In 1979, Daniel Ortega was a revolutionary commander who overthrew Nicaragua’s pro-American dictatorship and took power. Today, after a long period in the wilderness, he is running the country again. Since his election in 2006, the country has seen stable economic growth, less poverty and less violence. But Nicaragua remains the second-poorest country in Latin America after Haiti. Our reporters… Read more »
Nationwide strikes led by Brazilian unions to protest President Michel Temer’s austerity measures crippled public transport in several major cities early on Friday across this continent-sized nation, while factories, businesses and schools closed. In the economic hub of Sao Paulo, the main tourist draw Rio de Janeiro and several other metropolitan areas, protesters used barricades of burning tires and other… Read more »
Human rights groups in Brazil have called on the government to increase protection for indigenous people after a tribe was attacked. Members of the Gamela tribe suffered gunshot wounds, stabbings and amputations in a land rights dispute in the Amazon state of Maranhao. Reports say the attackers were farmers and landowners. There has been a rise in such assaults across… Read more »
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo marked four decades Sunday of marching for accountability in the abductions of their kin by Argentina’s last dictatorship. “Stay alert, Stay alert; they’re alive … the ideals of the abducted” and presumed dead, thousands of marchers in Buenos Aires sang in the square they helped make famous. Out front was founder Hebe de… Read more »
A Supreme Court justice dealt President Michel Temer and Brazil’s political elite a heavy blow on Tuesday by ordering investigations into eight cabinet ministers and dozens of lawmakers allegedly linked to the country’s biggest corruption scandal. The list of names under investigation released by Justice Edson Fachin read like a Who’s Who of Brazilian politics, tarnishing past statesmen and potential… Read more »
The movement behind more than three weeks of social unrest in French Guiana said Monday it would press its action until the government signs a draft accord on an emergency package and reopens talks on further funds. Activists are protesting against what they say is decades of under-investment in the French territory in South America, paralysed by a general strike… Read more »
Venezuela has donated $500,000 to US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, newly released records show. Citgo Petroleum, a US-based subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, is named in papers filed with the Federal Election Commission. The revelation comes as the Venezuelan economy appears to be crippled by food shortages, violent crime and inflation. Three people were killed in protests on… Read more »
Police in Venezuela have fired tear gas during the second day of violent protests in the capital, Caracas. Three people were killed on Wednesday when opponents of President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets to march. The huge protests in Caracas and western Venezuela come amid a serious economic crisis in the country. Opposition leaders have accused Mr Maduro of… Read more »