South America

Pompeo begins Latin America trip amid tensions over migrant caravan

PANAMA, Panama (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Thursday in Panama at the start of a tour of the Central American region that President Donald Trump blames for an “onslaught” of US-bound migrants. Pompeo, who will head to Mexico on Friday, had talks in Panama City with President Juan Carlos Varela and Foreign Minister Isabel Saint Malo, who is also vice-president. There were no statements after the meeting that lasted less than […]

Mexico deploys hundreds of riot police as migrants near

BRISAS BARRA DE SUCHIATE, Mexico (AFP) —  Mexico deployed hundreds of riot police Thursday to its border with Guatemala as a caravan of Central American migrants prepared to cross on their way to the United States, defying President Donald Trump’s threats. Hundreds of federal police in riot gear fanned out on the international bridge in Suchiate, on the Mexican-Guatemalan border, as the caravan of several thousand Honduran migrants trekked toward the crossing. Guatemala also sent […]

Fujimori upset over daughter’s arrest, asks feuding kids to get along

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori on Saturday criticized the arrest of his daughter Keiko for alleged money laundering and pleaded with his feuding children, who are battling to lead the biggest party in Congress, to join forces. “I have never felt greater pain in my life than I did seeing my daughter detained and hauled off to prison,” the 80-year-old Fujimori said from a Lima medical clinic where he has been […]

Catholic Church’s Pope Francis defrocks two Chilean bishops for sex abuse of minors

  Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has defrocked two Chilean bishops for the alleged sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican said in a statement on Saturday after a meeting between the pontiff and the president of Chile. The decision to expel former archbishop Francisco Jose Cox Huneeus and former bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez — the latest heads to roll in a country hit hard by the cleric abuse scandal — could not be appealed, it […]

Peruvian police arrest Keiko Fujimori in Odebrecht probe

by Luis Jaime CISNEROS Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Police in Peru have arrested Keiko Fujimori, the opposition leader and daughter of the South American country’s disgraced ex-president, for alleged money laundering involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, her lawyer said Wednesday. The 43-year-old was arrested on the orders of prosecutors investigating contributions to her campaign when she ran for president in 2011, according to her lawyer Giuliana Loza. “Persecution has been disguised as […]

Haiti quake toll rises to 17

PORT-AU PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — The death toll from the earthquake that struck northwest Haiti over the weekend has risen to 17, with nearly 350 others injured, the interior ministry said Tuesday. Nine people were killed in the coastal city of Port-de-Paix, the closest major town to the quake’s epicenter. Seven more died in Gros-Morne, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the southeast and one was killed in the city of Saint-Louis du Nord, the […]

Haiti quake upends lives already stressed by poverty

by Amelie BARON Agence France Presse PORT DE PAIX, Haiti (AFP) — Quake-hit Port-de-Paix was back to its daily routines Monday but in poor neighborhoods like l’Hopital, on a steep hill that looks out to the sea beyond the Haitian city, people’s troubles are just beginning. Nearly all the flimsily built houses along the mudslicked corridor that runs up the hill through L’Hopital show damage from Saturday’s 5.9 magnitude quake. “When a quake comes, there […]

In quake-hit Haiti, hospital labors to treat the wounded

by Amelie BARON Agence France Presse PORT DE PAIX, Haiti (AFP) — In Port-de-Paix, the Haitian city hardest hit by a strong earthquake, medical personnel at the Immaculate Conception Hospital of Port-de-Paix are struggling to treat the wounded — and helplessly looked on as some didn’t make it. Not only are doctors and nurses lacking the supplies they need, the damage caused by the 5.9-magnitude tremor late Saturday made conditions even more challenging. “There was […]

Bolsonaro leads Brazil election with 48%: official results

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Far-right Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro led the count from a first round election Sunday with 48.4 percent of votes, electoral authorities said after counting ballots from two thirds of polling stations. If the 63-year-old former paratrooper scores under 50 percent, he will go on to an October 28 run-off against his nearest rival from a field of 13, leftwing Workers Party candidate Fernando Haddad. Surveys suggest that round […]

Fujimori, in hospital plea, says return to prison would be ‘death sentence’

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s ex-president Alberto Fujimori said from his hospital bed Thursday that a return to prison would be a “death sentence,” the day after a court revoked a pardon for crimes against humanity. Fujimori, 80, addressed a plea to Peru’s President Martin Vizcarra and the South American country’s judiciary in a video recorded at his bedside. “Please do not kill me. If I return to prison my heart will not support it. […]

Chile church says sorry for conduct guidelines for priests

  By Luis Andres Henao and Patricia Luna Associated Press SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s Roman Catholic Church has apologized for a set of conduct guidelines for priests dealing with children that has caused outrage just as the South American country is being rocked by a widespread clerical sex abuse scandal. The recommendations include asking priests not to “touch the area of the genitals or the chest” of minors, kiss them on the mouth, spank […]

Chile archbishop remains silent over abuse cover-up claims

by Miguel SANCHEZ Agence France Presse RANCAGUA, Chile (AFP) — Santiago Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati on Wednesday went before a prosecutor investigating a sex abuse scandal that has roiled the Catholic Church in Chile but declined to answer questions about accusations he was involved in a cover-up. The Catholic Church is under increasing scrutiny because of the escalating worldwide sex abuse crisis, which has seen scandals emerge in North and South America, Europe and Australia that […]