BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina has registered more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases, its Ministry of Health said Sunday, despite the Buenos Aires area — the country’s coronavirus hot spot — being under extended shutdown. The country now has recorded 1,845 deaths from the pandemic with 100,153 positive cases and almost 43,000 people recovered. The shutdown in the Buenos Aires area, the most populated region of the country, is due to end on […]
Tag: Argentina
With no flights, Argentine sails across Atlantic to see parents
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AFP) — “Mission accomplished!” That joyful declaration came from Juan Manuel Ballestero, an Argentine sailor who, unable to fly home from Portugal due to the pandemic, crossed the ocean alone in his modest sailboat to see his aging parents. “I did it! I did it! I did it!” Ballestero exclaimed at dockside last week when he reached his hometown of Mar del Plata. The 47-year-old had completed an exhausting 85-day odyssey […]
Argentina, Chile confirm first coronavirus cases
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina and Chile both said on Tuesday they had confirmed their first case of the novel coronavirus in patients who recently returned from travels. A 43-year-old infected Argentine man had returned from Italy on March 1, while a 33-year-old Chilean man had spent a month in southeast Asia. Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia said the Argentine patient has been in isolation since presenting himself to a private health clinic in […]
Morales claims US orchestrated ‘coup’ to tap Bolivia’s lithium
by Liliana Samuel BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Former Bolivia president Evo Morales told AFP on Tuesday that he was forced from office by a United States-backed coup d’etat aimed at gaining access to the South American country’s vast lithium resources. Demand for lithium is expected to grow globally as it is one of the key components in batteries used in high-tech equipment such as laptops and electric cars. Morales resigned as president on […]
Socceroos to face Argentina at Copa America
CARTAGENA, Colombia (AFP) — Australia will face Lionel Messi and Argentina in next year’s Copa America after being drawn alongside the tournament co-hosts on Tuesday. The Socceroos, one of two guest teams invited to the South American football championship, will also face Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile in Group A. In Group B, Asian champions Qatar, the other guest nation, will face Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, with all games taking place in Colombia. […]
Argentina ex-president Kirchner to be tried for fourth time
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina’s former president Cristina Kirchner is to stand trial for a fourth time on corruption charges, even as the leftist opposition leader vies for the position of vice president in elections next month. The 66-year-old, who served two terms as president, is accused of having taken $160 million in bribes for steering public works contracts towards favored businessmen close to her and her late husband Nestor, who served as […]
Second boxer in two days dies from head injuries after fight
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentine boxer Hugo Santillan died on Thursday from injuries suffered in a fight on Saturday, the second such death in just two days after that of Russian Maxim Dadashev in the United States. Santillan, who was 23, collapsed while the result was announced of his 10-round draw with Uruguayan Eduardo Abreu in San Nicolas, just north of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. He was taken to hospital where he underwent […]
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 […]
Prosecutor accuses Argentine bishop close to pope of abuse
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A bishop close to Pope Francis has been formally accused of sexually abusing seminarians, a public prosecutor’s office in Argentina said Friday. The prosecutor’s office in the Argentine province of Salta said prosecutor Mónica Viazzi accused Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of “aggravated continuous sexual abuse.” This is the first time that a prosecutor has formally accused Zanchetta in his native Argentina. Zanchetta resigned suddenly as bishop of the Argentine city […]
Argentines protest in push for ‘food emergency’ declaration
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Thousands took to the streets in 50 Argentine cities and towns Wednesday demanding that the government declare a “food emergency” and put an end to suffocating price increases. “We are losing work, food, education, housing… it’s desperation that is emerging among our people,” said Osvaldo Ulacio, 60, as he marched in the capital Buenos Aires. “They have left us no other tool than to come out in the streets to […]
China agrees $9 billion currency swap with Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — China and Argentina signed a $9 billion currency swap deal to boost the crisis-stricken South American country’s foreign currency reserves, its central bank announced Sunday. Struggling to recover after a currency crisis earlier this year, Latin America’s third largest economy sought the help of the International Monetary Fund — which approved a $56 billion loan package. Now, this latest agreement will “contribute to greater financial stability and also facilitate trade” […]
Saudi prince in Argentina as G20 summit tensions brew
by Denis BARNETT Agence France Presse BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — World leaders began arriving in Argentina Wednesday ahead of a G20 summit dogged by increasingly strident warnings about the impact on the world economy of threatened US trade tariffs. US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is a dominant theme at the weekend summit but one sideshow is how leaders deal with the presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The de […]





