#mercosur brazil

[dolceminerva97]

hetalia OC lineup part 1: ✨Mercosur✨

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Argentina’s Milei a no-show at Mercosur meeting in Asunción

Leaders and representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay are gathering today for the 64th Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associated States in Asunción, Paraguay. The event takes place amid diplomatic and political tensions, underscored by the absence of President Javier Milei of Argentina, marking a rare occurrence considering the event’s 33-year history.

On his first official trip to Brazil this weekend, Mr. Milei declined a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, instead adding a brief stop at the right-wing Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where met with former President Jair Bolsonaro.

In today’s summit, the far-right libertarian leader will be represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Diana Mondino. She is expected to meet with presidents of Mercosur member states to discuss Argentina’s severe economic crisis.

On Sunday, alongside her fellow ministers, Ms. Mondino advocated for “greater economic flexibility” within the region, asserting that the bloc needs a “shock of adrenaline” to advance in regional trade.

Continue reading.

[emi-sos-ko]

A birthday present for @renah. Hope you have a great day!

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez attending the 62nd Summit of Mercosur and Associated States in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, 4 July 2023

[thoughtlessarse]

This week Brazil deposited its instrument of ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and Palestine, which means the treaty is to come into force, between Brazil and the Palestine Administration, in thirty days. The instrument was deposited at last moment to Mercosur member Paraguay on July 3, when this country was still chair of the South American trade block. The information was released by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations. The following day the rotating presidency of Mercosur was handed to Uruguay. Since Palestine had deposited its own ratification on April 30, the agreement will now come into force between the two countries. For the other Mercosur members – Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay – the instrument will only come into force thirty days following the receipts of their own ratification deposits, when and if they occur. In Argentina, president Javier Milei is clearly aligned with Israel and in Uruguay a general elections will be held next October and the Israel/Palestine conflict is highly sensitive. The agreement between Palestine and Mercosur was signed on December 20, 2011, (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay under governments at the time sympathizers with Palestine). According to the Brazilian ministry, it is a goods market opening agreement, with a further-developments clause on potential understandings down the road on accessing services and investment markets.

continue reading

[head-post]

Macron to visit Brazil as Mercosur trade talks stalemate

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Brazil from 26-28 March, his office said on Tuesday, POLITICO reports.

Macron accepted the invitation from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last October, after a tense relationship in which Lula disagreed with his hard line on trade and even complained about the food he was served at a banquet in Paris organised by the French president.

The visit comes at a time when the European Union is trying to finalise a trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc of countries. France is the EU country most strongly opposed to the agreement, making significant progress on Macron’s trip unlikely, although he is expected to visit Brazil with a large business delegation.

As farmer protests have swept across Europe, Macron has tried to block negotiations on a trade deal with Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, to the point of directly intervening with European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in January and demanding that she freeze the talks.

Read more HERE

[crepegosette]

can we see more of your paraguay? he looks like a nice dude!

behold, the chillest guy of mercosur

also here's a scribble ft brazil and argentina (triple frontera refers to the tri-border area at iguazu falls, a popular destination in south america)

[zvaigzdelasas]

“Possibly, in this meeting, we can already consensually decide which new countries can join BRICS,” Lula told international journalists in the capital, Brasilia. “I am of the opinion that as many countries want to enter, if they are in compliance with the rules we are establishing, we will accept the countries’ entrance.”

Lula’s comments came hours after Reuters reported that Brazil has resisted expanding the group’s membership. It quoted unidentified Brazilian diplomats as voicing concern that adding more nations could lessen the influence of the existing members.[...]

He has rejected the U.S. and EU’s shared position of supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, refusing to provide arms to Ukranian forces and pushing for peace talks to bring the war to an end. He has called for an end to the dominance of the U.S. dollar in international trade and supported a common currency for commerce within the South American bloc Mercosur and for trade among BRICS nations. He has also taken swipes at the International Monetary Fund. Lula repeated those positions Wednesday. “Why does Brazil need the dollar to trade with China or Agentina? We can trade in our currency,” he said.

