Tag Archives: South America

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.

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.

One of Colombia’s most notorious drug lords has been extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.

Thousands of police and troops will be deployed under the state of emergency, the second to be imposed by the president in a bid to curb drug-linked violence. Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso has imposed a state of emergency in three provinces blaming drug-related violence. “I have declared a state of …

Voters in Chile will choose between two candidates with polar opposite views. Recent opinion polls show left-wing candidate Gabriel Boric leading right-wing populist Jose Antonio Kast. Chileans are casting their ballots Sunday in a hotly contested runoff between two candidates offering starkly divergent visions of the country’s future on a …

Colombia’s riot police should undergo a “profound transformation” to prevent the disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters, the United Nations urged in a report Wednesday. The U.N. human rights agency blamed the country’s public force for 28 deaths during months of nationwide protests this year. They included 10 deaths …

Two police officers and a suspected attacker have been killed in bomb blasts at an airport in northeastern Colombia near the border with Venezuela. The suspected attacker managed to cross a wire fence to access the runaway at the Camilo Daza International Airport in the border city of Cucuta, Colombian …

Brazil’s health ministry said its website was hit on Friday by a hacker attack that took several systems down, including one with information about the national immunization program and a second one used to issue digital vaccination certificates. “The health ministry reports that in the early hours of Friday it …

The US has formally removed the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, just after the fifth anniversary of the peace deal between the rebel group and the Colombian government. In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that “The Department of State …

A huge fire at a factory in Santiago spewed out a dense gray plume of smoke over the Chilean capital city on Monday, forcing some planes to be diverted and neighborhood schools and nurseries to be suspended. The fire broke out at the factory of construction materials in the municipality …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell for the second consecutive month in August, compared to a year ago, according to preliminary government data published on Friday, with year-to-date figures for 2021 also showing a slight decline. Forest clearances in August totaled 918 square kilometers (354 square miles), down 32% from …

Violence associated with campaigning for Colombia’s 2022 presidential and legislative elections occurred every four days over the past five months, an observation group reported on Wednesday, warning that threats and killings may increase as voting draws closer. Between March 13 and Aug. 23, there were 29 violent incidents that claimed …

Venezuela this week will receive the first coronavirus vaccines obtained via COVAX, President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, following months of stalled attempts to obtain inoculations through the global vaccine program. The South American nation has been inoculating its population with doses acquired directly from China and Russia, following months …