South America

Prosecutor says 68 dead in Venezuela prison fire

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — A fire allegedly set during an attempted jailbreak from Venezuelan police holding cells killed 68 people on Wednesday, the country’s top prosecutor and an inmates’ rights group said. The blaze at the detention facility in Carabobo state is the latest in a series of deadly incidents in Venezuela’s overcrowded jails. “In light of the terrible events that took place in the Carabobo state police headquarters, where 68 people died in a presumed […]

Brazil judge orders Facebook to cut ‘fake news’ on slain activist

  RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — A Brazilian judge on Wednesday ordered Facebook to remove fake news posted about slain black rights’ activist Marielle Franco. Judge Jorge Jansen Counago Novelle, in Rio de Janeiro, gave the US-based giant 24 hours to pull “publications of false information with criminal content on the councilwoman Marielle Franco,” the court said in a statement. Facebook responded in a statement that it would comply and “remove the specific URL content […]

Brazil court rejects Lula’s latest appeal

by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A Brazilian court on Monday rejected former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s latest appeal against a corruption conviction that could see him imprisoned for 12 years, and doom a bid to return to power in October elections. The three judges at the lower appeals court in Porto Alegre unanimously turned down Lula’s appeal, which had been made on technical grounds, of his conviction and […]

Peru’s new president sworn in after impeachment drama

by Francisco Jara © Agence France-Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Martin Vizcarra was sworn in as Peru’s new president Friday, catapulted to the post when Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned to avoid impeachment. Vizcarra, who had been serving as both vice president and his country’s ambassador to Canada, took the oath of office and donned the red-and-white presidential sash before the Peruvian Congress. The ceremony came shortly after lawmakers voted to accept Kuczynski’s resignation, rather than push […]

Peru’s embattled president Kuczynski announces resignation

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced his resignation Wednesday in an address to the nation, the day before he was to face an impeachment vote in Congress. The 79-year-old former Wall Street banker, under fire over his links to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, denied allegations of bribe-taking but said his resignation was “the best thing for the country.” Kuczynski is the first president to lose his job over the scandal in […]

Thousands of Brazilians mourn slain Rio councillor, rights activist

by Sebastian  Smith and Carola Sole © Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets Thursday to mourn a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman and outspoken critic of police brutality in majority black neighborhoods who was shot in an assassination-style killing. About 10,000 people marched to the Rio state assembly, with more arriving after work, to protest the slaying of Marielle Franco, 38 a day before. Many wore black and chanted […]

Miles de personas marchan en Chile en el Día Internacional de la Mujer

Krest-Anne Cortes Eagle News Service SANTIAGO, Chile—Miles de personas marcharon por Chile para conmemorar el Día Internacional de la Mujer. En la capital, la marcha empezó por el sector de la plaza de Baquedano cerca de las 19 horas, la que, de acuerdo a las estimaciones, convocó más de 30,000 personas. Participaron distintas agrupaciones sociales como “Ni Una Menos,” la Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile, la Central Unitaria de Trabajadores y “No+AFP (Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones)” […]

Lula risks jail in coming weeks after Brazil court ruling

BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) – A top Brazilian court Tuesday rejected a bid by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to stave off prison, ruling he can be arrested if his 12 year jail sentence is upheld on appeal. The Superior Court of Justice rejected Lula’s habeas corpus petition in a unanimous ruling that sharply raises the risk of prison on corruption charges and money-laundering for the popular leftist leader. The ruling further complicates the 72-year-old’s bid to run […]

Sex abuse by priests at Chilean church school was an unending ‘perverse game’, says victim

  by Giovanna Fleitas Agence France Presse VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile (AFP) — Sexual abuse at the hands of priests marked the childhood of Jaime Concha since the day when, at age 10, he entered a school run by the Marist Brothers religious order in Santiago. He is now 55 years old and a doctor. After all these years, his case is one of dozens finally being investigated by the Catholic Church in Chile — […]

400 kilos of cocaine found in Russian embassy in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Police have seized nearly 400 kilos of cocaine from the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires and arrested several members of a drug trafficking gang, Argentina’s security minister announced Thursday. Patricia Bullrich told a press conference that the drugs discovered in an annex of the embassy had a street value of around 50 million euros (about $62 million). “A gang of narco-criminals was trying to use the diplomatic courier service of […]

Forty-four dead after bus tumbles from Peru mountain road

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — A double-decker bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in southern Peru Wednesday, killing at least 44 people. The bus tumbled 80 meters (260 feet) down a jagged slope from the Pan-American highway — Peru’s main motorway — in the southern region of Arequipa. Arequipa police chief General Walter Ortiz “confirms 44 deaths,” the interior ministry said on its Twitter account, updating an earlier toll of 35. Ortiz said 45 […]

Maduro calls for snap legislative elections in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — President Nicolas Maduro called Wednesday for snap legislative elections in Venezuela, proposing to bring them forward by nearly two years to coincide with a presidential poll set for April 22. Maduro said he was proposing the change to the all-powerful Constituent Assembly “to advance the elections.” The idea of bringing forward the legislative elections to April 22 was already mooted by the number two of Maduro’s ruling socialist party on Tuesday. He also […]