He went on to hail the prospects of the Chinese-backed New Development Bank, commonly known as the BRICS bank, which is funding infrastructure projects in Brazil and elsewhere in the developing world.

“The BRICS bank must be effective and more generous than the IMF. Which is to say, the bank exists to help save countries and not to help sink countries, which is what the IMF does many times,” he said.

Lula also criticized the U.N. Security Council, saying its members have been responsible for starting wars despite the body’s stated mission of maintaining peace and security. Brazil has been seeking a permanent seat on the council for decades.

2 Aug 23

[ms-lirio]

i love may she’s so pretty 💛🤏

i was wondering what’s her relationship with her neighbours? i know u have an oc for argentina (i’m not sure if the oficial one it’s the boy or the girl version tho) but idk if u have ocs for the other countries so sorry if the question it’s too much(?

Oh my, thank you so much! I am glad you like my girl 🇧🇷💞🥺

The canonical Argentina of my universe is Elvira (her nickname is Eva/Evita thanks to a mutual of mine) and I belive they have the best developed relationship from all my OCs.

Elvira and May are rivals and besties and yet they share some interest for each other 🤭 but they're not in a relationship. None of my characters are canonically in a relationship.

I just draw Diego/Nyo!Arg and Mayara for fun cuz he has a super silly dynamic with May, which I find fun to work with. But Diego is canonically from Kauã's (nyo!Brazil) universe. They have a totally different dynamic from May and Eva. They're just stupid fanatic football heads lol sorta... bromates. 😆

However, I like drawing my friend's Argentina OCs interacting with May. Personally; I like the different dynamics they can have.

There is a phrase made by an Argentine sociologist to describe their relations: "Argentines hate to love Brazil and Brazilians love to hate Argentina", which I find so funny. I disagree to agree. But I think they both hate loving each other and love hating each other.

I call their relationship "o Samba e o Tango". Thanks to this music ❤

Argentina and Brazil had a troubled past of historical conflicts and regional rivalry. And they're still rivals to this day, mostly in sports, mainly in football. Aha. But also Argentina was the 1st country to recognize the Brazilian Republic (I am not saying it was good or not, this is a fact) and during the visit of the President of Argentina to Brazil (1899), I like to think Mayara took Elvira to the Jardim Botânico of Rio de Janeiro. And they shared a nice girly time. 🥰

Also, I remember reading a funny article saying that Brazil and Argentina act like a divorced couple and it made me laugh for days.

Mayara and Elvira: (based ladies)

KAUÃ AND DIEGO BE LIKE: chaotic creatures

I do have a Paraguay and Uruguay OCs too, which are important for telling May's lore. But I haven't studied enough and further of these countries for elaborating more of them; neither I am satisfied with their designs. They had very complicated moments with Brazil.

I may work on them in the future because they're important pieces to the story. And also, Mercosur/Mercosul gang. 😎👍

I used to have a Colombia and Venezuela OCs, but I don't use them anymore.

SPOILER ALERT

I have a Chile OC too (I showed him already in two drawings)! I desire to write and draw a minicomic of Chile and Brazil. Based on a historical event named the "Last Ball of the Brazilian Empire". Yes, they had interactions together too.

Trivia: I do have a Peru OC. But she never made an official appearance on here, aha.

⚠️ My HC is that May has a complex of big sister towards the other South American countries. She enjoys taking the leadership of things. And she enjoys helping when she can. But I don't think that the other South Americans got this same vision of her. Let's also remember that due to idiom barriers, May is kinda isolated. So, idk. It is sad, aha. May is not always aware of the other Hispanic countries' stuff, for example. She may feel distant from them, to the point she doesn't even consider herself a "Latina" sometimes (will elaborate on this in the future). But she tries her best to approach them, due to her leadership complex. It is too complicated to explain.

EXTRA: beyond borders of South America:

I don't have an OC for Mexico, but I would like to use a Mexico OC to interact with Brazil. They had some interesting interactions during their times as Brazilian Empire and Mexican Empire.

(If you got a nice Mexico oc, tell me—)

About Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica : Link

[beardedmrbean]

French farming unions are taking aim at the European Union’s free-trade agreements, which they say open the door to unfair competition from products arriving from overseas. At a time when the EU is urging farmers to adopt more sustainable – and sometimes more costly – agricultural practices, unions say these trade deals are making it hard for them to stay solvent.

