Regarding the European Union-Mercosur trade deal, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insisted that his government's purchases were non-negotiable and promised not to give in because it would entail killing ”the possibility of growth of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The Workers' Party leader also admitted that discrepancies on this point might delay the agreement a little longer.”
Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) Thursday decided that all of its justices will vote on May 31 on the length of the sentence to be imposed on former Senator and President Fernando Collor de Melo, who has been found guilty of passive corruption and money laundering in Operation Lava Jato, Agencia Brasil reported.
Peru's one-house Congress Thursday declared Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) a persona non grata on the grounds that the Peruvian people do not accept acts of interference and meddling in our sovereignty, it was reported in Lima.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) announced that the global project Supporting Safe Spaces for Journalists in Conflict Situations will reach Latin America, starting in Costa Rica in the second half of 2023, it was reported Thursday.
Ecuadorian Indigenous leader, lawyer, and anti-mining activist Yaku Pérez will run in the upcoming snap elections called after President Guillermo Lasso dissolved Parliament through a so-called crossed-death decree earlier this month, it was announced Thursday in Quito. Pérez, 54, will participate as a candidate of a coalition of several leftist movements.
Given the financial problems and shortage of foreign currency, on Wednesday, May 24, the leading shipping company MSC, followed by seven others, announced that, as from June, ‘freight collect’ will be charged for exports from Argentina, meaning that these charges will be billed to the party receiving a shipment, often called the consignee.
By Mordechai Taji
Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) did not announce on Thursday anyone's candidacy - hers or not - for this year's elections. She did not do it with her voice. But by her side were her son, Deputy Máximo Kirchner, Interior Minister Wado De Pedro, and Economy Minister Sergio Massa. It was a visual message: two of those three will most likely be on one of the tickets to be presented in the primary, mandatory, simultaneous, and open elections (PASO). She also confirmed that she would not run and frustrated the hopes of some unconditional faithful, who expected her to change her mind.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez broke protocol and delivered a few words during the Te Deum held on Thursday at the Buenos Aires Cathedral on the occasion of the national holiday of May 25. Traditionally, May 25 marks the expulsion of the Spanish viceroy in 1810, but in 2023 it signified the 20th anniversary of Néstor Kirchner's coming to power, which is what Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) would later celebrate under heavy rain in Plaza de Mayo.
Thursday's Te Deum was a last for Argentine President Alberto Fernández, but also for Buenos Aires Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli, who will retire later this year after succeeding Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when the latter became Pope Francis in 2013. Fernández shall not be seeking reelection and thus will complete his term on Dec. 9.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, on a political and trade visit to South America, including Colombia, Chile and Brazil, said the Falkland Islands people have the right to self determination recalling that ten years ago Islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain in the British Family.