Tag Archives: Latin America

Brazil’s government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an extraordinary move that critics have called an attempt to hide the true toll of the disease in Latin America’s largest nation. The Saturday move came after months of criticism from experts saying Brazil’s statistics are …

With its overall Covid-19 death toll exceeding 34,000 people, Brazil is now the country with the third-highest number of deaths in the world, surpassing Italy. Brazil is widely regarded to be the current global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with more new daily deaths and cases than any other country. …

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit northern Chile early on Wednesday morning, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) has said. The quake struck at a depth of 145 km (90 miles), GFZ added. The US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the earthquake was about 62 km southwest of …

With nearly 30,000 dead in Brazil and more than 10,000 dead in Mexico, the novel coronavirus epidemic threatens to shatter hospital systems across Latin America – while France, which is emerging from a similar nightmare scenario, begins on Tuesday a gradual return to normalcy. Four of the 10 countries showing …

Almost one thousand women were murdered in Mexico in the first three months of the year, new figures show. The news comes as campaigners warn the country is witnessing a rise in domestic abuse in the wake of the coronavirus emergency. Government figures show the number of women killed was …

The Colombian government has begun providing some of the poorest residents of the capital Bogota with food donations as the city of seven million people goes through more than a month of lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a government order, dozens of the homeless are also given …

An Earthquake measuring 7.7 magnitudes on the Richter scale has struck 72 miles off the coastal town of Lucea in Jamaica and south of Cuba. Subsequently, Tsunami warnings have been issued, which included the Cayman Islands, after the earthquake hit north of the Jamaican coast. The Jamaica Gleaner reports that …

In Mexico, soldiers in riot gear used batons and pepper spray Thursday to beat back a caravan of hundreds of Central American migrants and asylum seekers after they crossed into the southern state of Chiapas from Guatemala. Among the injured was a pregnant woman who was left unconscious by the …

Mexican forces have fired tear gas at hundreds of Central American refugees as they tried to force their way through the Mexico-Guatemala border after the Mexican government rejected their request to transit toward the United States. The refugees waded across a river into Mexico on Monday in a chaotic scramble …

Twenty-six inmates escaped from a Brazilian prison in the northwestern state of Acre early on Monday, with all but one remaining at large, the state prison authority said. The jailbreak comes just a day after 75 inmates escaped from a Paraguay jail on the Brazilian border. Paraguayan authorities had said …

At least 16 inmates in a central Mexico prison were killed and five more were wounded in a riot that closed out a violent 2019 for the country, authorities said. Zacatecas state security secretary Ismael Camberos Hernández told local press that authorities confiscated four guns that they believe were introduced …

Uruguay says it has seized a record haul of 6 tonnes of cocaine, calling it the biggest setback for traffickers in the country’s history. Naval and customs officers seized 4.4 tonnes of the drug in Montevideo port. It had been hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, the …

Mexico’s government said on Thursday it was appealing to the International Court of Justice to ensure its diplomatic facilities were respected in Bolivia following its decision to grant asylum to nine people there. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a regular news conference that Mexico wanted the court, based in The …

Clashes erupted between Colombian police and protesters, who took to the streets of the capital, Bogota, against the US-backed government of President Ivan Duque, in what became one of the biggest rallies in recent years. Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in the streets of Bogota on Thursday to protest …

Clashes erupted between anti-government demonstrators and the riot police during the so-called ‘Super Monday’ of protests on the streets of Chile’s capital city of Santiago on Monday. The riot police used water cannons and tear gas as they tried to disperse the protesters gathered near Plaza Italia square, who, in …

Bolivian President Evo Morales is slated for victory in a highly contentious election after authorities issued a fresh vote tally, prompting claims of fraud from the opposition and chaotic protests across the country. Following a 24-hour pause in the vote count by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the agency updated …

The Chilean Army has declared another curfew as it struggles to contain violence that was triggered by transport fare hikes in Santiago but has since spilled over beyond the capital, fueled by outrage over social inequality. To prevent looting and arson attacks, thousands of armed troops have been patrolling the …

At least three people have died after a small plane crashed into a residential street and burst into flames in Belo Horizonte in Brazil. The aircraft smashed into a street in the Caicara area just minutes after taking off from the nearby Carlos Prates Airport on Monday morning. A spokesperson …

Harrowing photographs show the mayhem in downtown Santiago, following violent protests sparked by a recent fare hike for public transport in the Chilean capital. The country’s president has announced a state of emergency. Addressing the nation in the early hours of Saturday, President Sebastian Pinera said that he would invoke …

A photojournalist was wounded after a Haitian lawmaker opened fire on an angry crowd that had assembled outside the country’s parliament in Port-au-Prince. The violence follows a week of anti-government demonstrations. Video footage shows Senator Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere getting out of his car and firing several shots with a …