Latin America

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday he was confident the country’s central bank will act to control inflation as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Mexican annual inflation accelerated slightly faster than expected in April to 6.08%, its highest level since December 2017.

The US State Department lists several politicians and officials in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador ‘credibly alleged to be corrupt. A US State Department report on Central American officials “credibly alleged” to be corrupt includes five Salvadoran officials (PDF) with ties to President Nayib Bukele, six sitting Honduran lawmakers, and …

Bolivian authorities said they struck a significant blow against cocaine producers in the country after the discovery and destruction of three “mega-factories” that they stated could produce up to 910 kg of crack a day. Police found the tarpaulin-covered, makeshift factories hidden in forestry reserves and national parks in eastern …

Chileans began to vote on Saturday in a mega-election in which they will pick mayors, governors, councilors, and critically, the 155 men and women who will draft the country’s next constitution. Changing the constitution was a central demand to emerge from fierce social protests that erupted over inequality and elitism …

Members of Colombia’s national police force who are responsible for abuses or acts of violence amid ongoing protests will be punished to the full extent of the law, the head of the force said. Demonstrators and human rights groups have repeatedly accused police officers of killing civilians, excessive use of …

Peru’s polarized presidential election race is tightening further, an opinion poll showed on Friday, with socialist candidate Pedro Castillo’s lead being trimmed by right-wing opponent Keiko Fujimori just weeks before the June 6 ballot. Castillo, whose sudden ascendancy has sparked jitters among investors and copper miners, was shown with 42% …

Union members, students, pensioners, and workers marched in anti-government protests around Colombia on Wednesday, as President Ivan Duque urged citizens to reject violence and stereotypes about demonstrators and police alike. The sometimes deadly demonstrations were initially fueled in late April by outrage at a now-canceled tax plan. But protesters’ demands …

The reported death toll from nearly two weeks of anti-government protests in Colombia rose past 40 on Tuesday, a day ahead of a planned national strike, while major cities warned of a prolonged peak in COVID-19 cases due to demonstrations. Violent protests fueled by outrage at a now-canceled tax plan …

New data shows the number of migrant children travelling alone to the US dropped by 12 per cent from March to April. The number of migrants arriving at the United States’ southern border with Mexico rose slightly during the month of April compared with the previous month, according to the …

Brazil’s arabica harvest kicked off symbolically this weekend with volunteers picking through one of the world’s largest urban coffee farms at Sao Paulo’s Instituto Biológico, a hub of agricultural research in the middle of the metropolis. In the shadow of the institute’s towering art-deco headquarters, the group worked its way …

Health officials in the Brazilian Amazon, still reeling from health system collapse, fear a third wave is on the way. When Rosa Dos Anjos was admitted to a COVID-19 intensive care unit in the Amazonian capital of Manaus for 15 days in January, she thought her fortunes could not possibly …

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque said issues raised by young demonstrators would be included in national discussions meant to curb nearly two weeks of anti-government protests, as he made a brief visit to Cali, the scene of violence over the weekend. Duque will meet later on Monday with strike leaders in …

Dozens of Guatemalans protested Saturday in the capital to demand the resignation of President Alejandro Giammattei, holding him responsible for a lack of COVID-19 vaccines. “We are protesting for him (Giammattei) to resign and to tell us where the money for the vaccines is, “Karla Perez, a 48-year-old woman who …

Rail line operators are re-establishing a train system to carry Bolivian exports to Chile’s Pacific ports for the first time in 16 years, holding out hope of an increase in regional trade. The freight train route has been defunct since the rail line was scuttled by floods in 2003. But …

Amnesty International says the anti-drug trafficking operation in Jacarezinho favela ‘reprehensible and unjustifiable’. The death toll from a Brazilian police raid this week in a Rio de Janeiro favela has increased to 28, a police official said late on Friday, as international human rights groups condemned the violence. One police …

For a moment, the Brazilian firefighters were taken aback by the sudden rage of the climbing flames: the speed at which they grew and moved, carried by the evening wind. Under the supervision of firefighters from Brazil’s environment agency Ibama, a farmer in this remote part of the Amazon had …

A Brazilian technology institute said on Wednesday it expects to produce a controversial coronavirus Russian vaccine by the second half of 2021, shortly after the state of Parana signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow. Russia has touted it as the world’s first registered coronavirus vaccine, although experts have also …

Colombian officials say they have arrested two Florida men wanted in the United States on charges they illegally sold a bleachlike chemical as a miracle cure for the new coronavirus and other diseases. The Colombian prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that Mark and Joseph Grennon were arrested in the beach town …

Venezuela’s judicial branch convicted two American soldiers who took part in Operacion Gedeon, a paramilitary operation planned to assassinate the country’s President Nicolas Maduro a few months ago. Luke Denman and Airan Berry confessed that they were hired by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido to take the life of Maduro, …

Two former US soldiers have been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Venezuela on charges including terrorism, after a failed bid to invade the Caribbean country last May, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said. Luke Alexander Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, “admitted” to “conspiracy, association (to commit crimes), …