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By Axl HERNANDEZ Luz Encina, 94, sets out from San Antonio in Chile in a small, rented boat clutching a fistful of red flowers to cast into the Pacific Ocean, which she believes to be the final resting place of her son. Mauricio Jorquera was only 19 when he became one of more than 1,400 people to disappear under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet five decades ago. Every August, Encina repeats the ritual: traveling […]
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 30, 2023 (AFP) – Scores of sea lions have died from bird flu in Argentina, officials said Tuesday, as an unprecedented global outbreak continues to infect mammals, raising fears it could spread more easily among humans. Animal health authorities have recently reported dead sea lions in several locations along Argentina’s extensive Atlantic coast, from just south of the capital Buenos Aires to Santa Cruz near the southern tip of the continent. Another […]
BOGOTÁ, Aug 18, 2023 (AFP) – A strong earthquake shook the Colombian capital Bogota on Thursday, setting off sirens and sparking brief panic, including in one woman who died after jumping from a building, authorities said. No major damage was reported, but according to the mayor there were “reports of people trapped in elevators and other minor events.” The Colombian Geological Survey (CGS) put the quake’s magnitude at 6.1, while the US Geological Survey (USGS) […]
BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — Eight people were killed and 11 injured in a series of silo explosions at the site of an agricultural cooperative in Brazil’s southern Parana state, authorities said Thursday. The blasts Wednesday on the premises of the C. Vale agro-industrial company in the municipality of Palotina also left a “last victim” still “under corn and debris from the explosion,” state firefighting officials said in a statement Thursday night. “Firefighting teams are propping […]
BOGOTÁ (AFP) – Heavy rains on Wednesday complicated the search for nine people still missing after a landslide that killed at least 20 in central Colombia, authorities said. More than 400 military troops, firefighters and other government rescue workers searched for survivors under intense downpours, two days after Monday’s disaster in the Cundinamarca department. “We have at this time a toll of 20 fatalities” including five minors, fire department chief Alvaro Farfan told reporters Wednesday. […]
QUETAME, Colombia (AFP) — Rescue teams with drones searched for survivors Tuesday after a landslide triggered by heavy rains left at least 14 people dead and about a dozen missing in central Colombia, authorities said. Several homes were destroyed and a major trade artery blocked after torrential rains hit the Quetame municipality in Colombia’s Cundinamarca department late Monday. Cundinamarca governor Nicolas Garcia said “14 lifeless bodies have been found” by lunchtime Tuesday, updating the […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Paraguay’s incoming president Santiago Pena said Wednesday the country would stand by Taiwan’s side for the duration of his five-year term, reaffirming it as Taipei’s lone diplomatic ally in South America. Asuncion is one of the few remaining capitals in the wider Latin American region to still recognize Taiwan, after Beijing — which claims the island as its territory — spent decades convincing Taipei’s allies to switch sides. Pena’s trip to […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Three police officers in Argentina were sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the racially motivated killing of a 17-year-old boy, and six others received sentences of four to eight years for covering up the crime. In a case that became emblematic of institutional violence in Argentina, three officers were convicted of the 2021 killing of Lucas Gonzalez, a teen from a poor area on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. […]
BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon fell by one-third in the first six months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration compared to the same period of last year, the government said Thursday. The 33.6 percent drop is based on satellite images captured by the National Institute of Space Research, which said that from January through June a total of 2,649 square kilometers (1,020 square miles) of rainforest were felled. That’s […]
By Carlos MANDUJANO Agence France-Presse PUERTO AYORA , Ecuador (AFP) — Unusually warm for this time of year, the waters of the Pacific signal hard times for the reptilian inhabitants of Ecuador’s iconic Galapagos Islands. The balmy temperature is the first symptom of a new cycle of the El Niño weather phenomenon that periodically pronounces a sentence of starvation on the archipelago’s marine iguanas. Experts fear this El Niño could be one of the most […]
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s Ubinas volcano, active again after four dormant years, blew its top twice on Tuesday, showering nearby towns with ash, the country’s IGP geophysical institute said. One of Peru’s most active volcanoes, Ubinas started a new eruption on June 24, emitting gas and ash puffs. On Tuesday, two eruptions blew ash some 5,500 meters (3.4 miles) into the sky. The ash settled over the southern Peruvian districts of Ubinas and Matalaque, […]
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia and a leftist rebel army said they will stop attacking each other starting Thursday ahead of a ceasefire due to begin next month. The National Liberation Army (ELN) made the announcement Tuesday via a body called its Central Command. The ceasefire is due to begin August 3. Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez told reporters the government would issue a decree ordering a halt to army offensive action starting Thursday. Founded in […]