French farmers say that one of their biggest fears is that Chilean apples, Brazilian grains and Canadian beef will flood the European market, thereby undermining their livelihoods. France’s farmers continued to demonstrate on the country’s motorways on Wednesday, protesting against rising costs, over-regulation and free-trade agreements –partnerships between the EU and exporting nations that the farming unions say leads to unfair competition. 

The EU has signed several free-trade agreements in recent years, all with the objective of facilitating the movement of goods and services. But farmers say the deals bring with them insurmountable challenges.

"These agreements aim to reduce customs duties, with maximum quotas for certain agricultural products and non-tariff barriers," said Elvire Fabry, senior researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute, a French think-tank dedicated to European affairs. "They also have an increasingly broad regulatory scope to promote European standards for investment, protection of intellectual property, geographical indications and sustainable development standards."

South American trade deal in the crosshairs

Some non-EU countries – such as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland – maintain comprehensive free-trade agreements with the EU because they are part of the European Economic Area. This allows them to benefit from the free movement of goods, services, capital and people.

Other nations farther afield have signed more variable agreements with the EU, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and Ukraine. The EU also recently signed an accord with Kenya and a deal with New Zealand that will come into force this year; negotiations are also under way with India and Australia.    

However, a draft agreement between the EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur is creating the most concern. Under discussion since the 1990s, this trade partnership between Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay would create the world's largest free-trade area, a market encompassing 780 million people. 

French farmers are particularly concerned about the deal’s possible effect on agriculture. The most recent version of the text introduces quotas for Mercosur countries to export 99,000 tonnes of beef, 100,000 tonnes of poultry and 180,000 tonnes of sugar per year, with little or no customs duties imposed. In exchange, duties would also be lowered on exports from the EU on many “protected designation of origin” (PDO) products. 

At a time when the EU is urging farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices, French unions say these agreements would open the door to massive imports – at more competitive prices – of products that do not meet the same environmental standards as those originating in Europe. French farmers are calling out what they say is unfair competition from farmers in South America who can grow GMO crops and use growth-promoting antibiotics on livestock, which is banned in the EU. 

Trade unions from various sectors went into action after the European Commission informed them on January 24 that negotiations with Mercosur could be concluded "before the end of this mandate", i.e., before the European Parliament elections in June.      

The FNSEA, France’s biggest farming union, immediately called for a "clear rejection of free-trade agreements" while the pro-environmental farming group Confédération Paysanne (Farmers' Confederation) called for an "immediate end to negotiations" on this type of agreement.   

A mixed record

"In reality, the impact of these free-trade agreements varies from sector to sector," said Fabry. "Negotiations prior to agreements aim to calibrate the opening up of trade to limit the negative impact on the most exposed sectors. And, at the same time, these sectors can benefit from other agreements. In the end, it's a question of finding an overall balance."

This disparity is glaringly obvious in the agricultural sector. "The wine and spirits industry as well as the dairy industry stand to gain more than livestock farmers, for example," said Fabry. These sectors are the main beneficiaries of free-trade agreements, according to a 2023 report by the French National Assembly.

"The existence of trade agreements that allow customs duty differentials to be eliminated is an 'over-determining factor' in the competitiveness of French wines," wrote FranceAgriMer, a national establishment for agriculture and maritime products under the authority of the French ministry of agriculture in a 2021 report. The majority of free-trade agreements lower or abolish customs duties to allow the export of many PDO products, a category to which many wines belong.

However, the impact on meat is less clear-cut. While FranceAgriMer says the balance between imports and exports appears to be in the EU's favour for pork, poultry exports seem to be declining as a result of the agreements. Hence the fears over the planned treaty with New Zealand, which provides for 36,000 tonnes of mutton to be imported into the EU, equivalent to 45% of French production in 2022. France,however, still has a large surplus of grains except for soya. 

