted on 7 December 2022.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 23:18 UTC

    Evo Morales fails to appear at minor-trafficking trial; court orders his arrest

    The former president has been in hiding since 2024 in Chapare, the tropical coca-growing region where he forged his union and political career

    The First Criminal Sentencing Court of Tarija, in southern Bolivia, on Monday declared former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) in contempt and ratified the arrest and travel-ban orders against him after he failed to attend the opening of his oral trial for alleged aggravated human trafficking. The same measure was applied to Idelsa Pozo Saavedra, mother of the alleged victim. Judge Carlos Oblitas suspended the proceedings without a new date, pending the arrest or voluntary appearance of the defendants.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 20:32 UTC

    Milei government cuts nearly 1.79 billion dollar from budget with sharp education adjustment

    The politically most sensitive cut affects the Education Secretariat, with a reduction of 78.7 billion pesos (around 56 million dollars)

    The government of Javier Milei amended Argentina's 2026 budget on Monday with a cut of nearly 2.5 trillion pesos (around 1.79 billion dollars at the parallel exchange rate) —equivalent to approximately 1.6% of the total— in an administrative decision that deepens the adjustment effort to sustain the fiscal surplus target agreed with the International Monetary Fund. The measure, signed by Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni and Economy Minister Luis Caputo, comes one day before the fourth Federal University March, called for Tuesday with its main event in Plaza de Mayo.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 20:27 UTC

    Over 70 Labour MPs call for Starmer's resignation after election rout

    Photo: Ian Forsyth / Getty Images

    More than 70 Labour Party MPs have publicly called for the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the electoral collapse the governing party suffered in last Thursday's local and regional elections. The count, which was rising hour by hour through Monday according to a tracker maintained by the specialist outlet LabourList, includes around ten parliamentarians who joined the pressure in the last 24 hours, alongside a trickle of resignations from government posts.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 14:42 UTC

    Delcy Rodríguez defends Essequibo claim at The Hague under temporary EU sanctions waiver

    For Venezuela, the Essequibo appears on its official maps as a “zone of reclamation.” For Guyana, the Venezuelan claim represents an existential threat to its territorial integrity

    Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday to defend her country's claim to the Essequibo, the border region disputed with Guyana, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The trip, authorized under a specific waiver to the European Union sanctions imposed on her, marks her first major international journey outside the Caribbean since the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by US forces in January, which paved the way for her to assume office as interim leader.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 08:40 UTC

    PM Starmer’s dreadful Monday: will a speech overcome the greatest challenge to his political future

    President Trump has defined Sir Keir Starmer as a ‘loser with no future’ and has repeatedly said “he’s no Winston Churchill”

    UK’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer this Monday will be facing the greatest threat to his premiership and political future, with a speech in which he is expected to promise bolder action to tackle “big challenges” facing the country, as he battles to persuade his MPs not to ditch him as Labour leader.