
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica decided to advance Monday's ministerial cabinet for Saturday so that he can fly to Brazil and Venezuela where he is scheduled to meet with Dilma Roussefdf and later Nicolas Maduro. Mujica on Friday al last moment cancelled his trip to Brasilia but will be meeting Rousseff in the southern city of Porto Alegre.

Venezuela's consumer prices rose 5.1% in October, pushing the 12-month inflation rate to 54.3%, the highest mark since the late President Hugo Chávez took power in 1999. The news was released by the central bank on Thursday which also revealed that the scarcity index had reached its highest level since 2009.

Venezuela's Supreme Happiness ministry is rolling: President Nicolás Maduro declared official the arrival of early Christmas, nearly two months ahead of the actual holiday and the surprise was that all workers will receive the first two-thirds of their bonuses and pensions on November 10/11, which critics claim is only meant to get him votes in the municipal elections of December 8.

Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes will not be participating in the Mercosur summit scheduled to be held next month in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, which currently holds the rotating chair of the bloc, according to Paraguay foreign minister Eladio Loizaga.

Mercosur will be holding a special meeting of foreign ministers next 15 November in Caracas to consolidate Mercosur presentation before the European Union, according to a release from the Argentine Foreign ministry.

By Sir Ronald Sanders - BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The internal politics of Venezuela is playing a big part in the sudden deterioration of that country’s relations with its smaller neighbor Guyana after a period of steady improvement.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the creation of the Supreme Happiness Under Secretary to address social debt shortcomings and which was in honor of the late Commandant and president Hugo Chavez and the country's liberator, Simon Bolivar.

The man credited with pioneering the idea of 21st Century socialism, which was championed and put into application in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez, recently made a damning condemnation of current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

State security agents have arrested the mayor of Venezuela's third-largest city for alleged corruption after President Nicolas Maduro asked lawmakers to grant him decree powers he says he needs to fight graft.

The owners of a US-operated oil ship which was detained by the Venezuelan navy on Thursday say the vessel has been released. The Venezuelan navy had boarded the Teknik Perdana on Thursday in disputed waters off the coast of Guyana and sailed it to Venezuela's Margarita Island.