‘A bargaining chip’

Beyond the impact on agriculture, "this debate on free-trade agreements must take into account other issues", said Fabry. "We are in a situation where the EU is seeking to secure its supplies and in particular its supplies of strategic minerals. Brazil's lithium, cobalt, graphite and other resource reserves should not be overlooked."

The agreement with Chile should enable strategic minerals to be exported in exchange for agricultural products. Germany strongly supports the agreement with Mercosur, as it sees it as an outlet for its industrial sectors, according to Fabry.

"In virtually all free-trade agreements, agriculture is always used as a bargaining chip in exchange for selling cars or Airbus planes," Véronique Marchesseau, general-secretary of the Confédération Paysanne, told AFP.

Michèle Boudoin, president of the French National Sheep Federation, told AFP that the agreement with New Zealand will "destabilise the lamb market in France".  

"We know that Germany needs to export its cars, that France needs to sell its wheat, and we're told that we need an ally in the Pacific tocounter China and Russia. But if that is the case, then we need help to be able to produce top-of-the-line lamb, for example," she said.

Finally, "there is a question of influence", said Fabry. "These agreements also remain a way for the EU to promote its environmental standards to lead its partners along the path of ecological transition, even if this has to be negotiated," said Fabry. 

Marc Fesneau, the French minister of agriculture, made the same argument. "In most cases, the agreements have been beneficial, including to French agriculture," Fesneau wrote on X last week, adding: "They will be even more so if we ensure that our standards are respected."

Mercosur negotiations suspended? 

As the farmers’ promised “siege” of Paris and other major locations across France continues, the French government has been trying to reassure agricultural workers about Mercosur, even though President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva relaunched negotiations in December. "France is clearly opposed to the signing of the Mercosur treaty," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal acknowledged last week.

The Élysée Palace even said on Monday evening that EU negotiations with the South American bloc had been suspended because of France's opposition to the treaty. The conditions are "not ripe" for concluding the negotiations, said Eric Mamer, spokesman for the European Commission. "However, discussions are ongoing." 

Before being adopted, the agreement would have to be passed unanimously by the European Parliament, then ratified individually by the 27 EU member states.

[newstfionline]

Monday, July 8, 2024

Political unrest worldwide is often fueled by high prices and huge debts (NYT) Like a globe-spanning tornado that touches down with little predictability, deep economic anxieties are leaving a trail of political turmoil and violence across poor and rich countries alike. In Kenya, a nation buckling under debt, protests over a proposed tax increase last week resulted in dozens of deaths, abductions of demonstrators and a partly scorched Parliament. At the same time in Bolivia, where residents have lined up for gas because of shortages, a military general led a failed coup attempt, saying the president, a former economist, must “stop impoverishing our country,” just before an armored truck rammed into the presidential palace. And in France, after months of road blockades by farmers angry over low wages and rising costs, the far-right party surged in support in the first round of snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, bringing its long-taboo brand of nationalist and anti-immigrant politics to the threshold of power. The causes, context and conditions underlying these disruptions vary widely from country to country. But a common thread is clear: rising inequality, diminished purchasing power and growing anxiety that the next generation will be worse off than this one.

Texas coastal residents told to expect power outages, flooding as Beryl moves closer to landfall (AP) Beryl began lashing Texas with rain and intensifying winds Sunday as coastal residents boarded up windows, left beach towns under evacuation orders and prepared for the powerful storm that has already cut a deadly path through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. Although Beryl remained a tropical storm Sunday as it churned toward Texas, forecasters expected it to regain hurricane strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall early Monday. The storm was projected to come ashore near the small coastal town of Matagorda, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Houston, but officials cautioned the path could still change. Texas officials warned the storm would cause power outages and flooding.

Argentine President Milei heads to CPAC in Brazil, snubbing Lula and escalating a political feud (AP) Given the choice between a far-right convention to bash his enemies and a presidential summit to discuss regional trade policy, Argentine President Javier Milei preferred the stadium packed with cheering fans. The libertarian leader was in Brazil on Sunday, preparing to headline the country’s version of CPAC, the conservative political action conference, alongside former President Javier Bolsonaro in Brazil’s southern city of Balneario Camboriu. In skipping the Mercosur trade bloc summit in Paraguay and sidling up to Bolsonaro just days after federal police indicted the right-wing populist in a scheme to embezzle Saudi diamonds, Milei delivered another harsh rebuke to Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, escalating a risky feud with his country’s biggest trading partner.

