Latin America

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck northern Peru at 5:52 am (1052 GMT) on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said. The strong quake’s epicenter was 98 kilometers (60 miles) east of the town of Santa Maria de Nieva in the Peruvian Amazon at a depth of 131 kilometers (81 miles), according …

A team of experts has found a mummy estimated to be at least 800 years old on Peru’s central coast, one of the archaeologists who participated in the excavation said on Friday. The mummified remains were of a person from the culture that developed between the coast and mountains of …

For many Chileans, Plaza Baquedano, a broad rotary in central Santiago that for decades served as a center of social protest, has become a powerful symbol of hope. For two years, city residents have regularly gathered here to protest pensions that are too low, public transit fees that are too …

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a bill calling for more sanctions and other punitive measures against the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who extended his grip on power in an election that Washington denounced as a sham. Biden, who has accused Ortega of orchestrating Sunday’s …

Colombian authorities are focused on breaking up the Clan del Golfo gang – whose network extends to 28 countries around the world – after the capture of the group’s leader late last month, the country’s top cop said on Wednesday. Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias “Otoniel,” was the country’s most-wanted drug …

At least one person was killed and over a dozen were injured when a pipeline of state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) exploded in the central Mexican state of Puebla after it was breached by suspected fuel thieves, authorities said on Sunday. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Twitter …

Hurricane Rick edged slowly closer to Mexico’s Pacific coast on Sunday, expected to unleash heavy rains north of the beach resort of Acapulco late in the evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Rick was packing maximum sustained winds near 85 miles (140 km) per hour with strong gusts …

Colombian special forces have captured notorious drug trafficker Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel, during a massive operation on Saturday. The alleged boss of the much-feared Gulf Clan had been on the run for over a decade. Around 500 troops and 22 helicopters were reportedly involved in the raid on …

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso on Monday declared a state of emergency in the country grappling with a surge in drug-related violence, and ordered the mobilization of police and military in the streets. “Starting immediately, our Armed Forces and police will be felt with force in the streets because we are …

Thousands of people in El Salvador have taken to the streets in protest against the recent controversial decisions made by President Nayib Bukele’s government. According to the local media, an estimated number of 4000 people marched through the capital San Salvador on Sunday, decrying the ouster of Supreme Court judges, …

A group of 17 US missionaries including children were kidnapped in Haiti on Saturday, according to a voice message sent to various religious missions by an organization with direct knowledge of the incident. The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage, according to a message from Ohio-based …

Alex Saab, a fugitive Colombian businessman accused of acting as a money launderer for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, has been extradited to the US from Cape Verde, the US Justice Department said on Saturday. Saab is set to make his first court appearance on Monday, October 18 in a …

Chilean opposition lawmakers have launched impeachment proceedings against President Sebastian Pinera over possible irregularities in the sale of a mining company revealed in the so-called Pandora Papers. Pinera used “his office for personal business,” Congressman Tomas Hirsch said on Wednesday as he presented the impeachment charge in the lower house …

Climate activists have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing him of “crimes against humanity” for his alleged role in the destruction of the Amazon. In an official complaint filed at The Hague-based court on Tuesday, activists with the Austrian environmental advocacy …

The death toll from a riot at one of Ecuador’s largest prisons rose to 116, President Guillermo Lasso said on Wednesday, adding that he would send additional security forces and free up funds to avoid a repeat. Another 80 inmates were injured during the Tuesday night clashes at the Penitenciaria …

A battle between gangs in a prison in Ecuador’s coastal city of Guayaquil killed at least 100 inmates and injured 52 more in what authorities are calling the worst penitentiary massacre in the country’s history. At least five deaths were reported beheaded, officials said Wednesday. President Guillermo Lasso decreed a …

One was cited for possessing marijuana for personal use, and they were all returned to their home country within hours. Fourteen Mexican soldiers were detained at the border in El Paso early Saturday after accidentally crossing into the United States, Customs and Border Protection said. One soldier was cited for …

Mexican officials are urging Haitians on the Texas border trying to reach the United States to give up and return to Mexico’s frontier with Guatemala to request asylum, even as discontent grows over the treatment meted out to the beleaguered migrants. Up to 14,000 mostly Haitians were camped just north …

Haiti’s chief public prosecutor has asked the judge overseeing the investigation into the assassination of President Jovenel Moise to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry as a suspect and ordered migration services not to let him leave the country. In a letter to Judge Garry Orelien, prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude said phone …

Colombia has increased its troop presence on the joint border with Venezuela after five Colombian soldiers were killed and several others wounded in an attack. According to reports, the soldiers were killed Saturday in clashes that Bogota claimed were planned on its neighbor’s soil by armed groups from Colombia’s last …