South America
Dynastic succession: Daniel Noboa, heir to banana empire, becomes Ecuador’s youngest president
QUITO, Oct 16, 2023 (AFP) – At the age of 35, Ecuador’s president-elect Daniel Noboa is fulfilling the political dreams of his banana tycoon father, who failed five times to win the presidency. With about 52 percent of the vote, based on a near-complete count, little-known businessman Noboa was on Sunday elected the youngest president-elect in modern Ecuadoran history, edging out socialist rival Luisa Gonzalez. With a serious air, but tanned and sporty, Noboa focused […]
Ecuadorans elect youngest-ever president, Daniel Noboa, to address country’s challenges
QUITO, Oct 16, 2023 (AFP) – Car horns in Quito blared in celebration Sunday as banana empire heir Daniel Noboa, 35, became violence-riddled Ecuador’s youngest president-elect ever. With 90 percent of votes counted, the electoral authority announced Noboa as the victor. Moments earlier, socialist rival Luisa Gonzalez conceded defeat and offered her “profound congratulations” to Noboa, “because this is democracy.” Addressing supporters in Quito, Gonzales also said she would not be claiming fraud. Ecuadorans voted […]
Venezuela issues arrest warrant for opposition leader Guaido: prosecutor
CARACAS, Oct 6, 2023 (AFP) – The Venezuelan prosecutor’s office said Thursday it had issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Juan Guaido and would ask for Interpol’s help in his apprehension. Prosecutors were appointed “to issue an arrest warrant against him and to request a Red Notice from Interpol so that he pays for his crimes,” Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said. Living in exile in the United States, Guaido was accused of treason, usurpation […]
Brazil sends emergency aid to drought-hit Amazon state
BRASÍLIA, Sept 29, 2023 (AFP) – Brazil announced Thursday it will send emergency aid to an Amazon state that is enduring severe drought, with low water levels killing many fish, a key source of food for the Indigenous people who live there. The state of Amazonas in northwest Brazil is the country’s largest by surface area, includes much of the Amazon rainforest and is home to some four million people, the vast majority […]
Bird flu kills 400 seals, sea lions in Uruguay
MONTEVIDEO, Sept 29, 2023 (AFP) – An estimated 400 seals and sea lions have turned up dead on the coast of Uruguay in recent weeks, blamed by authorities on bird flu. Multiple ministries are monitoring the situation after a first case of H5 bird flu was detected in a sea lion on a beach in Montevideo, where the River Plate empties into the Atlantic. The dead animals have turned up on the Atlantic coast and […]
Five injured in latest Colombia car bomb blast
JAMUNDI, Colombia, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – A car bomb exploded Friday outside a police station in southwest Colombia, injuring five civilians just days after two people died in a similar attack attributed to guerrilla fighters in talks with the government. The blast happened in the Jamundi municipality in the Valle del Cauca department where rebels are fighting soldiers engaged in a clampdown on drug trafficking. “Reprehensible attack in Jamundi,” President Gustavo Petro wrote on […]
Gold and mercury, not books, for Venezuela’s child miners
By Magda GIBELLI At 10 years old, Martin cannot read, but he is an old hand at detecting traces of the gold he and his young cousins dig for at an open-pit mine in southeastern Venezuela. In the town of El Callao, extracting gold from soil starts as a kid’s game, but soon becomes a full-time job that human rights activists slam as dangerous exploitation. Small and agile, the children’s size helps them shimmy into […]
Peru bus plunges into ravine, killing 25
LIMA, Sept 18, 2023 (AFP) – A bus plummeted from the edge of a narrow mountain road in southeastern Peru on Monday, killing 25 people including two children, according to authorities. The accident occurred before dawn when the bus traveling between two Andean towns careened down a 200-meter (656-foot) ravine in the region of Huancavelica, a police official told AFP. “The toll is 25 dead and 34 injured,” Defense Minister Jorge Chavez said. Images of […]
Investigators probe Brazil plane crash that killed 14
MANAUS, Brazil, Sept 17, 2023 (AFP) – Investigators traveled Sunday to a remote town in the Brazilian Amazon to probe a plane crash that killed 14 people and left no survivors, as authorities brought the bodies to be identified. The small turboprop plane was flying a group of Brazilian sport fishermen into the northern town of Barcelos Saturday when it crashed in stormy weather, apparently after starting its descent too late and skidding off the […]
Escaped Brazilian murderer evading US police steals rifle
NEW YORK, Sept 12, 2023 (AFP) – Schools near Philadelphia were closed and residents told to lock their doors Tuesday after an escaped Brazilian murderer dodged gunfire to steal a rifle from a home and was declared “extremely dangerous.” Danelo Cavalcante, who made a daring escape from Chester County Prison nearly two weeks ago, has become the subject of fear and fascination for Americans as he continues to avoid police dogs, drones, helicopters and special […]
50 years later, Chilean mothers pine for ‘disappeared’ sons
By Axl HERNANDEZ Luz Encina, 94, sets out from San Antonio in Chile in a small, rented boat clutching a fistful of red flowers to cast into the Pacific Ocean, which she believes to be the final resting place of her son. Mauricio Jorquera was only 19 when he became one of more than 1,400 people to disappear under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet five decades ago. Every August, Encina repeats the ritual: traveling […]