French leftists win most seats in legislative elections, beating back far-right surge, pollsters say (AP) A coalition of the French left that quickly banded together to beat a surging far right in legislative elections won the most seats in parliament but not a majority, according to polling projections Sunday, a stunning outcome that threatens to plunge the country into political and economic turmoil. The projections put President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance in second, no longer in control of parliament, and the bruised far right in third. With no bloc securing a clear majority, France faces uncertainty that could rattle markets and its economy, the European Union’s second-largest, and cast a shadow of political instability over the Paris Olympics opening in less than three weeks. Final results are not expected until late Sunday or early Monday in the highly volatile snap election that redrew the political map of France even before votes were cast.

In Ukraine, Killings of Surrendering Russians Divide an American-Led Unit (NYT) Hours after a battle in eastern Ukraine in August, a wounded and unarmed Russian soldier crawled through a nearly destroyed trench, seeking help from his captors, a unit of international volunteers led by an American. Caspar Grosse, a German medic in that unit, said he saw the soldier plead for medical attention in a mix of broken English and Russian. It was dusk. A team member looked for bandages. That is when, Mr. Grosse said, a fellow soldier hobbled over and fired his weapon into the Russian soldier’s torso. He slumped, still breathing. Another soldier fired — “just shot him in the head,” Mr. Grosse recalled in an interview. Mr. Grosse said he was so upset by the episode that he confronted his commander. He said he spoke to The New York Times after what he regarded as unwarranted killings continued. It is highly unusual for a soldier to speak publicly about battlefield conduct, particularly involving men whom he still considers friends. But he said he was too troubled to keep silent. The shooting of the unarmed, wounded Russian soldier is one of several killings that have unsettled the Chosen Company, one of the best-known units of international troops fighting on behalf of Ukraine.

Heavy rains trigger landslides in Nepal, 11 killed, 8 missing (Reuters) Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods killing at least 11 people in the last 36 hours in Nepal and blocking key highways and roads, officials said on Sunday. Eight people were missing, either washed away by floods or buried in landslides, while 12 others were injured and being treated in hospitals, police spokesperson Dan Bahadur Karki said. At least 50 people across Nepal have died in landslides, floods and lightning strikes since mid-June when annual monsoon rains started. Hundreds of people die every year in landslides and flash floods that are common in mostly mountainous Nepal during the monsoon season which normally starts in mid-June and continues through mid-September.

In Rafah, We Saw Destruction and the Limits of Israel’s Gaza Strategy (NYT) The armed convoy of jeeps filled with reporters rumbled into a dusty Rafah, passing flattened houses and battered apartment buildings. As we dismounted our Humvees, a stillness gripped this swath of southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt. Slabs of concrete and twisted rebar dotted the scarred landscape. Kittens darted through the wreckage. Streets once bustling with life were now a maze of rubble. Everyone was gone. More than a million people have fled to avoid an Israeli onslaught that began two months ago. Many have been displaced repeatedly and now live in tent cities that stretch for miles, where they face an uncertain future as they mourn the loss of loved ones. As Israel says it is winding down its operation against Hamas in Rafah, the Israeli military invited foreign journalists into the city on a supervised visit. The military says that it has fought with precision and restraint against Hamas fighters embedded in civilian areas. But the death, destruction and mass displacement of civilians have left Israel increasingly isolated diplomatically.

An overview of Israel’s widening conflict (Bloomberg) Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful militant group in Lebanon, are lurching closer to all-out war even as Israel dispatches its intelligence chief to Qatar for talks after Hamas signaled broad agreement with a US plan for a cease-fire in Gaza. To the north, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the US sees a grim “momentum” toward a wider war. Tensions rose as Israel killed a senior Hezbollah in an airstrike in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah responded by launching more than 200 missiles and a swarm of drones at Israel. In Gaza, even amid the possible progress on a cease-fire, Israel ordered Palestinians to evacuate parts of Khan Younis, underscoring its struggle to stop Hamas from regrouping in areas that it previously attacked. And the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed there since the war began.

