MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, August 5th 2026 - 12:36 UTC

Politics

  • Wednesday, June 10th 2026 - 13:52 UTC

    US launches strikes against Iran in retaliation for the downing of an Apache helicopter

    The strikes come amid a week of heightened regional tension

    The United States launched a series of strikes against Iran on Tuesday in retaliation for the downing of a US Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, Central Command (Centcom) said. The action marks a sharp escalation that deepens doubts over the ceasefire in place since April 8 and over the peace negotiations that President Donald Trump says are within reach.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 21:58 UTC

    EU mission praises transparency in Peru's runoff but criticizes the slow count

    The mission nonetheless noted delays of up to an hour in the opening of polling tables in Lima, mainly due to the absence of their members

    The European Union (EU) election observation mission in Peru highlighted the order and transparency of Sunday's presidential runoff, though it criticized the slowness in proclaiming the results and warned of episodes of racism and discrimination during the campaign. The head of the mission, Italian MEP Annalisa Corrado, asked Peruvians to wait patiently, at a time when, with about 96% of the count completed, conservative Keiko Fujimori and leftist Roberto Sánchez remain in a technical tie.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 21:36 UTC

    FIG appoints Steve Dent as new Director of Development & Commercial Services

    Steve is currently a director of FIMCo and Stanley Growers, and was formerly on the board of the Falkland Islands Chamber of Commerce.

    The Falkland Islands Government has announced the appointment of Steve Dent as the next Director of Development & Commercial Services. Steve joined FIG in 2023, and for the last three years has been Deputy Director of DCS, with direct line-management responsibility for a number of key FIG sections as well as commercial contracts within the directorate’s remit.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 09:51 UTC

    Sánchez overtakes Fujimori in Peru count with 95% tallied; overseas vote still to come

    Fujimori lost ground decimal by decimal as tally sheets arrived from rural and Andean areas, where Sánchez performs best

    Leftist Roberto Sánchez moved ahead in the count of Peru's presidential runoff, in an election being decided vote by vote. With about 95% of the tally sheets processed by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Sánchez had around 50.1% of the vote, against 49.9% for conservative Keiko Fujimori, a lead of some 41,000 ballots. The result, however, is not final: the votes of Peruvians abroad, historically favorable to the right, have yet to be counted.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 07:44 UTC

    Colombia's runoff: a united right behind De la Espriella faces a divided left

    The left, which had made unity the axis of its campaign in 2025, went through the week with internal tensions

    The first of the three campaign weeks ahead of Colombia's presidential runoff, set for June 21, has been marked by a contrast: a right that had failed to unite for the first round ended up aligned behind far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, while the left of Senator Iván Cepeda and President Gustavo Petro has struggled to coordinate its effort. De la Espriella was the most-voted candidate on May 31, with 43.74% against Cepeda's 40.90%.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 07:07 UTC

    Uruguay's Orsi slips to 12th in a regional presidential ranking; Bukele leads

    According to the poll's breakdown, 19.8% of those surveyed said they had a “very good” image of the president and 19.0% a “good” one; at the other end, 33.5% rated it “very bad” and 22.2% “bad”

    Uruguay's President Yamandú Orsi fell to 12th among the 18 leaders in the June ranking of best-rated Latin American presidents compiled by the Argentine consultancy CB. With a 38.8% positive image, Orsi dropped one spot from May and remains in the survey's “regular” band.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 06:59 UTC

    Venezuela's Cabello rejects Machado's offer of talks with the chavista leadership

    At his customary press conference, Cabello dismissed rumors of a possible dialogue as “idle talk” and denied that “any meeting anywhere in the world” had taken place

    Venezuela's Interior, Justice and Peace Minister and secretary general of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, on Monday ruled out any political negotiation with opposition leader María Corina Machado and with the Democratic Unitary Platform, days after the opposition made an unprecedented offer to sit down for talks with chavismo. “There is nothing on the table with them, and even less with her,” he said.

  • Monday, June 8th 2026 - 23:22 UTC

    Falklands: how important it is for UK electorate to have the Islands remaining British

    James Cartlidge, the shadow defense secretary, said the sovereignty of the Falklands was “not up for negotiation”.

    This is a special week for the Falkland Islands and its people, Sunday is 14th June, the 44th anniversary of the Liberation of the Islands from the invading Argentine troops, which on that day definitively signed their surrender to the British Task Force sent to the South Atlantic to liberate the forcibly submitted Falklands people after 74 days.

  • Monday, June 8th 2026 - 23:01 UTC

    Trump interested in buying Chagos Islands with the strategic Diego Garcia air base

    Previous legislation to hand the islands to Mauritius was shelved in April after the US removed its support of the deal.

    The US president Donald Trump is considering a plan to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius amid stalled plans from the UK to cede sovereignty of the territory, the Telegraph reported over the weekend.

  • Monday, June 8th 2026 - 23:00 UTC

    Sánchez narrowly ahead in Peru runoff quick count; both candidates urge caution

    The result shifted through the night. Exit polls released as voting closed had initially placed Fujimori first, but the quick count reversed the trend

    Peru's presidential runoff ended without a clear winner after an extremely close vote. A quick count by the pollster Ipsos, carried out with the NGO Transparencia on a representative sample of tally sheets, gave a slight edge to leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez, with 50.3% of the vote, against 49.7% for conservative Keiko Fujimori. The gap, within the margin of error, amounts to a technical tie that prolongs the uncertainty in a country that has had nine presidents in a decade.