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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, May 15th 2026 - 17:15 UTC

United States

  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 03:00 UTC

    Noboa imposes curfew in four provinces of Ecuador deploys 75,000 personnel in new anti-crime offensive

    The new phase of Noboa’s plan also rests on emergency powers

    Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has launched a new security offensive with a nightly curfew in four violence-hit provinces and the deployment of 75,000 soldiers and police officers. The restriction runs from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Guayas, El Oro, Los Ríos and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, began on Sunday night and is expected to remain in force for two weeks. In the first hours of the operation, authorities reported 253 arrests for violating the measure.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 16:14 UTC

    Germany rejects sending ships to Hormuz as the EU seeks a diplomatic and logistical way forward

    The German frigate FGS Sachsen (F-219) of the Sachsen class (Type 124) during a missile-firing exercise

    Germany on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s request for allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help reopen the shipping route. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius questioned what “a handful” of European frigates could do that the U.S. Navy could not already do, and summed up Berlin’s position bluntly: “This is not our war.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson added that the conflict “is not NATO’s war” and that Germany had no plans to be drawn into it.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 16:00 UTC

    Fed and ECB face a pivotal week as the oil shock revives inflation risk

    For the Fed, the dilemma is especially awkward because the latest official data, recorded before the full impact of the energy shock. In the euro zone, the starting point is somewhat calmer

    The U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank head into this week’s policy meetings in a far more uncertain environment than they faced just two weeks ago. The Fed meets on March 17-18, and the ECB on March 18-19, just after the Middle East war pushed oil prices above US$100 a barrel and forced markets to rethink the expected path of interest rates. Even so, neither institution is expected to change borrowing costs at these meetings.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 15:56 UTC

    ‘One Battle after Another’ leads the Oscars with six wins in a ceremony with few direct references to war

    Paul Thomas Anderson’s film finished ahead of Sinners

    The 98th Academy Awards crowned One Battle after Another as the night’s dominant winner, taking six Oscars including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best supporting actor for Sean Penn, best film editing and the new award for casting. The ceremony was held Sunday in Los Angeles with Conan O’Brien as host.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 00:50 UTC

    Former Chevron executive told CIA the opposition would struggle to control Venezuela

    Moshiri’s position aligned with a central concern in Washington: avoiding a power vacuum in a country where much of the institutional structure remained under chavista influence

    Ali Moshiri, Chevron’s former top executive for Venezuela and a longtime Washington interlocutor on energy matters, warned the CIA before Nicolás Maduro’s ouster that a direct handover of power to the opposition led by María Corina Machado could produce an unstable transition because she lacked control over the security apparatus and the state’s real power centers, according to a report published on Sunday. In that assessment, Moshiri recommended that the United States back Delcy Rodríguez as the more viable figure to manage the immediate succession.

  • Saturday, March 14th 2026 - 16:03 UTC

    U.S. again backs Argentina in YPF case, urging halt to “intrusive” discovery

    This is not the first time Washington has intervened in Buenos Aires’ favor in the case

    The U.S. government has filed a new memorandum before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York backing Argentina’s request to suspend post-judgment discovery in the YPF expropriation case. Argentina’s Treasury Solicitor’s Office said the filing supports the emergency motion submitted on March 6 seeking to pause document production, a sanctions request and an evidentiary hearing scheduled for April.

  • Friday, March 13th 2026 - 16:26 UTC

    Cuba confirms talks with the United States amid its deepest energy crisis in years

    The confirmation marks a shift from Havana’s previous public stance

    Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Friday that his government has recently held talks with U.S. officials, the first public acknowledgment of such bilateral contacts in more than a decade, as the island faces a severe fuel and electricity crisis. He said the exchanges were aimed at seeking solutions to bilateral differences and exploring areas of cooperation based on equality, sovereignty and mutual respect.

  • Friday, March 13th 2026 - 16:03 UTC

    Uruguayan fugitive Sebastián Marset captured in Bolivia and placed in U.S. custody

    Marset was also listed among the DEA’s most wanted fugitives and was regarded as one of the agency’s five highest-priority drug trafficking targets

    Suspected Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset was captured on Friday in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, in an operation that ends one of the Southern Cone’s longest and most visible manhunts. Paraguayan authorities confirmed the arrest and said Marset had been secured after a raid carried out by Bolivian forces.

  • Friday, March 13th 2026 - 11:24 UTC

    Iran exploits its asymmetric edge in Hormuz, narrowing the U.S. Navy’s room to act

    Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Thursday that the U.S. military is “not ready” to escort tankers through Hormuz because its assets remain focused on striking Iranian offensive capabilities

    Iran is shifting a key part of the war to the sea, where its conventional naval power is far weaker than that of the United States but where it still retains enough tools to disrupt global energy traffic. In the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil, attacks on merchant shipping, the threat of mines and the use of fast boats and coastal missiles have raised the cost and complexity of any escort operation.

  • Friday, March 13th 2026 - 04:34 UTC

    U.S. temporarily allows sales of Russian oil already loaded on tankers to ease energy pressure

    The conflict in the Middle East had entered a broader regional phase and that pressure on energy infrastructure had again pushed oil above $100 a barrel.

    The United States has temporarily authorized the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products already loaded on tankers, in a limited easing of sanctions adopted as global energy prices rise because of the Middle East war. The measure was announced by the Treasury Department and will remain in force until April 11.