Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, August 5th 2026 - 14:31 UTC

Politics

  • Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 23:36 UTC

    Reader's letter: a Head of the Bay farmer recalls the 1982 British landing

    Photo: Michael “Ted” Jones

    MercoPress this week received a letter from reader Michael (“Ted”) Jones, a farmer at Head of the Bay —a settlement located in the immediate vicinity of the site where British forces landed on 21 May 1982—, in response to the Landing Day ceremonies led on Thursday by the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly. Both Jones and his wife Shelia were at Green Beach Port San Carlos during the war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the archipelago. We publish his message below.

  • Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 20:07 UTC

    Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly pays tribute to 1982 British landing

    The commemoration included on Thursday a ceremony at the symbolic San Carlos Cemetery

    The Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly on Thursday issued an official statement commemorating Landing Day, the date that recalls the arrival of British forces at San Carlos Bay on 21 May 1982, during the war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the archipelago. The institutional declaration pays tribute to “the courage and sacrifice of those who came to restore our freedom and right to self-determination” and emphasizes that “the service of all who supported the liberation of our Islands will never be forgotten.”

  • Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 11:53 UTC

    United States revokes visa of former Argentine official over role in illegal Patagonian toothfish case

    The communiqué specified that the sanctions against Ferrara relate to “corrupt activities that facilitated illegal fishing and undermined fair market access for US fishers”

    The US Department of State on Wednesday revoked the visa of former Argentine official Pablo Ferrara Raisberg, former Foreign Ministry representative on the Federal Fisheries Council, over his alleged involvement in an illegal Patagonian toothfish episode that prompted his resignation in 2024. The measure is part of a new policy by the government of Donald Trump under which Washington has restricted the issuance of visas to 24 individuals linked to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in exclusive zones, and also includes Mexican national José Ali Amado.

  • Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 06:59 UTC

    Falklands’ oil, in June upgrade begins in Asia to adapt Aoka Mizu FPSO to Sea Lion development needs

    Navitas has shifted upgrade work on the Aoka Mizu from the Middle East to Asia due to the conflict in Iran, adding about US$ 45 million to the development budget

    Rockhopper Exploration (AIM:RKH), has highlighted progress at the Sea Lion oil development in the North Falkland Basin, operated by Navitas Petroleum. The first two phases will use the Aoka Mizu FPSO with capacity of 55,000 barrels per day, while a new memorandum of understanding for a second FPSO could lift total capacity by a further 125,000 barrels per day, significantly expanding the project’s production potential if implemented.

  • Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 04:36 UTC

    Starmer urges Glasgow to reconsider Royal Regiment of Scotland freedom of the city decision

    The Prime Minister urged Glasgow City Council to reconsider the decision (Picture: MOD)

    The Prime Minister has urged Glasgow City Council to reconsider its decision to refuse the Royal Regiment of Scotland the freedom of the city as it marks its 20th anniversary. A motion to grant the civic honor to the unit was defeated in a vote last week after opposition from SNP and Green councilors.

  • Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 02:54 UTC

    Falklands at online meeting of UKBOTs, preparing for next Joint Ministerial Council

    The Joint Ministerial Council is a high-level meeting between leaders and ministers from the UK and Overseas Territories.

    The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, represented the Government of Gibraltar at an online meeting of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association to prepare for this year’s Joint Ministerial Council in November.

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 23:59 UTC

    Milei authorizes US Southern Command to patrol Argentine southern sea in strategic shift

    The initiative is part of the US Department of War's Program 333, the framework through which Washington seeks to deepen its military ties with allied countries

    Javier Milei's government on Wednesday announced the signing of a letter of intent with the United States for joint patrolling of the South Atlantic over the next five years, in a military cooperation agreement that ratifies Buenos Aires's strategic alignment with the Donald Trump administration and that has triggered alarms over Argentine sovereignty in its maritime spaces. The agreement, signed by the US Southern Command and Argentine Navy authorities, involves the supply of US technology to modernize the South American country's naval equipment and, at the same time, authorizes the participation of US forces in patrolling the Argentine southern sea.

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 23:38 UTC

    Argentina opens economic bids for Paraná-Paraguay waterway amid warnings of irregularities

    The winning company will gain access to revenues of close to USD 600 million per year in tolls, according to the tender conditions

    The government of Javier Milei proceeded on Tuesday to open the economic bids submitted by the two international consortia competing for the 25-year concession of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway, Argentina's main fluvial trade artery, despite a warning from the Public Prosecutor's Office about the existence of “serious and obvious irregularities” that could give rise to criminal and administrative consequences. The Peronist opposition has filed a bill in Congress demanding the immediate suspension of the process.

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 23:18 UTC

    Bolivia escalates internal conflict into diplomatic clash with Colombia and divided regional backing

    Petro responded to the expulsion by accusing the Bolivian executive of falling into “extremism” and warned of the risk of “a massacre” if no national dialogue is opened

    The political and social crisis that has been shaking Bolivia for 15 days escalated on Wednesday into a regional diplomatic confrontation, with the government of Rodrigo Paz expelling the Colombian ambassador to La Paz, Elizabeth García, denouncing before the Organization of American States an attempt at “institutional destabilization,” and receiving public backing from the United States and from several governments in the region. The decision was taken after Colombian President Gustavo Petro described the protests as a “popular insurrection” and said that in Bolivia “there is a people in the streets being killed,” statements considered “interfering” by La Paz.

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 18:29 UTC

    United States indicts Raúl Castro over 1996 shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue aircraft

    “If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said

    The US Department of Justice on Wednesday filed formal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro and five other Cuban military officers on counts of murder, conspiracy to murder US citizens, and destruction of aircraft, in connection with the shootdown on 24 February 1996 of two civilian planes operated by the anti-Castro organization Brothers to the Rescue. The indictment, approved on 23 April by a grand jury of the Southern District of Florida, was unveiled at the Freedom Tower in Miami on the same day the Cuban diaspora commemorates Independence Day, a date the Havana regime does not celebrate. It is the first time in nearly 70 years that a senior leader of the Cuban regime has faced criminal charges in the United States over events that resulted in the deaths of US citizens.