Latin America
Ecuador: presidential election heads for runoff
Ecuador’s presidential election is headed for a runoff on 13 April. With 80% of the votes counted in the first round, incumbent president Daniel Noboa has secured 44.4%, and opposition candidate Luisa Gonzalez …
Colombia: confrontation between Petro and Trump
When president Gustavo Petro blocked US deportation flights in protest of the treatment of migrants, Donald Trump at once threatened severe tariffs and revoked visas for Colombian officials. Petro initially resisted but ultimately…
Peru: Pope Francis dissolves Catholic movement
Pope Francis has dissolved the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, after a Vatican investigation exposed years of abuse by its founder, Luis Figari, and other leaders. The probe revealed sexual,…
Colombia: army deployed to counter gang warfare
Colombian special forces have been deployed to the conflict-ridden Catatumbo region to counter renewed violence between armed rebel groups, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of…
Venezuela: opposition leader’s son-in-law kidnapped
Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez has reported the kidnapping of his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, by hooded men in Caracas. He was intercepted while taking his children to school and remains missing. In the July…
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Panama Canal transfer
On 31 December Panama celebrated the 25th anniversary of reclaiming the Panama Canal from US control. President José Raúl Mulino has rejected recent comments by Donald Trump suggesting that the USA might try…
Brazil: Lula’s health scare causes problems for the country’s left wing
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s recent health scare has raised questions about his political future and Brazil’s left-wing leadership. At 79, Lula has undergone emergency surgery in São Paulo after a fall…
Nicaragua: prominent bishop forced into exile
Daniel Ortega’s government has forced Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez, president of Nicaragua’s bishops’ conference, to go into exile in Guatemala. He had complained about government officials placing loudspeakers outside a church during…
Argentina: one dead, several missing as hotel collapses
A tragic hotel collapse in Argentina has claimed the life of an elderly man and left seven to nine individuals missing. The ten-storey building, undergoing renovations, imploded in the early hours, tilting and…
Brazil: ‘If these fires continue, we indigenous people will die’
The Amazon is experiencing a huge environmental crisis; fires have ravaged over 62,000 square kilometres of forest, exacerbated by Brazil’s most severe drought. The fires, usually deliberately started by loggers, miners, and farmers…
