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[Milei stays silent on Lula’s victory as Kast and Peña congratulate him]]> Neither the president nor Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno had issued a statement on the result, according to the Argentine press Argentine President Javier Milei had not congratulated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his re-election in Brazil by Monday, unlike other right-wing South American leaders such as Chile’s José Antonio Kast, Paraguay’s Santiago Peña and Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz. Milei, who publicly backed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro during the campaign, met his cabinet at the Casa Rosada first thing in the morning.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:05:00 GMT <![CDATA[Paraguay’s president travels to Washington and will meet the CIA director]]> Peña has declared himself an ally of the White House on foreign policy Paraguayan President Santiago Peña travelled to Washington on Wednesday for a brief visit that includes a meeting with US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe and a keynote address at the annual gala of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:14:00 GMT <![CDATA[Pressure mounts on Paraguay’s Central Bank over doubts about some lenders’ solvency]]> “We ask the Central Bank to report on the solvency of all entities that received facilities in merger processes. That way doubts will be cleared,” the association said The Association of Banks of Paraguay, which groups 14 private lenders, on Sunday asked the Central Bank of Paraguay to report on the solvency of institutions that received facilities in merger processes, days after senators from the ruling party and the opposition called on President Santiago Peña to remove the institution’s leadership.

]]> Sun, 18 Oct 2026 17:51:00 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[Paraguay's opposition takes Asunción from the Colorado Party and holds Ciudad del Este]]> In Ciudad del Este, Daniel Pereira Mujica of the opposition Yo Creo party won with 72.83%, keeping the city in the hands of the party previously led locally by Miguel Prieto Paraguay's opposition won the mayoralty of Asunción and held that of Ciudad del Este, the country's two most populous cities, in Sunday's municipal elections, according to preliminary results from the electoral authority. The ruling Colorado Party, however, won the vast majority of districts.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 22:09:00 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[Peña says the Milei-Lula crisis has not affected how Mercosur functions]]> Peña said Lula and Milei now hold “irreconcilable differences,” though he argued both understand that the relationship between their countries is greater than the relationship between them. Paraguayan President Santiago Peña said on Friday that the differences between his Argentine and Brazilian counterparts, Javier Milei and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have had no consequences for Mercosur, despite the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

]]> Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:20:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lula says Paraguay chose to invade Brazil; Paraguayan Congress accuses him of distorting history]]> Lula said Brazil likes peace but cannot forget that Paraguay one day decided to invade Brazil, adding that it later did the same to Argentina and Uruguay Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva invoked the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) to defend increased defense spending, in remarks that drew formal rejection this week from both chambers of Paraguay's Congress.

]]> Thu, 30 Jul 2026 01:40:00 GMT <![CDATA[Family of murdered journalist urges Paraguay to comply with Inter-American Court ruling]]> The family also said it had proposed holding the official act of acknowledgment of responsibility at the site of the killing, a proposal that was not accepted The widow and children of Paraguayan journalist Santiago Leguizamón, murdered in 1991, have called on the state to fully comply with the ruling in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found Paraguay responsible for failing to properly investigate the crime. The demand was voiced on Monday at a ceremony beside the monument honoring the broadcaster in Pedro Juan Caballero, on the border with Brazil, convened by the family, the Paraguayan Journalists' Union, and the Human Rights Coordinating Body, with backing from the International Federation of Journalists.

]]> Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:48:00 GMT <![CDATA[Argentina's polar spell eases as Patagonia faces rain, snow and 90 km/h gusts]]> Between the start and middle of the week, the instability extends toward the Chubut mountain range and parts of Río Negro and Neuquén The intense polar air mass that affected much of Argentina during the first days of July has begun to ease, with a gradual rise in temperatures across the center and north of the country, while Patagonia now concentrates the most severe weather. The National Meteorological Service (SMN) has kept warnings in place for rain, snow and strong winds in the far south.

]]> Thu, 09 Jul 2026 05:03:00 GMT