Latin America

A helicopter carrying Colombia’s President Ivan Duque and others was struck by multiple bullets in an attack on Friday, he said in a video message.

Peru’s capital, Lima was hit by a magnitude-6.0 earthquake on Tuesday night. The tremors were caught on live TV and caused people to run to the streets.

Attacks by armed gunmen firing from cars in several neighborhoods of the northern Mexico city of Reynosa killed 18 people, state security forces said on Sunday.

Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 500,000 on Saturday as experts warn that the world’s second-deadliest outbreak may worsen due to delayed vaccinations and the government’s refusal to back social distancing measures.

Mexico City schools that had just gone back to in-person classes will be closed again starting Monday as the sprawling capital climbs into a higher tier of coronavirus risk, education authorities said on Saturday. Mexico City officials had loosened restrictions on gatherings in schools, hotels, stores, and restaurants just two …

A group of retired Peruvian officers has called on the country’s military to refuse to recognize the projected victory of socialist candidate Pedro Castillo in the presidential election unless vote fraud allegations are fully investigated. The move appears to be a prelude to a Washington-orchestrated military coup similar to the …

Hochschild Mining said on Friday that 27 workers were killed while 13 more injured in a road accident in Peru involving a bus operated by one of the precious metals miner’s contractors. The bus was transporting workers from Hochschild’s Pallancata operation to the city of Arequipa in the south of …

Peruvian socialist candidate Pedro Castillo claimed victory in the presidential election on Tuesday after clinging on to a narrow lead as the lengthy vote count ended, although his right-wing rival pledged to fight the result and has yet to concede. Castillo ended the count 44,058 votes ahead of Keiko Fujimori, …

A car bomb explosion at a military base in the Colombian border city of Cucuta injured 36 people on Tuesday, the defense minister said, casting blame for the attack on leftist rebels. The explosion took place at a base used by the 30th Army Brigade in the northeastern city near …

Nicaragua says the recently detained opposition figures are “usurpers” funded by the United States to overthrow President Daniel Ortega. The opposition figures received “millions of dollars in cash from the American public through USAID,” the government said in a document on Monday. Nicaragua arrested five opposition figures over the weekend …

Nicaraguan police arrested another opposition leader on Sunday as an increasingly authoritarian President Daniel Ortega seeks to tighten his grip on power ahead of his bid for reelection later this year. Opposition leader Suyen Barahona is the latest Ortega critic to be detained, the eleventh political leader overall caught in …

Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori insisted Saturday that Peru’s presidential election was marred by fraud, as final vote counting dragged on with her leftist rival slightly ahead. “There was fraud in the voting process. There was manipulation in the voting process,” Fujimori said in a briefing with foreign reporters, as her …

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has stated that US sanctions are preventing the South American nation from accessing Covid vaccines by blocking a $10 million payment to the global Covax scheme. The statement made by the Venezuelan government official during a televised broadcast claimed that the US is blocking “resources …

Colombia reduced the area occupied by coca across the country by 7% in 2020, although the potential output of cocaine rose 8% to 1,228 metric tons a year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Wednesday. Last year, Colombia reduced the area occupied by coca crops …

Trade union leader Pedro Castillo has declared himself the victor in the Peruvian presidential election. His opponent Keiko Fujimori refused to concede and claimed without evidence that the vote was fraudulent. “The people have spoken,” Castillo told supporters late on Tuesday in front of his Peru Libre party’s headquarters. He …

Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested two more potential presidential challengers to veteran leader Daniel Ortega in elections later this year. Felix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro have been accused of terrorism and plotting against Nicaragua’s sovereignty and independence. They were held under a controversial new security law passed in December …

US Vice President Kamala Harris told Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that relations were entering a “new era” as they agreed on Tuesday to deepen economic ties and invest in Central America to try to lower a record spike in migration. Harris said talks with Lopez Obrador billed as …

Left-wing candidate Pedro Castillo has edged into the lead in a dramatic twist in Peru’s presidential election. With 94% of votes counted, Mr. Castillo overtook his right-wing rival, Keiko Fujimori, who is running for the presidency for the third time. He has a lead of 0.1 percentage points, with just …

Polls have closed in Mexico’s mid-term elections after one of the country’s bloodiest campaigns in recent history. Early results suggest President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s governing Morena party and its allies will win a reduced majority in Congress. The elections have been marred by violence with dozens of politicians killed …

The move, if approved, would make El Salvador the first country in the world to formally accept cryptocurrency as legal money. El Salvador may become the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender after President Nayib Bukele announced he would soon propose a bill that could transform the remittance-dependent economy. …