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[Translation of an article from Carta Maior of Brazil for May 3, 2013.  See original here.]

By Marcel Gomes

Rio de Janeiro – The strengthening of relations between Brazil and Venezuela during the administrations of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chávez will allow Brasilia and Caracas to maintain close political and economic ties, even after the death of the Venezuelan.

Those who hold this view are supported by the high degree of institutionalization of the bilateral relations. The new president, Nicolás Maduro, has at his disposal UNASUR (Unión de Naciones Suramericanas – Union of South American Nations) and MERCOSUR (Mercado Común del Sur – Southern Common Market), energy projects, local branches of IPEA (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada – Institute of Applied Economic Research), EMBRAPA (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária – Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) and Caixa (Caixa Econômica Federal – Brazilian publicly owned bank), as well as a commercial exchange that has jumped from 800 million US dollars to six billion reais [about three billion dollars] in a decade – 80 percent of it, keep in mind, to Brazil’s benefit. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Brecha of Montevideo, Uruguay, for December 28.  See original here.]

The United Nations Security Council resolved and Uruguay approved the extension of MINUSTAH in the Caribbean country.  The executive’s resolution, approved by the parliament, brought about discontent in the ranks of the frenteamplistas because, in addition to other factors, the law does not take into account the UNASUR decision to reduce the number of soldiers.  The FA [Frente Amplio] is proposing to debate the country’s participation in peace missions next year as well as the overall role of the armed forces and possible accords with the United States.

The Chamber of Deputies yesterday gave final approval to the law that extends the presence of Uruguayan military forces in Haiti.  The text submitted by the executive branch, which at the outset could count on unanimous approval by the Senate, says in its main paragraphs that, considering “the request by the Haitian government to extend the MINUSTAH mandate and United Nations Security Council resolution 2070, which calls for the extension, our country, as a promoter of peace and the strengthening of cooperation among countries, in accordance with international law, deems it appropriate to continue our participation in MINUSTAH.”  So the Uruguayan contingent will stay in the Caribbean country for another year.  And as has always happened in the eight years the troops have been in Haiti, the PE’s [the executive branch's] decision brought on debate within the Frente Amplio [the governing coalition of parties], although the different positions were accommodated through party discipline. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Clarín of Santiago, Chile, for June 25. See original here and related articles here and here.]

by Guillermo Almeyra

The conspiracy against the Paraguayan president, former bishop Fernando Lugo, began the day he won the presidential election, since he could only assume office thanks to a popular mobilization. Without a party of his own, without a parliamentary caucus of any importance to back him, with a vast but dispersed and disorganized supportive base in the peasantry, forced to face opposition in the hierarchy of his own church, he has always depended on a fragile alliance with the party of Vice President Federico Franco, the Liberal Radical party, which is extremely conservative and represents a sector of the landowners.

Partisans of the Stroessner dictatorship, meanwhile, were and still are embedded in the public administration, the police forces, the so-called justice system and the Supreme Court. Lugo tried too late to form a party/front, the Frente Guasú (“broad” in Guaraní), which is just now taking its first steps and is far from being homogeneous. But all the Paraguayan Rights, backed in the shadows by the United States, wanted to leave no room for the center-left to organize and to try to hold on to power, even though there is more than a year to go before the end of Lugo’s term and ten months before the elections, in which in any case the president cannot be re-elected. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El País of Montevideo, Uruguay, for September 8. See original here.]

The defense ministers who met today in Montevideo have agreed to a gradual withdrawal of blue helmets deployed in Haiti. The intention is to reduce the personnel to the level that existed before the earthquake of 2010, when there were 9,000 military and police personnel in the country.

In a press conference, Foreign Minister Luis Almagro read a joint statement by Unasur (Unión de Naciones Suramericanas) that “recommends supporting the United Nations in the reduction of troops to the levels authorized before the earthquake without damaging the stability and security of the country.” (more…)