Tag Archives: South America

PERU: Former President Dead In Suicide During Arrest

Reuters reports: Peru’s former president Alan Garcia shot himself in the head early on Wednesday after police arrived at his home to arrest him in connection with a bribery investigation, the interior ministry said. Garcia, 69, underwent emergency surgery at the Casimiro Ulloa hospital and suffered three cardiac arrests, Health Minister Zulema Tomas said in broadcast comments. Garcia was one …

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Venezuela Blames US For Another Nationwide Blackout

Bloomberg reports: A second blackout in less than a week occurred in Venezuela on Wednesday, leaving the vast majority of the country’s residents without internet connections or other electrical needs. A graph tracking disruptions to the country’s internet connectivity by NetBlocks.org showed about 91 percent of the country offline just before 6:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, the worst outage the …

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VENEZUELA: US To Withdraw All Diplomats As Situation “Deteriorates” With Blackouts And Water Shortages

ABC News reports: The U.S. is withdrawing its remaining diplomatic personnel from the embassy in Venezuela, citing the “deteriorating situation” given days of blackouts, increased water shortages, and the threat of further protests. The decision also comes amid growing concern that American diplomats could become a pawn in the battle with President Nicolas Maduro as the U.S. tries to push …

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VENEZUELA: Nicolas Maduro Blames US Sabotage As Nationwide Power Outages Enter Fifth Day [VIDEO]

Reuters reports: Furious Venezuelans lined up to buy water and fuel on Sunday as the country endured a fourth day of a nationwide blackout that has left already-scarce food rotting in shops, homes suffering for lack of water and cell phones without reception. Authorities have managed to provide only patchy access to power since the outage began on Thursday in …

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VENEZUELA: Troops Fire Tear Gas As People Try To Clear Barricaded Bridge For Humanitarian Aid Trucks

The Associated Press reports: Venezuela’s National Guard fired tear gas on residents clearing a barricaded border bridge to Colombia on Saturday, as the opposition began making good on its high-risk plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela despite objections from President Nicolas Maduro. By midday, opposition leader Juan Guaido pulled himself onto a semi-truck and shook hands with its driver …

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Venezuela Orders Closure Of Border With Brazil

The Associated Press reports: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is ordering the border with Brazil closed as opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid from neighboring nations. Maduro said on state television Thursday he’s also considering a closure of Venezuela’s border with Colombia. Opposition leaders say they plan to mount caravans to bring aid into Venezuela from Colombia and …

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US Pressures Venezuela Military To Abandon Maduro

Reuters reports: The United States is holding direct communications with members of Venezuela’s military urging them to abandon leader Nicolas Maduro and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior White House official said. The Trump administration expects further military defections from Maduro’s side, the official told Reuters in an interview, despite only a few …

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Trump: Sending Troops To Venezuela Is An “Option”

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump said that sending the military to Venezuela was “an option” and that he had turned down President Nicolás Maduro’s request for a meeting. “Certainly it’s something that’s on the – it’s an option,” Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “Well he has requested a meeting …

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VENEZUELA: Maduro Expels US Diplomats After Trump Recognizes Opposition Leader As Interim President

The Associated Press reports: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is giving American diplomats 72 hours to abandon the country after breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S. over its decision to recognize an opposition leader as interim president. “Before the people and nations of the world, and as constitutional president…..I’ve decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist U.S. government,” …

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BRAZIL: Far-Right President Jair Bolsonaro Takes Office, Claims To Have Freed Nation From Political Correctness

Reuters reports: Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday his election had freed the country from “socialism and political correctness,” and he vowed to tackle corruption, crime and economic mismanagement in Latin America’s largest nation. Bolsonaro, a former army captain turned lawmaker who openly admires Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, promised in his first remarks as president to adhere …

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BRAZIL: Far-Right Jair Bolsonaro Elected President

The Guardian reports: Jair Bolsonaro has been elected as the next president of Brazil, winning 55.1% of the vote in the second-round vote between himself and PT candidate Fernando Haddad. The far-right candidate was leading in the polls after he fell just short of achieving a majority in the first round of voting three weeks ago. His win on Sunday …

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BRAZIL: Anti-Gay Extremist Likely To Become President

The New York Times reports: A far-right candidate who has spoken fondly of Brazil’s onetime military dictatorship came close to an outright victory in the country’s presidential election on Sunday, as Brazilians expressed disgust with politics as usual and endorsed an iron-fisted approach to fighting crime and corruption. Voters delivered a first-round victory to Jair Bolsonaro, who had stunned the …

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BRAZIL: Millions Of Irreplaceable Artifacts Destroyed In National Museum Fire, Officials Blame Funding Issues

The BBC reports: Officials in Brazil have blamed lack of funding for a huge fire that has ravaged the country’s National Museum. One of the largest anthropology and natural history collections in the Americas was almost totally destroyed in Sunday’s fire in Rio de Janeiro. There had been complaints about the dilapidated state of the museum. “We never had adequate …

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VENEZUELA: President Survives Assassination Attempt, Blames Colombia And US Expats In Florida [VIDEO]

The Guardian reports: Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has survived an apparent assassination attempt after what officials described as drones armed with explosives detonated overhead during a speech he was making at a military event. The drones, according to officials, were flown towards Maduro as he addressed soldiers in Caracas on Saturday. Mid-speech, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, looked up …

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REPORT: Trump Wanted US To Invade Venezuela

The Associated Press reports: As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can’t the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country? The suggestion stunned those present at the meeting, including …

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Guyana Holds First-Ever LGBT Pride Parade [VIDEO]

Demerara Waves reports: Guyana held its first gay pride parade, with the country’s gay rights activists accusing the three-year old government as well as the opposition of breaking their election campaign promises to outlaw discrimination against vulnerable groups. “We are saying enough of the rhetoric, enough of the promises. It is time to make good on the legislative changes that …

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VENEZUELA: US Slams “Sham” Reelection Of President

The Associated Press reports: Embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela’s presidential election by a landslide in a disputed vote marred by irregularities and mass absenteeism that led his main rivals to call for a re-run to prevent a national social crisis from exploding. The National Election Council announced that with more than 92 percent of polling stations reporting, Maduro won …

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John Oliver Examines Crisis In Venezuela [VIDEO]

Bustle reports: On Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver’s Venezuela segment highlighted the dire nature of the country’s political and economic crisis. Oliver’s segment comes several days before the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election, which current president Nicolás Maduro looks likely to win. In addition to shedding light on the crisis, which has left thousands of Venezuelans impoverished …

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BOLIVIA: New Penal Code Criminalizes Proselytizing

The Christian Times reports: Evangelical groups in Bolivia are voicing out their concerns about a new law that aims to ban proselytizing and other religious activities. The National Association of Evangelicals in Bolivia (ANDEB) has stated that the new Penal Code of Bolivia amounted to “state abuse” against Christians because it could ban evangelism and prevent them from organizing religious …

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CHILE: Pope Francis Apologizes For Pedophile Priests As Police Disperse Protesters With Tear Gas [VIDEO]

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis dove head first into the sex abuse scandal that has devastated the Catholic Church’s credibility in Chile, apologizing Tuesday for the “irreparable damage” to victims, but also acknowledging the “pain” of priests who have been held collectively responsible for the crimes of a few. Francis’ words were delivered amid unprecedented opposition to his visit: …

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