South America

US warns off Venezuela allies as Lima meeting opens

by Luis Jaime CISNEROS / Francisco JARA LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Washington warned China and Russia on Tuesday to avoid doing business with the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, as delegates from some 60 countries met in Lima to discuss ways of ending the crisis in the South American nation. The admonition came a day after President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barred transactions with […]

Inmates behind Brazil deadly prison riot transferred

by Allison JACKSON ALTAMIRA, Brazil (AFP) — Forty-six inmates involved in one of Brazil’s deadliest prison riots were being transferred to other jails on Tuesday, an official said. At least 57 people were killed Monday when fighting broke out between rival drug gang factions in the Altamira Regional Recovery Center in the northern state of Para. Sixteen were decapitated in the hours-long battle, but most died in a fire that engulfed part of the overcrowded […]

At least 57 dead in Brazil prison riot

by Allison JACKSON RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — At least 57 inmates were killed during a prison riot in northern Brazil on Monday as rival gang factions fought each other, an official said. Sixteen of the dead were decapitated in the second major eruption of violence to rock the country’s severely overpopulated and deadly prison system in as many months. Fighting broke out in the Altamira Regional Recovery Center at around 7:00 am (1000 […]

Three arrested over Brazil airport gold theft

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian police said Monday that three people have been arrested over the brazen theft of an estimated $30 million worth of gold from Sao Paulo’s international airport last week. Armed men impersonating federal police entered a warehouse at the airport on Friday afternoon, making off with more than 700 kilograms (1,500 pounds) of the precious metal. No shots were fired. One of those detained worked at the airport and claimed […]

Firefighters struggle against Portugal wildfires as winds pick up

by Bruno Cravo with Daniel Silva in Lisbon MACAO, PORTUGAL (AFP) — Portugal requested the loan of two water-bombing planes on Monday as winds revived massive wildfires in a central region where dozens of people were killed in huge blazes in 2017. Portugal’s civil protection agency had said on Monday morning the wildfires were “90 percent controlled” but officials said they were fanned back into life when winds picked up in the afternoon. Later in […]

Puerto Ricans launch massive protest against governor

by Nelson del Castillo with Leila Macor in Miami SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AFP) — Hundreds of thousands of angry protesters blocked the main road in Puerto Rico’s capital on Monday in the largest in a wave of demonstrations seeking the resignation of the US territory’s embattled governor. The demonstrators were joined by some of Puerto Rico’s most famous singers, including Ricky Martin. The huge crowds sang, chanted, and danced in the streets while carrying […]

US diverts Central America aid to boost Venezuela’s Guaido

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is diverting nearly $42 million in development aid from Guatemala and Honduras to promote Venezuela’s opposition chief Juan Guaido, including paying staff salaries, an internal document showed. In a memo obtained by AFP, the US Agency for International Development called Venezuela’s political crisis “a significant, exigent event in the US national interest” that required a switch in $41.9 million in funds. The United States and […]

Internet a lifeline for Venezuela’s embattled independent media

  by Andrea Tosta with Guillaume Decamme in Maracaibo CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Starved of advertising revenue and battling a stranglehold on the newspaper industry by the government, Venezuela’s independent media have been decimated by the country’s years-long crisis — with many migrating online to survive. “It was a course we couldn’t get away from,” Jorge Makriniotis, manager at the 75-year-old El Nacional, told AFP. The newspaper ran its last physical edition — which had […]

Rio’s far-right governor likens drug dealers to Hezbollah

  RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Rio de Janeiro’s far-right governor Wilson Witzel on Tuesday compared drug dealers to the Shiite movement Hezbollah and warned police would respond like Israel by showing no leniency to “terrorists.” Defending his hardline security strategy that has fueled a surge in police killings this year, Witzel said criminals in Rio’s poorer neighborhoods known as favelas “raped children, killed innocent people and used the areas to sell drugs.” “What […]

Guaido: Venezuela opposition, govt to resume talks, in Barbados

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido said Sunday a new dialogue between the opposition and President Nicolas Maduro’s government would be held in Barbados. He did not specify a date for resumption of talks at the new venue, in the Caribbean, after earlier discussions stalled in Norway. “In response to the mediation of the Kingdom of Norway (the opposition) will attend a meeting with representatives of the usurper regime in Barbados, […]

26 dead as fishing boat sinks off Honduras: official

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — At least 26 people died Wednesday when their fishing boat sank off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, the country’s military said. Armed forces spokesman Jose Meza said that 47 people however survived when the vessel sank off the remote coastal Mosquitia region. Meza said the  boat, the 70-tonne “Wallie,” set sail from Cabo Gracias a Dios — on the country’s easternmost point bordering Nicaragua — packed with fisherman after a seasonal […]

South Americans marvel at total solar eclipse

by Paulina ABRAMOVICH LA HIGUERA, Chile (AFP) — A rare total solar eclipse plunged a vast swath of Latin America’s southern cone into darkness Tuesday, briefly turning day into night and enthralling huge crowds in much of Chile and Argentina. Hundreds of thousands of people — including large crowds congregated in La Higuera in Chile, a country that hosts some of the world’s most powerful astronomical telescopes — looked to the skies captivated by the […]