Last week, Bolivian President, Evo Morales, met with the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Spain, Jesus Manuel Gracia, to negotiate the agreement. Talks between the Bolivian authorities, Spanish entrepreneurs and representatives lasted three days.

Morales decision to nationalize the electricity company surprised the Spaniards, who threatened to retaliate against the measure. In the last days however, the Bolivian foreign minister tried to minimize the tension.

On Feb. 1, Morales announced the nationalization of TDE. He said the decision was made due to low investment in the expansion of the National Interconnected System (SIN) of the energy supply in the country, and because it is government policy to recover the strategic enterprises that were privatized in the 1990s.

The announcement was made last Wednesday by the Colombian government with the publication of a statement due to the official visit of President Juan Manuel Santos to Beijing.

The working group will be composed by the economic area staff of the two countries, which will develop, over the next year, a document containing recommendations to guide both governments about the possibilities to start the treaty negotiations.

Beijing is the second largest trade partner of Bogota. According to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, in 2011, trade between the two countries reached US$ 10.16 billion, with China leading exports.

Lugo’s decision was based on a recommendation from the Minister of Finances, who rejected the millionaire budget boost for the Electoral Court.

The decision was not well accepted by some sectors, such as the Colorado Party, who led Paraguay for five decades. The rejection of the Paraguayan Executive regarding the budget expansion request may cause reprisals from the TSJE towards the government in Congress. Although Fernando Lugo claims that such action would be “unwise”, the climate in Parliament is not good for President.

The strategy of Paraguay’s president to avoid further problems in Congress – the government is a minority in the legislative branch since the beginning of his government – is trying to convince the population that his decision is in the country’s best interests, despite contrary opinions from important congressmen and senators.

The court’s president, Victor Nunez, filed a complaint to President Fernando Lugo, so that he would communicate the alleged violation to the international body with urgency.

The controversy began after the Senate declared vacant the positions of seven of the nine ministers of the Court. Judges refused to leave their office and accused the Senate of exceeding its authority.

For Núñez, the decision of the Senate ”has no legal validity” and sets up an institutional situation that “poses a serious threat to democratic legality.”

Senators base their decision on an article of the Constitution that states that judges must be confirmed for two terms to become permanent or irreplaceable, but members of the Court argue that judges are not simply judges but rather Ministers or Justices, and therefore the rule does not apply to them.

Foster said that “from the future’s point of view, Africa constitutes an exceptional new market and there is a great opportunity not only to Petrobras, but for other companies to invest in this new market.”

According to Foster, the company sees potential to increase economic partnership with some African countries in the production of ethanol through the production of cane sugar, which can be carried out as soon as they set the rules of the Regulatory Framework for Oil and Energy.

Today Petrobras operates in seven African countries, and produces about 58,000 barrels per day in Nigeria, two thousand in Angola as well as developing a series of investments related to biofuels production, importation of liquefied natural gas, among others.

The Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Luis Almagro, deems as “too complex” a scenario where Mercosur negociates with the European Union (EU) without the presence of Argentina – an option that Spain is considering – because that “would involve institutional imbalances in the South American bloc.”

Almagro gave this statement, after Argentina’s decision to expropriate 51% of the capital of Spanish controlled oil company YPF.

The Uruguayan foreign minister added that relations between Uruguay and Spain are “very good” and stated  that the two countries have “an excellent framework for cooperation.”

Almagro recalled that he visited Madrid last week, and announced that the Vice President Danilo Astori should travel to the European country in order to meet the new authorities of the Spanish government and “resume the bilateral agenda.”

The Chancellor expects the situation between Spain and Argentina to improve and that they find a path of negotiation between the two nations that Uruguay considered as “sisters.”

The Deputy Paraguayan Minister of Mines and Energy Mercedes Canese said that Paraguay decided to offer energy from the Acaray hydroelectric power to Brazil due to the interest of various agents in Brazil to acquire it.

The dam is located in the Acaray river in the Southeast of the country – near the border with Brazil – and has an installed capacity of 210 megawatts (MW).

Paraguay has offered Acaray energy to Uruguay, but the operation remained stagnant waiting for negotiations with Argentina over the price they charge for being a transit country.

According to Paraguayan authorities, Chile and Bolivia are also potential buyers of the country’s electricity.

The government announced a change in the readjustment calculation for savings accounts.  The new norm is only valid for new savings accounts.  In other words, deposits made after the 4th of May.  The Presidential Decree will be published in the Official Gazette this Friday.

The new rules are as follows:

When the Selic is above 8.5%, the savings account readjustment remains unchanged (0.5%/month over TR – Reference Rate);

When the Selic is less than or equal to 8.5%, savings accounts will be readjusted by 70% of the basic interest rate over TR.

A Presidential Decree is valid for 120, from the day it is published in the Official Gazette.  However, parliamentary recess days do not count towards this total.  It is worth noting that Congress goes into recess on July 18 and returns on August 1.  Thus, the Presidential Decree will complete its 120 days in mid-August.  The trend, therefore, is that the voting on the savings accounts Presidential Decree will be concluded by Congress, without changes, before the parliamentary recess.

To be approved by the House, a Presidential Decree needs at least the support of a simple majority of the House (half of those present), as long as at least 257 representatives (the absolute majority) are present on the House floor.  In the Senate, it requires more than half the votes, as long as at least 41 senators are present (absolute majority).

President Dilma has enough support in the House and Senate to approve the change to the calculations for savings accounts.  Her base in the House adds up to 370 votes, and 61 in the Senate.  Moreover, other factors contribute to the approval of the decree.  Firstly, the government is not altering existing savings accounts.  Secondly, the government, before sending the Presidential Decree to Congress, discussed the measure with parties in the allied base, union representatives and businessmen.  Thirdly, the government efficiently communicated with public opinion.  It placed the change to savings accounts as an essential condition to keep reducing interest rates in the country.

The minister, Harald Beyer, after meeting with President Sebastián Piñera at La Moneda Palace, indicated that the initiative will be processed in Congress urgently.
The proposal establishes a new integrated system for financing higher education, which will be handled by a specialized public agency responsible for its “development, administration and allocation.”

“This, in practical terms means that the funds will come from the state and that banks will cease to finance higher education, both public and private” the minister said.

The proposal was made two days before the resumption of student demonstrations in demand for a state-financed education, with administrative autonomy and quality. Last year the protests took more than a million people to the streets causing the government’s popularity to plunge to 26%.