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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 20th 2026 - 17:55 UTC

Politics

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 04:16 UTC

    Paz thanks Milei for sending Hercules aircraft to bring food to blockaded Bolivian cities

    “My deepest gratitude to President Milei for the invaluable support extended to Bolivia with the dispatch of the Hercules aircraft for humanitarian assistance tasks,” Paz wrote

    Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Friday thanked his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, for sending two C-130 Hercules military aircraft to reinforce the airlift aimed at supplying food and basic goods to the cities of La Paz and El Alto, affected by ten consecutive days of road blockades by peasant unions from the highlands. The regional gesture comes during one of the most critical weeks of the centrist leader's six-month tenure, against a backdrop of shortages and growing political tension with sectors aligned with former president Evo Morales.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 03:45 UTC

    Trump claims he will engineer a “turnaround” in Cuba and pull it away from China and Russia

    “I think we are going to turn it around,” Trump replied when asked about the possibility of Cuba leaning toward the United States

    US President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration will bring the Cuban government to align with Washington and pull away from the orbit of China and Russia, in his first public comments on the island since the unprecedented visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Havana on Thursday. The remarks, delivered during an interview with journalist Bret Baier on Fox News, come in a week marked by contradictory US gestures toward the Cuban regime: the humanitarian offer of USD 100 million accepted by Havana, the judicial pressure on former president Raúl Castro, and the opening of a direct channel between US and Cuban intelligence services.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 03:25 UTC

    Venezuela and World Bank agree to define technical cooperation areas after seven-year pause

    According to the official communiqué released after the meeting, both sides “agreed to continue working jointly to define the concrete areas of technical collaboration”

    The Venezuelan government and the World Bank agreed on Friday in Caracas to work jointly on identifying concrete areas of technical cooperation, in the first high-level encounter between the two parties since the resumption of relations announced last month, which ended a seven-year pause in institutional contacts. The meeting was led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who received at the Miraflores Palace the World Bank's Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Susana Cordeiro Guerra.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 03:12 UTC

    Trump closes China visit without substantial agreements but with Xi's offer on Strait of Hormuz

    Xi described the visit as “historic” and “emblematic” and said the two leaders had set a new course based on a “constructive relationship of strategic stability between China and the US”

    US President Donald Trump on Friday concluded his state visit to China of less than 48 hours without substantial announcements on the main points of the bilateral agenda, although he described the encounter as “very successful” and “unforgettable” and said he had reached “fantastic” trade deals whose details were not disclosed. The final day of the trip, held at Zhongnanhai, the residence of the Chinese Communist Party leadership, produced as its most visible outcome an offer by Chinese President Xi Jinping to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, closed by Iran since the start of the war in late February.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 13:27 UTC

    Chilean former president defends “people-centered” multilateralism in Montevideo against authoritarian projects

    Bachelet linked the regional democratic erosion to the “profound disconnect between institutions and people”

    Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, currently a candidate for the United Nations Secretary General, defended on Thursday in Montevideo the need for “a more representative, inclusive, and people-centered multilateralism” in the face of advancing “authoritarian projects” in the international order, during the keynote of the seminar “Geopolitics, Multilateralism, and Risks to Gender-Parity Democracy in the New International Order.” The event, organized by IDEA Internacional, is taking place at Uruguay's Legislative Palace as part of the Latin American Women in Politics Meeting, which brings together regional political leaders until Friday.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 05:08 UTC

    Washington considers prosecuting Raúl Castro over 1996 shootdown of civilian planes

    The incident that would underpin the indictment took place on 24 February 1996

    The US government is weighing a federal indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue, the CBS network and the Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, citing official sources. The potential charges, which still require grand jury approval, emerge on a day marked by escalating tensions between Washington and Havana and by a confidential visit to the Cuban capital by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 03:43 UTC

    Falklands, artists film on local talent and works

    Watch our new short film exploring arts and culture in the Falkland Islands. Released alongside the latest exhibition by celebrated Ceramicist and Islander Graham Bound, the film features local artists sharing their work and speaking about how the Falklands insp them.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 03:05 UTC

    Uruguay: Orsi's disapproval climbs to 48% as approval falls to 27% in his first year in office

    The net balance between disapproval and approval widened from -7 points in February to -21 points by the end of April, a gap more than double the one recorded at the start of the year

    Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi's administration recorded a significant deterioration in public approval as the government marked its first year in office, according to the latest survey by the polling firm Equipos released on Thursday on the Subrayado newscast. The president's disapproval rose to 48%, up from 40% in February, while approval fell from 33% to 27% over the same period. Intermediate assessments held roughly steady at around 23%, and 2% of respondents declined to answer.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 02:58 UTC

    Cuba accepts USD 100 million in US humanitarian aid amid energy collapse

    The US energy blockade has aggravated the structural crisis the island has been dragging since the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the resulting interruption of the Venezuelan supply

    The Cuban government on Thursday accepted the United States' offer of USD 100 million in humanitarian aid for food, fuel, and medicines, in a significant political shift after weeks of public rejection and hours after authorities on the island acknowledged the complete exhaustion of their fuel reserves. The aid will be channeled through the Catholic Church, according to the official statement issued by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who only the day before had described the US offer as “inconsequential and paradoxical.”

  • Thursday, May 14th 2026 - 16:52 UTC

    UK ‘Zero Net’ Miliband’s policy questioned as a threat to British security, ‘China dominates all the green technology’

    Ed Miliband has been accused of handing Beijing a “kill switch” over the UK economy after claiming that green energy will end reliance on Vladimir Putin’s Russia 

    The UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband has been accused of handing Beijing a “kill switch” over the British economy, after claiming that green energy will end the UK's reliance on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its fuel needs.