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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 23rd 2025 - 18:43 UTC

Politics

  • Tuesday, February 7th 2023 - 10:08 UTC

    Beijing admits balloon over Latin America is theirs

    Beijing said that shooting down their balloon over the Atlantic Ocean was overproportioned and promised to reserve the right to take the necessary measures

    As US defense forces are beginning to pick up the debris from the Chinese balloon downed during the weekend by the Air Force on President Joseph Biden's orders, the Asian country admitted a second such aircraft last spotted over Colombia belonged to them. Biden said Monday that the Pentagon was in contact with the Latin American countries through which the Chinese balloon passed. The Colombian Air Force reported that “an object” with “characteristics similar to those of a balloon” was detected and monitored “until it left the airspace.”

  • Tuesday, February 7th 2023 - 10:04 UTC

    Ecuador's referendum a major setback for President Lasso

    In addition to losing the referendum, the opposition leftwing Citizen Revolution party of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) won the mayoralties of Quito and Guayaquil

    Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso Monday admitted defeat in Sunday's referendum through which he intended to garner enough consensus for the remainder of his term after 18 months in office. Citizens were asked, among other issues, to decide whether national offenders could be extradited abroad to face drug-trafficking charges. Lasso favored the idea, a slim majority did not with 47% of the votes counted.

  • Tuesday, February 7th 2023 - 09:50 UTC

    Garimpo is lethal, Brazilian minister says

    “What is being reported is still far from showing the reality there,” Guajarara said after visiting the Yanomami land

    Brazil's Minister for Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara described the presence of illegal mining (known locally as “garimpo”) in the Yanomami Indigenous Land as destructive, Agencia Brasil reported Monday.

  • Tuesday, February 7th 2023 - 09:20 UTC

    Falkland Islands reduced access to Customs and Immigration

    Customs and Immigration at MPC international airport

    The Falkland Islands Customs and Immigration would like to inform the public that due to staff illness, they will be closed to visits from the general public until Thursday 9 February.

  • Monday, February 6th 2023 - 10:40 UTC

    The Indigenous-led movement shaking a divided Peru

    Peru's protests stemmed from the south, close to Bolivia

    By Eduardo Gamarra (*) – Peru is in the midst of a political and civil crisis. Weeks of protest have culminated in thousands descending on the capital amid violent clashes and running battles with police.

  • Monday, February 6th 2023 - 10:23 UTC

    Ecuador's referendum goes on uneventfully

    The results will be released as soon as vote counting is done, Atamaint said

    Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced Sunday that turnout for the national referendum called by President Guillermo Lasso seeking endorsement after 18 months in office had reached 80.74 %. Ecuadorians were also voting to elect the members of the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS), in addition to municipal authorities.

  • Monday, February 6th 2023 - 10:12 UTC

    State of emergency spread to other Peruvian departments

    Boluarte's decree also extended a curfew between 8 pm and 4 am already in force in Puno to the other departments involved

    At least 26 people were arrested, including an underaged suspect, late Saturday in Lima amid new demonstrations against the government of President Dina Boluarte, it was reported. Five people -4 protesters and 1 police officer- also needed to be hospitalized due to the injuries sustained during the street clashes in which law enforcement used pellets and teargas. Several journalists have denounced having been beaten by the Police trying to control peasant unions, private organizations, and student groups.

  • Monday, February 6th 2023 - 10:02 UTC

    Garimpeiros leave Yanomami land before armed forces takeover

    The illegal miners even asked to be rescued by the federal troops

    Illegal miners known as garimpeiros are beginning to leave the lands of the Yanomami indigenous peoples after a federal raid to evict them was announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara told reporters Sunday.

  • Sunday, February 5th 2023 - 09:31 UTC

    Ecuador's president takes a gamble with a multi-item referendum

    Lasso needs to revalidate his credentials through an electoral victory. Otherwise, his days as President will be steeply uphill

    The Ecuadorian Government of President Guillermo Lasso will seek Sunday to revamp an administration with waning popularity through a referendum whereby the citizenry is to allegedly set the guidelines for the future steps of the conservative head of state.

  • Sunday, February 5th 2023 - 09:25 UTC

    BCRA's REM report forecasts 2023 inflation in Argentina will reach 97.6%

    The new inflationary projections would mean a 0.8% improvement from 2022's figures but still one of the worst in the world

    With a Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January 2023 expected at 5.6%, Argentina's Central Bank (BCRA) issued a report Friday forecasting that inflation for the entire year would be 97.6% while the country's Gross Domestic Product (the sum of all services and goods traded) will only grow by 0.5%.