Politics

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:42 UTC

  Mujica denies Argentine pressure, but confirms Falklands flagged vessels are banned

  

  Uruguayan President José ‘Pepe’ Mujica denied on Thursday afternoon suffering pressure from the Argentine government to restrict British ships from docking at Montevideo’s ports.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:26 UTC

  Disclosed documents reveal Brazilian strong support for the Pinochet regime in Chile

  

  Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo published a report on this week revealing a series of 266 telegrams from the Brazilian embassy in Santiago that unveiled strong economic and diplomatic ties between the nations’ military regimes in the early 1970s.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:16 UTC

  Brazil joins the club of countries with strict no smoking legislation

  

  President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday signed a law banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Brazil. The new text will make Brazil, which has a population of more than 191 million, the largest country in the world to go smoke-free.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 20:59 UTC

  Astori anticipates investment grade and the white list for Uruguay in 2012

  

  Vice president Danilo Astori anticipated that in 2012 Uruguay will recover investment grade and said that including Uruguay in the OECD “grey list” was a “tremendous injustice” which did not take into account all the advances achieved in combating money laundering and narcotics trade.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 19:53 UTC

  Argentina bullying Uruguay on canal dredging and Falkland Islands flagged vessels

  

  Uruguay has banned the docking of Falklands/Malvinas flagged vessel in the port of Montevideo, following on complaints from Argentina that several fishing vessels with that flag, in recent months had been operating from Montevideo.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 17:52 UTC

  After nine bloody years US military officially end Iraq war

  

  The US military officially ended its war in Iraq, rolling up its flag at a low-key ceremony with Defence Secretary Leon Panetta nearly nine bloody years after the invasion that ousted Dictator Saddam Hussein.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 15:42 UTC

  Brazil ‘disappointed’ with Paraguay Senate attitude towards Venezuela and Mercosur

  

  Brazil’s International Affairs presidential advisor Marco Aurelio García admitted there is “disappointment” in Mercosur with the delay from the Paraguayan congress in approving the incorporation of Venezuela.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 15:37 UTC

  Brazil decides full support for the (development) Bank of the South

  

  The administration of President Dilma Rousseff will be sending the bill creating the Bank of the South to congress next month, since this financial institution “will help the region address the global crisis”.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 03:45 UTC

  Uruguayan president and Vice-president publicly clash over education policy

  

  The Uruguayan president and Vice president have again openly clashed this time over education reform. First Lady and Senator Lucia Topolansky described Vice-president Danilo Astori’s comments on the issue as “negative” and praised the attitude of teachers’ unions involved in the reform effort.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2011 - 17:48 UTC

  Mexican president criticizes the US on its financial misbalances

  

  President Felipe Calderon criticized its powerful neighbour, United States during a speech in which he outlined the G20 agenda for the next twelve months, including the summit, which is under the presidency of Mexico.