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by Alexander Grosbois in Havana with Alina Dieste in Bogota HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — The Colombian government and FARC rebels signed a ceasefire and disarmament agreement Thursday, one of the last steps toward ending a half-century conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. The deal puts a definitive end to fighting in Latin America’s longest civil war, which has torn the country apart with shootings and bombardments in its coca-rich jungles and hills. […]
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — A third of Latin Americans who have risen out of poverty over the past 15 years could fall back into it due to the region’s recession, a UN report showed Tuesday. “We estimate there is a population of between 25 and 30 million citizens that today find themselves vulnerable to falling into poverty,” said George Gray, the main author of the report and the chief economist for the UN Development […]
by Santiago Piedra Silva Pedernales, Ecuador (AFP) — A hodgepodge of donated coffins in various shapes, sizes and colors is piled in a corner of the football stadium in the Ecuadoran resort town of Pedernales. The stadium has taken on an eerie new identity as a morgue in the aftermath of the country’s devastating earthquake, which killed more than 500 people. Medical examiners in white uniforms criss-cross the makeshift facility, working to identify decomposing bodies pulled […]
CALI, Colombia (Reuters) – Two cases of microcephaly linked to the Zika virus have been confirmed in Colombia, but there has been no explosion of cases of the birth defect, the health ministry said on Thursday (April 14). Public health officials have been concerned about the possibility of a surge in the rare birth defect, seen in worrisome numbers in Brazil, as the mosquito-borne virus spreads rapidly in Latin America and the Caribbean. More than […]
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AFP) — Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has lost his bid to seek a fourth term, his first direct election defeat since taking office in 2006, according to official results released Tuesday. Morales, 56, has been in power for a decade, thanks largely to support from indigenous groups and grassroots organizations in one of the Americas’ poorest countries. While refusing to concede until the very end, Morales has promised to respect the official results […]
SAN DIEGO, El Salvador (AFP) — With larva-chomping fish and genetically modified insects, Latin Americans are deploying legions of little helpers to destroy mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus in the world’s latest mass health scare. Scientists are devising numerous ways to try and stamp out the mosquitoes whose bites spread the virus, which they suspect can cause brain damage in babies and paralysis in adults. Some want to wipe out baby mosquito larvae in standing […]
The fourth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was held Wednesday in Quito, capital of Ecuador. Leaders of the CELAC’s 33 member countries gathered at the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations to discuss plans for the region’s development over the next five years. Discussions were made on reducing poverty and inequality across the region during the one-day meeting. Other topics included education, innovation of science and technology, […]
There is currently “no justification” for asking Mexican women to postpone getting pregnant because of an outbreak of the mosquito-born virus Zika, a senior Mexican Health Ministry official said during an interview with Reuters on Tuesday (January 26). Zika, which has spread across the Americas, has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil, leading health authorities in Colombia and El Salvador to advise women against getting pregnant for anywhere up to […]
A small group of Cuban migrants crossed into the United States on Sunday (January 17) after a month’s long journey through Central America and Mexico finally came to an end. The migrants arrived to the border city of Reynosa in northeastern Mexico near the border with Hidalgo, Texas. One of the migrants, Byron Rojas Arevalo, who arrived to Reynosa by plane, said a long and harrowing journey, which started in Ecuador, was finally coming to […]
Cuban migrants continued their journey through Mexico toward the United States on Thursday (January 14), flying northward from the southernmost state of Chiapas. The migrants arrived early at the Tapachula airport and spent much of the day awaiting their flight. Migrant Sandro said they were heading toward Mexico City and then on to the border. “Now we are continuing the trip to the United States which is our final destination, toward the border. What border […]
Argentina’s economy will edge higher this year as the new government lifts interventionist controls, later fuelling growth of about 4.5 percent annually between 2017 and 2019, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said on Thursday (January 14). “With our numbers we calculate an estimated (economic growth) of between 0.5 percent and 1 percent this year in 2016, but above all with much stronger growth in the second half of the year,” he said, during a news conference […]
Jimmy Morales was inaugurated as president of Guatemala during a swearing-in ceremony in Guatemala City on Thursday (January 14). Morales, a former TV comedian who had never held office, swept to power in October after public anger over a corruption scandal that deepened distrust of the country’s political establishment. The 46-year-old Morales overwhelmingly beat centre-left rival and former first lady Sandra Torres in a run-off vote despite his lack of government experience and some policy […]
