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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, August 19th 2026 - 03:36 UTC

Politics

  • Thursday, April 30th 2026 - 13:18 UTC

    European Parliament urges sanctions on Venezuela to remain until verifiable democratic progress

    The immediate trigger for the resolution was Delcy Rodríguez's decision, announced on April 23, to end the Law of Amnesty

    The European Parliament approved on Thursday, by a wide majority, a resolution urging the Council of the European Union not to lift sanctions imposed on those responsible for human rights violations in Venezuela until the country adopts “significant measures toward a peaceful transition to democracy.” The text, promoted by the European People's Party, gained 507 votes in favor, 31 against, and 35 abstentions, and was backed even by the Socialists and Democrats group despite internal divergences over the strategy toward the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

  • Thursday, April 30th 2026 - 13:09 UTC

    US intervention forces end to decade of statistical opacity at Venezuela's Central Bank

    The year-on-year inflation stood at 649.5% at the end of the first quarter

    The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) has begun systematically publishing economic indicators that had been held under wraps for at least a decade, in an institutional shift driven by the US military intervention that culminated on January 3 with the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro and by the subsequent reconfiguration of Venezuela's financial system under Washington's oversight. The updating of historical series on the central bank's website now makes it possible to learn for the first time in years that monthly inflation reached 32% in January, 14.6% in February and 13.1% in March, while the year-on-year figure stood at 649.5% at the end of the first quarter.

  • Thursday, April 30th 2026 - 03:39 UTC

    US troops train in Argentina with USS Nimitz in Atlantic Dagger exercise

    Argentine Navy officers were embedded on the Nimitz as part of the exchange

    US troops began joint maneuvers on Tuesday with their Argentine counterparts as part of the “Atlantic Dagger” exercise, one of the broadest joint military operations between the two countries in decades, alongside the deployment of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in South Atlantic waters. The simultaneous presence of special forces on Argentine soil and a US naval strike group off the Atlantic coast forms part of a single package authorized by President Javier Milei through Necessity and Urgency Decree 264/2026, after Congress failed to take up a 2025 bill to enable the entry of foreign troops.

  • Thursday, April 30th 2026 - 01:47 UTC

    'I committed no crime': Adorni weathers opposition pressure in Congress with full Milei's backing

    The Cabinet Chief's defense centered on drawing a line between his personal assets and acts of government

    Argentine Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni refused to resign on Wednesday during his first management report before the Chamber of Deputies, in a seven-hour session marked by allegations of alleged illicit enrichment against him and by the unprecedented presence of President Javier Milei in the chamber's gallery, alongside his sister and Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei, and the entire cabinet. “I committed no crime and I will prove it in court,” Adorni told the plenary, on a day the ruling party sought to turn into a political show of support and that the opposition transformed into a parallel trial.

  • Wednesday, April 29th 2026 - 15:08 UTC

    Lula's Supreme Court nominee defends limits on judicial power in Brazilian Senate hearing

    The vote takes on political significance five months before the October general elections, in which Lula will seek re-election

    Jorge Messias, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's nominee to fill the open seat at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), defended on Wednesday before the Senate the need to limit the power of judges, in a bid to expand support for his candidacy in what is shaping up to be a closely contested vote. The Solicitor General of the Union appeared before the Constitution and Justice Committee, where he made explicit overtures toward the Bolsonarist right-wing opposition, particularly critical of the country's top court's recent rulings.

  • Wednesday, April 29th 2026 - 13:52 UTC

    Trump tells King Charles: “Americans have had no closer friends than the British”

    The submarine bell from HMS Trump, a special gift to the President

    On the second day of his state visit to the United States, speaking before Congress, where he was repeatedly acclaimed with loud applause, King Charles III stressed the value and importance of the “indispensable” UK and US partnership.

  • Wednesday, April 29th 2026 - 02:09 UTC

    King Charles avoids direct Iran reference and hails 'most consequential alliance' between UK and US

    Charles III is only the second British monarch to address a joint session of Congress, following his mother Elizabeth II in May 1991, shortly after the end of the Gulf War

    King Charles III delivered a 28-minute address on Tuesday to a joint session of the United States Congress in which he hailed the “special relationship” between London and Washington as “one of the most consequential alliances in human history,” in a speech that avoided any direct reference to the war against Iran or the Epstein case, two issues that have strained transatlantic ties in recent weeks. The address marked the centerpiece of the monarch's state visit to Washington, held in the framework of the 250th anniversary of American independence.

  • Wednesday, April 29th 2026 - 02:02 UTC

    Argentina expects to raise $2 billion from privatizations this year, says Minister Caputo

    “We are carrying out privatizations and concessions. The plan is to wrap them up by year-end. This will generate revenue of $2 billion,” Caputo said

    Argentina's Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced on Tuesday that the state expects to raise around $2 billion before year-end through a package of privatizations and concessions of public companies, in what constitutes one of the pillars of President Javier Milei's economic program and a central commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The remarks were made at Expo EFI, the country's main economics and finance forum, on a day when the government took concrete steps on at least two of the most significant operations on its agenda.

  • Tuesday, April 28th 2026 - 19:22 UTC

    Ex-President Lacalle Pou: 'I will not die without seeing Paraguay have a sea outlet in Uruguay'

    Lacalle Pou revealed that private investors are already exploring possible sites for the project

    Former Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou (2020-2025) reignited the debate on Tuesday over the construction of a port in Uruguayan territory aimed at providing Paraguay with maritime access, during an event in the Paraguayan city of Santa Rita, in the Alto Paraná department. “I will not die without truly seeing Paraguay have a sea outlet in Uruguay. I am convinced we must move forward on this,” the political leader said at the gathering held to mark the tenth anniversary of the alliance between local company Sul América Insumos Agrícolas and Uruguayan firm Proquimir.

  • Tuesday, April 28th 2026 - 17:42 UTC

    King Charles prepares speech on 'reconciliation and renewal' to US Congress after White House welcome

    The King will describe the “special relationship” as “one of the greatest alliances in human history” and stress that defense

    King Charles III is preparing to deliver an address to a joint session of the US Congress at 3:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, in which he will frame “reconciliation and renewal” as the defining themes of the bilateral relationship between London and Washington 250 years after American independence. The speech, expected to be one of the centerpieces of his state visit, comes after a heavily symbolic military welcome at the White House, where President Donald Trump extended to the monarch the highest protocol honor accorded by the United States to a visiting head of state.