
Uruguay ratified on Thursday its willingness to transfer the Mercosur presidency to Venezuela despite objections from the other members, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. In a brief statement in its official site, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Uruguay, currently holding the Mercosur pro tempore chair reiterates its position to proceed to transfer the presidency, in abidance with what is established by the current Mercosur rules.

The deep differences among Mercosur members as to who should hold the group's rotating chair this second half of the year surfaced openly in Montevideo with the surprise visit of Brazilian foreign minister Jose Serra and ex president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The Brazilin delegation formally requested Uruguay, which currently holds the six/month Mercosur chair to suspend the transfer to Venezuela until at least August.

Mercosur is again split over Venezuela because Paraguay, and apparently Brazil, have not been consulted regarding the decision to hand the pro tempore presidency of the block to Venezuela in July, as was agreed in Montevideo by Uruguay and Argentina.

Brazilian interim president Michel Temer will be absent from the next Mercosur summit scheduled to take place in Montevideo, and this decision is considered a strong message to the Venezuelan government of president Nicolas Maduro that will be taking the group's chair for the next six months.

United Kingdom´s Leave victory did not come as a great surprise, since the race was too tight, but that was the decision of the people and the economy is large and strong, admitted British ambassador in Uruguay, Ben Lyster-Binns, in a television interview.

Donald Trump has fired his hard-charging campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, in a dramatic shake-up designed to calm panicked Republican leaders and reverse one of the most tumultuous stretches of Trump's unconventional White House bid.

Uruguay will hand over the chair of Mercosur to Venezuela at the end of July, as indicated by the organization's calendar, and does not support the implementation of the Democratic clause against the government of president Nicolas Maduro, as sponsored by OAS secretary general, Luis Almagro a former Uruguayan foreign minister.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte will travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, May 31-June 2 to lead the United States delegation at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Americas Regional Meeting.

At a breakfast at the residence of Ambassador Ben Lyster-Binns on May 25th, the British Embassy in Montevideo and the Rural Association of Uruguay (ARU) presented the proposal for the British Pavilion at Expo Prado 2016. Representatives of several companies that have ties with the UK, many of which already formed part of the pavilion in 2015 and 2014, attended the event.

Maersk Lines, one of the world's leading shipping line has announced it won't be operating any longer in the port of Montevideo, Uruguay, because of logistic problems with the operations of its vessels.