MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[Lubetkin warns Flávio Bolsonaro that “it is not easy to leave Mercosur”]]> “It is not easy to leave Mercosur. There are too many interrelated agreements in the business sphere, and that would cause major losses for the Brazilian economy,” Lubetkin said Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin has warned Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro that “it is not easy to leave Mercosur”, in response to his criticism of the bloc during the campaign for the October 25 runoff. In the same interview, with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, he said Uruguay would not restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela while Delcy Rodríguez governs.

]]> Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:52:00 GMT <![CDATA[Iguazú Falls closed as the river’s flow tops 12,000 cubic metres per second]]> The river rose just over two metres between Sunday and Monday at Puerto Iguazú and reached a level of 24.30 metres, and was still rising Iguazú National Park, in Argentina’s Misiones province, closed access to the falls’ walkways on Monday because of an exceptional rise in the Iguazú River, whose flow exceeded 12,000 cubic metres per second. The flood is part of an episode of heavy rainfall linked to El Niño that has also caused the Uruguay River to burst its banks, with evacuations on both sides.

]]> Mon, 12 Oct 2026 22:09:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump declines to back Lula or Flávio Bolsonaro as Brazil votes]]> Trump gave vague answers. “I'm following it very closely. It's a very important country. The people of Brazil are fantastic. It's a very important election” US President Donald Trump has not endorsed either of the two leading candidates in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, unlike in recent elections in Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica.

]]> Sun, 04 Oct 2026 08:57:00 GMT <![CDATA[Latin American airports will need US$178 billion to nearly double their traffic]]> The organisation also argued that airport charges, set by each country's regulators rather than by the airports themselves, account for a small share of airline costs Airports in Latin America and the Caribbean will require investment of around US$178 billion over the next thirty years to handle demand that would rise from 809 million passengers this year to around 1.5 billion in 2045, according to projections presented in Lima at the annual assembly of Airports Council International.

]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:30:00 GMT <![CDATA[“The UN has more reason to exist every day”, Uruguay's president said two days after Milei]]> “The UN has more reason to exist every day,” Orsi said, while calling for multilateral institutions that are “more effective, more representative” and closer to people's needs Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi defended the United Nations' relevance and condemned the economic embargo on Cuba before the General Assembly on Thursday, in an address of just under twenty minutes that contrasted with that of his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, two days earlier from the same podium.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:41:00 GMT <![CDATA[A port dispute in Montevideo blocks a second ferry operator on the Buenos Aires route]]> Port of Montevideo Uruguayan ferry company Colonia Express obtained authorisation from the Ministry of Transport and Public Works at the end of July to operate the passenger and vehicle route between Montevideo and Buenos Aires, but cannot begin the service because the only ramp at the Montevideo port suitable for unloading cars belongs to Buquebus, the company that currently runs the crossing alone.

]]> Mon, 07 Sep 2026 19:20:00 GMT <![CDATA[Uruguay and Argentina seek to stop the green hydrogen plant repeating the pulp mill conflict]]> Orsi said on Friday in Paysandú that Argentina had withdrawn “the criminal complaint” filed against the project The governments of Uruguay and Argentina are trying to contain tensions surrounding the green hydrogen and synthetic fuels plant that HIF Global plans to build in the Uruguayan department of Paysandú, on the Uruguay river, after a statement by President Yamandú Orsi drew three consecutive denials from the Argentine side.

]]> Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:32:00 GMT <![CDATA[The US waives beef tariffs for Brazil and Paraguay, but not for Argentina and Uruguay]]> For Brazil, the largest beef supplier to the US market, the measure removes for three months the out-of-quota duty of 26.4% it has paid since mid-January US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on August 26 temporarily waiving tariffs on imports of up to 300,000 tonnes of lean beef trimmings, a measure that excludes countries already holding their own quotas in the US market, among them Argentina and Uruguay. The main beneficiaries will be Brazil and Paraguay.

]]> Fri, 28 Aug 2026 19:35:00 GMT <![CDATA[Argentine lawmakers travel to Brasília to repair relations with Brazil]]> Among the Argentine interests he considers to be at stake, Massot cited the functioning of Mercosur and Brazil's backing for Argentina's sovereignty claim over the Falklands. A delegation of Argentine deputies and senators from opposition parties will travel to Brasília next Wednesday with the aim of repairing bilateral relations, strained since President Javier Milei referred to his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in offensive terms. The group is due to meet the Brazilian Senate's foreign relations committee, the foreign ministry and representatives of the presidency.

]]> Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:09:00 GMT <![CDATA[Bolivia deploys troops against blockades over a decree its own government wants repealed]]> At least ten organisations are defying the state of emergency Bolivia's government deployed military and police units on Tuesday in the municipality of Yapacaní, in Santa Cruz department, ahead of announced road blockades called by farming organisations against the decree that raised the price of diesel for large consumers. Hours later, the deputy interior minister acknowledged that the same measure must be annulled.

]]> Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT