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Santiago, Feb 5, 2024 (AFP) – The confirmed death toll from ferocious wildfires in central Chile has risen to 112, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday. Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve told a press conference that the medical examiner has received “112 people dead, 32 bodies identified,” adding that there were still “40 active fires” in the country. Responders continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with […]
WASHINGTON, Feb 1, 2024 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a fresh $4.7 billion for Argentina, praising the new administration of President Javier Milei as he enacts “bold” cost-cutting to bring the country’s ailing economy back on track. The new disbursement — which brings to around $40.6 billion the amount sent to Argentina as part of a $44 billion aid program — is intended “to support the new authorities’ strong policy efforts […]
By Alejandro Rincon BOGOTÁ, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – Colombia appealed on Thursday for international aid as it battled dozens of forest fires burning vast swathes of the country and encroaching on homes in the capital. For four consecutive days, hundreds of firefighters and volunteers have fought the inferno tearing through the forested mountains above Bogota, some armed with little more than water bottles and face masks. The fires have blanketed the capital in smoke, […]
QUITO, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – Police in violence-plagued Ecuador arrested 68 people Sunday who had attempted to take over a hospital in the country’s southwest in the midst of a “war” between drug gangs and the security forces. “We neutralized alleged terrorists who were trying to take over the facilities of a hospital in Yaguachi, Guayas,” police announced on X, the former Twitter. Those detained were believed to be trying to rescue a colleague […]
BOGOTÁ, Jan 19, 2024 (AFP) – A moderately strong earthquake struck the center-west of Colombia on Friday, causing material damage and possibly contributing to a death, authorities said. “At 6:26 am local time (1126 GMT) an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 was registered at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles), located in the municipality of Ansermanuevo,” John Makario London of the Colombian Geological Service said in a media video. He said the “intermediate magnitude” quake […]
QUITO, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The prosecutor investigating a dramatic armed assault by gangsters last week on an Ecuadoran television station during a live broadcast was shot dead Wednesday, the attorney general said. A prosecution source told AFP that Cesar Suarez had been in charge of finding the gang responsible for the terror-inspiring attack on state-owned TC Television in the port city of Guayaquil by hooded assailants armed with guns and explosives. AFP obtained […]
By Santiago PIEDRA SILVA QUITO, Jan 10, 2024 (AFP) – Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa said Wednesday the country was in “a state of war” against drug cartels who have carried out a wave of kidnappings and deadly attacks in response to government crackdown. Hundreds of soldiers patrolled near-deserted streets in Ecuador’s capital, where residents were gripped by fear over a surge of violence that has prompted alarm abroad. The small South American country has been […]
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 4, 2024 (AFP) – Argentine judges on Wednesday suspended labor law changes that form part of a mega-decree of sweeping economic reforms and deregulation announced by the country’s libertarian new president, Javier Milei. The CGT trade union body had challenged the changes, which technically took effect last Friday, on grounds that they erode basic worker protections such as the right to strike and parental leave. The three judges of Argentina’s labor appeals […]
MIAMI, Dec 22, 2023 (AFP) – A former Colombian soldier pleaded guilty Friday in a US federal court to conspiracy to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was shot dead in 2021 in Port-au-Prince. Mario Antonio Palacios, 45, pleaded guilty in a Miami federal court after entering into a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. Until agreeing to a plea deal, he had for months denied having had any role in the assassination of the former president. […]
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – -Argentina’s new leader Javier Milei on Wednesday unveiled a series of measures to deregulate the country’s struggling economy, eliminating or changing more than 300 rules via presidential decree, including on rent and labor practices. “The goal is to start along the path to rebuilding the country… and start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth,” Milei said in a televised […]
By Danny Kemp with Javier Tovar in Caracas WASHINGTON, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – The United States released an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in exchange for 10 American detainees and a fugitive dubbed “Fat Leonard” in a sweeping prisoner swap deal between the rival governments Wednesday. US President Joe Biden made the “extremely difficult decision” to free Alex Saab, the onetime confidant of socialist leader Maduro, who is accused by the United States […]
CARACAS, Dec 15, 2023 (AFP) – The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana pledged after direct talks on Thursday not to resort to force to settle a long-simmering — and recently reheated — territorial dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region, a joint statement said. Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Guyana’s Irfaan Ali shook hands after a two-hour meeting on the Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The two sides agreed that they “will not […]