Sahel States Form New Alliance, Break from ECOWAS, Align with Russia in Major Regional Shift (Daily Briefs) Military juntas from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), distancing themselves from ECOWAS and aligning with Russia. The new alliance aims to bolster regional cooperation and establish a joint investment bank, amid postponed elections and ongoing terrorist threats. The alliance, led by coup-installed leaders, accused ECOWAS of being influenced by France and postponed elections.

Kenya’s dramatic flooding sweeps away a central part of the economy: Its farms (AP) With dismay, Martha Waema and her husband surveyed their farm that was submerged by weeks of relentless rainfall across Kenya. Water levels would rise to shoulder height after only a night of heavy downpour. The couple had expected a return of 200,000 shillings ($1,500) from their three acres after investing 80,000 shillings ($613) in maize, peas, cabbages, tomatoes and kale. But their hopes have been uprooted and destroyed. “I have been farming for 38 years, but I have never encountered losses of this magnitude,” said the 62-year-old mother of 10. The rains that started in mid-March have posed immediate dangers and left others to come. They have killed nearly 300 people, left dams at historically high levels and led the government to order residents to evacuate flood-prone areas—and bulldoze the homes of those who don’t. Now a food security crisis lies ahead, along with even higher prices in a country whose president had sought to make agriculture an even greater engine of the economy.

Students Target Teachers in Group TikTok Attack, Shaking Their School (NYT) In February, Patrice Motz, a veteran Spanish teacher at Great Valley Middle School in Malvern, Pa., was warned by another teacher that trouble was brewing. Some eighth graders at her public school had set up fake TikTok accounts impersonating teachers. Ms. Motz, who had never used TikTok, created an account. She found a fake profile for @patrice.motz, which had posted a real photo of her at the beach with her husband and their young children. “Do you like to touch kids?” a text in Spanish over the family vacation photo asked. “Answer: Sí.” In the days that followed, some 20 educators—about one quarter of the school’s faculty—discovered they were victims of fake teacher accounts rife with pedophilia innuendo, racist memes, homophobia and made-up sexual hookups among teachers. Hundreds of students soon viewed, followed or commented on the fraudulent accounts. In the aftermath, the school district briefly suspended several students, teachers said. The principal during one lunch period chastised the eighth-grade class for its behavior. The biggest fallout has been for teachers like Ms. Motz, who said she felt “kicked in the stomach” that students would so casually savage teachers’ families. The online harassment has left some teachers worried that social media platforms are helping to stunt the growth of empathy in students. Some teachers are now hesitant to call out pupils who act up in class. Others said it had been challenging to keep teaching.

[dolceminerva97]

Do you plan on drawing more of your South American country ocs like Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, etc.?

Or are you going to mostly still focus on drawing Argentina? Either way I love your work 💖

Hi!! Thank you for your message 💗

The answer is yes to both. You'll see my South American ocs again certainly, but I would say Argentina is the main character of my worldbuilding, and everyone else is the supporting cast. Every single one of my characters, in some way or another, revolve around Tina's story.

Argentina will always be my focus because she's the most intricately researched and developed character I have (obviously, because I am Argentinian) and I have a lifetime worth of ideas for illustrations, comics and stories about her. But there are some other characters that are important enough to me that I want to research and flesh them out on their own, and not only relative to Argentina: these would be Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

However, researching a country is a huge task! I have to learn their history from their perspective, and also from outsider perspectives to understand how they see themselves and what role they play in the world and in their regions, what their biases and priorities are. My attention is all over the place so I only have brief moments of research hyperfixation before I drift back to Argentina 😂

I would say my main characters are Argentina, then Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay and my main focus is on the interpersonal relationships they have between each other.

...Actually, I'm lying. My main focus is UKArg, but that's because their relationship ties to so many of Agustina's major character arcs and historical events and it shapes her so strongly that I can't escape it lol. But after UKArg, my priority is the Mercosur quartet.

On a different level, but with the same amount of importance, there's Islas Malvinas 🇫🇰 and her intricate relationship with Argentina. That's a whole another story on its own.

