The European Union and Mercosur have made some progress on how to open their markets to cars, but ended free trade talks in Brussels on Friday with finger-pointing about who was holding up a deal. The EU and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay began on-off negotiations towards a trade alliance in 1999, with a fresh impetus since 2016.
Paraguay's business-friendly ruling party lost fewer seats in Sunday's Senate election, than expected, ensuring strict fiscal policies while lessening chances of a tax hike on the key soy sector. Farmers in the world's No. 4 soybean exporter had feared that the new Senate might approves a measure, defeated last year, that would slap a 10% levy on exports.
Paraguay's Mario Abdo Benitez, “Marito”, who represents the country's long-dominant Colorado Party, was elected as president on Sunday, landing the top job in the country with the smallest economy in Mercosur. The US-educated son of a senior aide to the country's late dictator, Abdo Benitez won slightly more than 46% of the vote, with his centrist opponent Efrain Alegre taking almost 43% in a race that was far closer than expected.
Two instructors from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst gave a course on counterterrorism from 9-13 April at the Uruguayan Naval War College in Montevideo. The purpose of the course was to provide an introduction to the key principles of the fight against terorrism and its practical application through the British approach and the study of a wide range of contemporary cases.
Former Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla began this week her activities as head of the Organization of American States (OAS) mission that will observe Paraguay’s April 22 elections. During an event at Paraguay’s TSJE electoral court, Chinchilla and the president of the TSJE, Jaime Bestard, signed an agreement establishing the terms of the mission, which will include 39 observers from 14 countries.
With Latin America’s three most populous countries voting for president this year, it’s easy to overlook the election in landlocked Paraguay (population 7 million) that takes place on April 22.
The head of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EOM) in Paraguay, Romanian liberal Euro-deputy Renate Weber, insisted on the need for “complete transparency in the financing of political parties and the election campaign” ahead of the general election next April 22
The Organization of American States (OAS) and the government of Paraguay signed an agreement to observe the general and departmental elections of April 22, in a ceremony that took place at OAS headquarters in Washington DC.
The Canadian government plans to open free trade talks with the four-nation Mercosur trading bloc in South America at a time when the future of NAFTA is facing increasing uncertainty. Canada sends around 75% of its goods exports to the United States and is looking for new markets to reduce the reliance on its southern neighbor.
A Paraguayan guerrilla group has freed two Mennonite men it had been holding hostage for five months. The two were released after their families paid a ransom and handed over food to local communities, Paraguayan media report.