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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 29th 2026 - 21:20 UTC

Politics

  • Wednesday, May 24th 2023 - 10:19 UTC

    Ecuador: President signs decree-law attracting investments

    After Wednesday's Report to the Nation, Lasso will travel to the US for a medical procedure

    Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso Tuesday signed his second urgent economic decree-law after the May 17 invoking of the crossed death constitutional procedure to dissolve Congress and call for snap elections. Tuesday's “Attraction and Promotion of Investments for Productive Development” initiative, which provides for the creation of new duty-free trade zones, needs Constitutional Court's approval to become effective. The bill was submitted two years ago by the Government of Ecuador to the outgoing National Assembly, but it was shelved.

  • Wednesday, May 24th 2023 - 10:05 UTC

    Lula says Zelensky stood him up

    Lula insisted there was no point in meeting with Zelensky or Putin when “both are convinced that they are going to win the war”

    Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva said he was supposed to have met with his Ukrainian colleague Volodymyr Zelensky last weekend in Hiroshima but that the European leader must have had more important engagements. “I'm not disappointed, I'm upset,” Lula was quoted as saying while confirming the meeting had been arranged.

  • Wednesday, May 24th 2023 - 09:59 UTC

    China and Brazil reaffirm stronger partnership, Brazilian envoy in Beijing

    Ambassador Marcos Galvao said that the success of the state visit by President Lula da Silva to China “certainly points to an even higher stage of the strong partnership” between countries

    Brazil and China are set to embrace a higher state of solid partnership, and the two sides have shown a strong commitment to bolstering bilateral trade, cooperation in aviation and high-tech sectors, and response to climate change, said the country's top envoy to Beijing.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 20:00 UTC

    Argentine Congress and Simon Wiesenthal Center seek answers on 'Submarine' wreck

    Congress urges the Government to fulfill legal obligations and raise thought-provoking questions, while the Simon Wiesenthal Center emphasizes transparency. Photo: Prefectura Naval Argentina

    By LAURENCE DE MELLO IN BUENOS AIRES

    The 2022 discovery of a suspected WWII U-boat in Argentine waters has ignited an intense political debate within the closed corridors of the Argentine Government, resuscitating embarrassing historical ties between President General Juan Domingo Peron and Nazi Germany.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 11:42 UTC

    Argentina introduces new banknote amid high inflation

    The new banknote features the images of Cecilia Grierson, the first female physician to graduate in 1889, and Ramón Carrillo, promoter of social medicine.

    Argentina launched the AR$ 2,000 banknote on Monday, with a value slightly exceeding US$ 4 in the unofficial exchange rate. It will be the highest denomination banknote in a country where year-on-year inflation has reached 108%.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 11:21 UTC

    Depletion of the Colorado River forces California, Arizona and Nevada to a conservation agreement

    The nearly 2,400km river is used by over 40 million people in seven US states, as well as several Native American tribes and parts of Mexico.

    Three western US states have agreed to draw less water from the drought-depleted Colorado River in exchange for US$1.2bn in federal funding. Arizona, California and Nevada said the deal would conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of water to the end of 2026.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 11:08 UTC

    Colombia halts ceasefire with FARC dissidents after 4 murders

    “Recruiting and murdering children and adolescents from indigenous communities are not exactly gestures of goodwill to achieve peace,” Ombudsman Camargo said

    Colombian authorities Monday announced the unilateral suspension of the ceasefire with dissident Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), known as the Central General Staff (EMC-FARC), after the recruitment and murder of four children from the Murui indigenous community, it was reported in Bogota.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 10:47 UTC

    Uruguay to import bottled water: desalinization plant does not fit in aircraft

    The plant will take “a few weeks” to reach Uruguay by ship, Delgado explained.Photo: Sebastián Astorga

    Uruguay's Economy Ministry Monday greenlighted the tax-free import of bottled water as one of the measures against the drought affecting Montevideo and the metropolitan area, it was reported. Meanwhile, Presidential Secretary Álvaro Delgado confirmed that the desalination plant to be brought from Houston does not fit “by 15 centimeters” in the C-130 Hercules aircraft sent to pick it up and it will therefore take “a few weeks” to reach South America by ship.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 07:23 UTC

    Sinn Fein which calls for a united Ireland, becomes largest party in Northern Ireland

    Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neill called for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to end its boycott of power sharing at Stormont

    The Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, has become the largest party in Northern Ireland in Sunday's local election results. But rather than break a political deadlock in the North, Sinn Fein’s striking gains may harden the sectarian divide that has long complicated its fragile government.

  • Tuesday, May 23rd 2023 - 02:20 UTC

    James Cleverly, British Foreign Secretary: UK Stands as Latin America's Oldest Friend

    Cleverly emphasized the mutual values shared by the UK and Latin America, stating, “Our position is clear. Respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, self-determination, and human rights”

    James Cleverly, United Kingdom's Foreign Minister, delivered a significant speech today in Santiago de Chile, outlining the United Kingdom's vision for its future relations with Latin America. Against the backdrop of the bicentennial celebration of the UK-Latin America relationship, Cleverly expressed his pride in the UK's historical support for the region's struggle for independence two centuries ago, positioning the UK as “the oldest friend of the region.”