Besides that, there's the argentine province ocs and their relationship to the Nation, since their contributions also play a key role in Agustina's character development. My main focus in that area are Buenos Aires and Mendoza.

Unfortunately, some characters will end up being relegated. They have little to no development on their own, and they serve as "guest appearances" when I need them for specific scenarios in Argentina's stories. This is the case of Perú, Bolivia and Chile. Besides very brief superficial research, I don't have any plan to develop them individually for the time being.

Sorry for all the unnecessary rambling, I just typed my spontaneous train of thought 😂

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Lula trashes EU side letter, says WTO "ended"

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday called an EU-proposed side letter to the free trade agreement with Mercosur a “threat,” said the World Trade Organization (WTO) has “ended,” and renewed calls for new international institutions and reform of those mostly designed by Western powers in the 1940s, such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.

At the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, Lula said trade agreements must be “fairer.”

“I’m dying to make a deal with the European Union. But it is not possible”, he said, referring to the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade agreement. Earlier this year, EU negotiators presented a side letter that allows for sanctions if countries fail to meet environmental commitments under the Paris Agreement. Mercosur members are expected to present a counter-proposal in the coming weeks, with the aim of signing the agreement by the end of the year.

Lula added that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has “ended.” The last round of WTO-led negotiations, the Doha Round, began in 2001 and was never completed.

Continue reading.

[messiology]

argentina’s economy minister saying uruguay is the little brother of mercosur and that argentina and brazil have the responsability of taking care of them jasjajsdjaj we’re never beating the hetalia’s braarg allegations 

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez at the 62nd Summit of Mercosur and Associated States in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, 4 July 2023

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Been seeing lately a lot of memes about Argentina’s messed up economy. How’s Uruguay doing? Idk how influenced y’all are by your neighbor’s circumstances.

Hi!! And thanks for the concern :D

It's not very easy to answer because for my own sanity, I'm not knee deep in the news. What I can tell you is this:

The Argentinian economy has been in some form of free fall/broken parachute for several years now; it was with 2020 that things got very serious.

The Uruguayan economy, like many other things, used to be closely tied to that of its next door neighbours till about 2003-2004, where the 2001-2002 crisis was such a horrible thing there was a silent agreement across the political lines to cut as many ties of dependence as physically possible in order to avoid sinking the next time. Which, kudos to them (not that we are absolute winners in this; we just, for example, depend a whole lot on China. Which isn't an ideal situation. The ideal would be to be tied to the region. But as MERCOSUR goes, Argentina and Brazil play only for themselves, and in the case of the former, they don't even play well.)

Right now we are of course still a Latin American country, and still on the aftermath of the pandemic, with a long drought on top which "ended" in March, but is still a problem (the fields are getting some water, but in MVD the running water is starting to get brackish because the source is not recovering fast enough to keep up). We could be better, we could be worse.

Comparatively speaking? Uruguay has been getting more and more immigrants since the late 2010s, from Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Cuba, and recently, Argentina. Criminality has gone up and down several times in the past 3 years. The dollar, thanks to decent management and the American inflation, stays around 38 to 40 Uruguayan pesos per dollar. The Argentinian peso is worth about 0.20 Uruguayan peso. Politically the government is stable, and the population as a whole is moderately satisfied as things go.

What is affecting us now more specifically of the Argentinian situation is commerce on the borders. Long standing custom is that on the Argentinian and Brazilian borders there's usually a level of free trade and downright smuggling going on, that, depending on exchange rate, availability, etc, sometimes benefits Uruguay, sometimes the neighbors, it's a bit of a back and forth. But now the exchange rate is so advantageous on the Argentinian side for Uruguayans, that it's creating serious issues for shops on this side of the border; government is now considering a zero kilo decree (so that Uruguayans cannot cross the border back from Argentina with anything over a kilo in products purchased on the other side) or something similar.

We are fine. Just fine. Will most likely be fine whatever happens on the other side. But it worries me sometimes because I have good friends in Argentina I care about, and whom I miss a lot and because of mostly these economic and restlessness reasons, I have been unable to see in a while.