Latin America

Brazil’s presidential election Sunday is being contested by 11 candidates, but only two stand a chance of reaching a runoff: former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Both are political titans, and eight of 10 Brazilians will vote for one of them, according to pollster Datafolha. …

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday on the anniversary of two devastating temblors, killing at least two people, damaging buildings, knocking out power, and sending residents of Mexico City scrambling outside for safety. Two died in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, authorities said, one crushed by the …

Chileans voted on Sunday to approve or reject a progressive new constitution that would replace its current market-friendly text dating back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. The new text is the result of an agreement reached to quell violent protests against inequality in 2019 and focuses on social rights, the …

Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner escaped unharmed on Thursday after a man fired a loaded gun at her that failed to go off inches from her head. The attack, which the economy minister called an assassination attempt, comes at a time of acute political and social frictions inside …

Government defends the measure as helping to dismantle ‘terrorist structures’ amid criticism from human rights groups.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has condemned a call by the United States for Argentina to seize a Venezuelan cargo plane that has been grounded in Buenos Aires for nearly two months, saying Washington wants to “steal” the aircraft. The Boeing 747 cargo plane, owned by the Venezuelan company Emtrasur, was …

Fourteen people were killed when a military helicopter crashed on Friday in northwestern Mexico, the navy said. “A Black Hawk helicopter was involved in an accident, the cause of which is unknown at this time,” a statement said, AFP reported. It said the aircraft was carrying 15 people and the …

A group of opposition lawmakers in Ecuador is pushing for the removal of conservative President Guillermo Lasso after nearly two weeks of mass protests led by indigenous groups demanding lower fuel and food prices, though other legislators say they will not back his ouster. The demonstrations, which began June 13, …

Anti-government protests by indigenous groups in Ecuador have left two people killed and 100 injured, with the country’s defense minister warning that democracy in the Latin American state is at risk. “The armed forces will not allow constitutional order to be broken or any action against democracy and the laws …

Thousands of indigenous Ecuadorians have converged on the capital Quito on the eight day of intensifying protests against soaring fuel prices. Indigenous people and members of other disgruntled groups began a peaceful demonstration towards the city center starting from the south of the capital, with hundreds joining from the the …

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has hailed a 20-year partnership agreement signed with Iran and Venezuela, saying it heralds the birth of a new era and transition to humanity from hegemonism. “Where will we be in the next 20 years? Can you imagine it?” he said in an exclusive interview with …

Colombians are casting their ballots in the second round of the presidential election. About 39 million people are eligible to vote. Just above half of them turned out for the first round last month that ended with no winner. In this round, leftist Gustavo Petro is competing against populist senator …

In a move that has irked the United States, Nicaragua on Tuesday renewed a decade-long decree allowing Russian forces to train in the Central American country, causing further strains in relations between Managua and Washington. Nicaragua’s National Assembly – Asamblea Nacional – gave its go-ahead for Russian forces to train in Nicaragua and …

Former Bolivian interim president Jeanine Anez has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term more than a year after being arrested on charges of leading a US-backed plot in 2019 to oust re-elected socialist president Evo Morales. Anez will serve 10 years in a women’s prison in La Paz, the administrative …

An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck the Tirapata region of southern Peru on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Eleven people were shot dead in a slum on the north side of Rio de Janeiro early on Tuesday during a police raid to capture heads of a drug-trafficking organization, police said. The deaths included a woman who was hit in the exchange of gunfire between gang members and police …

More than 30 were rescued in the waters north of Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard said.

A clash between rival Ecuadorian gangs has left 43 inmates dead, officials said Monday, little more than a month after another prison riot resulted in 20 deaths.

Eight Turkish citizens were kidnapped while traveling by bus in Haiti, the Turkish consul said on Monday, as the Caribbean country struggles with a surge of attacks by increasingly powerful gangs. The group was taken hostage on Sunday as they drove to the capital Port-au-Prince from the neighboring Dominican Republic, …

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 70 injured after a large explosion ripped through a historic hotel in Havana, the Cuban government has said.