Uruguay

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 02:30 UTC

  First gay couple, Sergio and Rodolfo officially married in Uruguay

  

  The first gay couple to register to marry in Uruguay when a new equal marriage law took effect on 5 August, have married as gay rights activists celebrate in the country. Sergio Miranda and Rodrigo Borda married in Montevideo last Thursday accompanied by 30 friends and family, US Ambassador Julissa Reynoso and around a hundred members of the media.

• Friday, August 23rd 2013 - 03:47 UTC

  Uruguay closer to ALBA than to the Pacific Alliance says foreign minister

  

  Uruguay is closer to joining the Bolivarian alliance for the Americas, (ALBA) than the Pacific Alliance said Uruguayan foreign minister Luis Almagro to a packed audience with government officials, local businesspeople and diplomats. He also argued that the ‘tail wind’ that has been so favourable for Latinamerica ‘was over two years ago”.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 01:35 UTC

  Uruguay Vice-president concerned Royal Bank of Canada is leaving the country

  

  Vice-president Danilo Astori said he was surprised at the way events unfolded ending with the decision from the Royal Bank of Canada of leaving Uruguay, but also concerned about the international impact of such a move, triggered by a ‘disorderly’ raid in its offices.

• Tuesday, August 20th 2013 - 01:47 UTC

  Uruguay has become one of the most expensive countries in the region

  

  Uruguay has become one of the dearest countries in the region taking into account prices of goods and services according to a survey in eleven cities done by the Group of Newspapers from the Americas, (GDA) a network of the main dailies in the continent.

• Monday, August 19th 2013 - 13:23 UTC

  Mercosur ‘remains a fiction’ admits Uruguayan foreign minister

  

  Mercosur as an only market ‘remains a fiction’ since it is missing the effective implementation and ironing out of trade and macroeconomic reforms, said Uruguayan foreign minister Luis Almagro, who went on to promote “double and triple membership” for Mercosur members.

• Monday, August 19th 2013 - 13:12 UTC

  Uruguay calls on Mercosur to sign a free trade agreement with United States

  

  Uruguayan Vice-President Danilo Astori said Mercosur must decisively address the signing of a free trade agreement with the United States, but also admits that “opportunities must be built”.

• Friday, August 16th 2013 - 18:00 UTC

  Canadian bank abandons Uruguay following raid on its office on request from Argentine judge

  

  The Royal Bank of Canada, RBC, is abandoning Uruguay following a raid in its offices at Zonamerica ordered by a Uruguayan magistrate on request from Argentina during which computers, documents on clients and even cell phones from staff were seized by the intervening party which included on-watching Argentine treasury police.

• Friday, August 16th 2013 - 02:57 UTC

  Paraguay new president pledges ‘war on poverty’ and improved relations with neighbours

  

  Conservative businessman Horacio Cartes was sworn in as president of Paraguay on Thursday, amid slowly improving relations with South American neighbors, and Mercosur members, damaged by the 2012 removal of populist President Fernando Lugo, who was impeached on incompetence.

• Thursday, August 15th 2013 - 03:51 UTC

  Mercosur controversy, Cartes main challenge when he takes office on Thursday

  

  Most presidents and top authorities that will attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes on Thursday morning arrived in Asunción on Wednesday and most of them have already held private meetings with the future leader of the country.

• Tuesday, August 13th 2013 - 02:14 UTC

  Uruguay announces on-shore oil “scientific confirmation” but with no commercial certainty

  

  The Uruguayan government announced the discovery of free hydrocarbons liquids in core samples next to source rocks in the northern county of Salto at a depth of 450 metres, which seems to be similar to another discovery two years ago.