Latin America

Trump warns Venezuela is ‘collapsing’

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump warned Monday that Venezuela is “collapsing,” suggesting the United States may take additional steps to restore democracy. Trump told Latin American allies gathered on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly that President Nicolas “Maduro defied his own people” and was guilty of “disastrous rule” that may necessitate further punitive measures. “The Venezuelan people are starving. Their country is collapsing,” he said. Washington has already slapped sanctions […]

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Mexicans march to protest violence against women

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Thousands of women of all ages marched Sunday through Mexico City, demanding justice in the case of a young woman who was kidnapped and murdered. “It wasn’t your fault, Mara,” read a sign carried by one marcher, rejecting attempts to shift the blame on the victim, 19-year-old Mara Castilla, for having gone out alone at night. Castilla’s body was found Friday in the neighboring state of Puebla, a week after she left a nightclub and […]

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Brazilian army, police raid violent Rio favelas

by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazil’s army went into action again Monday to support police in raids on some of Rio de Janeiro’s most violent favelas — but not before a rogue soldier allegedly tipped off the drug gangs. In the third such operation in just over two weeks, about 5,000 marines, army soldiers, air force personnel, police and agents from the elite federal intelligence service launched raids at dawn in seven neighborhoods, […]

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Heavily armed gang steals millions in stunning Paraguay heist

by Hugo Olazar Agence France Presse ASUNCION, Paraguay — Dozens of suspected Brazilian gangsters blasted into a secure vault containing millions of dollars in southeastern Paraguay on Monday, leaving a policeman dead in what officials called the “robbery of the century.” Some 50 gunmen with explosives and military-grade weaponry left the city of Ciudad del Este looking like a war zone after a two-hour overnight assault on a security firm and police headquarters, authorities and […]

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Colombia mudslides kill more than 200; sweep homes away

by Luis ROBAYO / with Alina DIESTE in Bogota MOCOA, Colombia (AFP) — Rescuers clawed through piles of mud and twisted debris Sunday searching for survivors after violent mudslides destroyed homes in southern Colombia, killing over 200 people and injuring hundreds more. They were the latest victims of deadly floods and mudslides that have struck the Pacific side of South America over recent months, also killing scores of people in Peru and Ecuador. In the […]

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Mexico seeks to ID bodies, explain huge fireworks blast

    by Sofia MISELEM Jennifer GONZALEZ COVARRUBIAS Agence France-Presse TULTEPEC, Mexico (AFP) – Mexico worked Wednesday to identify the charred bodies of dozens of people killed in an explosion at its biggest fireworks market, as authorities investigated what caused the multi-colored salvo of destruction. Thirty one people are known to have died in the Tuesday blast — 26 at the scene and five more in hospital. Forensic experts are working on genetic analyses of […]

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‘Life-threatening’ storm bears down on Costa Rica, Nicaragua

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AFP) – by Marc BURLEIGH A Caribbean storm verging on a hurricane spun towards the coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua on Wednesday, prompting evacuations and red alerts ahead of “life-threatening” flash flooding. Tropical Storm Otto was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane with winds over 119 kilometers (74 miles) per hour when it makes landfall on Thursday, the US National Hurricane Center said. On Tuesday, though the storm proper was at […]

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Storm-hit Haiti gets first major food aid

PORT-SALUT, Haiti (AFP) – by Marc BURLEIGH The first major handout of food aid took place along Haiti’s storm-wrecked southwest coast on Wednesday — but supplies were still far short of what was needed by the thousands of starving people. Two trucks loaded with rice from the UN’s World Food Programme stocks and two others from private charities went by convoy to two hard-hit towns on Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula: Port Salut and Roche a Bateau. “It […]

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Monster hurricane pummels Florida coast with wind and rain

MIAMI, United States (AFP) – by Kerry Sheridan with Leila Macor in Jacksonville Hurricane Matthew unleashed torrential rains and up to 120 mile-an-hour winds as it hugged the Florida coast Friday, after a blast through the Caribbean that reportedly left more than 300 dead in Haiti. Matthew was downgraded to a Category Three storm early Friday by the National Hurricane Center, as its wind speed dropped slightly. But Florida still faced its most dangerous hurricane […]

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Colombian president wins Nobel Prize for peace efforts

OSLO, Norway (AFP) – by Hazel WARD Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his “resolute” efforts to end more than five decades of war in his country, despite voters’ shock rejection of a historic peace deal. The award was unexpected after voters rejected the terms of a landmark accord Santos clinched last month with FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez and some observers expressed surprise the rebel […]

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Developing story: Brazil’s Rousseff ousted by Senate, Temer sworn in

  (REUTERS)  Brazil’s Senate ousted President Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday, ending an impeachment process that polarized Latin America’s biggest country amid a massive corruption scandal and brutal economic crisis. Senators voted 61-20 to convict the country’s first female president for illegally using money from state banks to bankroll public spending, marking the end of 13 years of leftist Workers Party rule. Rousseff’s opponents hailed the removal of the former leftist guerrilla as paving the way […]

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UN promises ‘material’ aid to cholera victims in Haiti

UNITED NATIONS,, United States (AFP) – The United Nations will give “material” aid to cholera victims in Haiti and their families, the secretary general’s spokesman said Friday, citing the international body’s “moral responsibility.” UN chief Ban Ki-moon, in a statement by a spokesman, also noted that a decision Thursday by a US federal appeals court “upheld the immunity of the organization from legal proceedings” brought against it over the cholera crisis. US courts have consistently found […]

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