Tag Archives: South America

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 …

Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, having spent the night under observation after falling at his official residence in the capital Brasilia, his office said in a statement. Bolsonaro, 64, was given a brain scan at the hospital that detected no abnormalities, the president’s office …

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 …

Bolivia’s political crisis deepened Sunday as President Evo Morales resigned amid allegations of “serious irregularities” during last month’s election and pressure from the country’s armed forces. Morales faced mounting protests in the aftermath of the October 20 vote as demonstrators and the Bolivian opposition accused electoral authorities of manipulating the …

The Chilean government has agreed to write a new constitution to replace one dating back to the Pinochet dictatorship, bowing to the demands of protesters who have taken to the streets in often violent demonstrations in recent weeks. Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said the president, cabinet members, and political allies …

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 …

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 …

Protests have erupted in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro after an eight-year-old girl was allegedly killed by police, as the number of victims in operations by security forces continues to rise. Ágatha Vitória Sales Félix was with her grandmother in a van when she was shot in the back in a …

Guatemala must now consider itself a cocaine-producing nation and not just a transit country for the powerful narcotic after authorities discovered new coca processing laboratories, the interior minister said. Last year, Guatemala discovered plantations growing coca, along with a laboratory to process the leaf into cocaine. Until recently, the crop …

Call it a shocking discovery: DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin, including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt. The findings are evidence, researchers say, of the incredible diversity in the Amazon rainforest — much of it still unknown to science …

Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed what is believed to be the largest single mass child sacrifice in history. The bodies of 227 victims, aged between five and 14, were found near the coastal town of Huanchaco, north of Peru’s capital Lima. The children were believed to have been sacrificed over …

Not even the dead can keep the suspicions of Colombian police at bay, as one drug smuggler found to his cost. Authorities discovered 300kg of marijuana worth millions hidden inside two coffins. The unusual discovery was made at a police checkpoint in North Santander on Tuesday, according to El Tiempo. …

European leaders on Friday threatened to tear up a trade deal with South America, reflecting growing international anger at Brazil as a record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest intensified an unfolding environmental crisis. Amid a global chorus of concern and condemnation, Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro pledged in …

Argentina captain Lionel Messi has been banned from international football for three months after claiming the Copa America was “corrupt”. Barcelona forward Messi, 32, was sent off in Argentina’s 2-1 third-place play-off win over Chile and later said the “cup was fixed for Brazil”. He has also been fined $50,000 …

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday said that fractures within the Venezuelan army could lead to the “collapse” of Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government. “The information that we have is that there is a fracture that is getting closer and closer to the leadership of the (Venezuelan) armed forces,” Bolsonaro said …