Al Jazeera: Buenos Aires – Argentina’s government has released poverty figures for the first time in three years, revealing that nearly a third of the population is living below the breadline. The news came as a shock as the previous administration of Cristina Kirchner had stopped measuring poverty rates more than a decade ago. In Argentina, you are officially poor… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Sao Paulo – Brazilians are gearing up for Sunday’s local election, which has seen more and more people turning to evangelical leaders for political as well as spiritual guidance. In the city of Sao Paulo, Celso Russomanno is vying for the mayor’s post, running on his record as a defender of consumer rights. While he emphasises that he… Read more »
BBC: Brazil’s ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been charged with corruption again, local media say. He allegedly helped a relative of his ex-wife win a contract for construction giant Oderbrecht in Angola. Police have yet to confirm the news. But in a statement on Facebook Lula said he had always “acted within the law”.
BBC: In his latest efforts to salvage a peace deal with Farc rebels, Colombian leader Juan Manuel Santos is due to meet ex-President Alvaro Uribe. The peace agreement, aimed at ending 52 years of armed conflict, was narrowly rejected by Colombians in a popular vote on Sunday. Mr Uribe led the campaign against the peace deal. He says it was… Read more »
Reuters: Clashes broke out in Honduras on Monday as police fired tear gas on demonstrators blocking highway toll stations in protest against efforts by the ruling party to enable presidential re-election and keep the incumbent Juan Hernandez in power. The protesters were also demonstrating against increases in highway toll rates and the cost of electricity. Urged on by the opposition… Read more »
Reuters: Ecuador’s ruling party tapped a former vice president and ally of leftist President Rafael Correa as its candidate for president on Saturday in an election to be held in February. Lenin Moreno, 63, was Correa’s vice president from 2007 to 2013 and is currently a United Nations special envoy on disability and accessibility. Moreno will campaign with current Vice… Read more »
Reuters: A month-long strike by Brazilian bank workers has become the longest in 12 years, underscoring the impasse between employers and staff amid the nation’s harshest recession in eight decades. In a Tuesday statement, leaders from the Sindicato dos Bancários de São Paulo, Osasco e Região, the nation’s biggest banking industry union, said almost 10 rounds of negotiations have yielded… Read more »
CNBC: For decades, jobs at Venezuela’s state-run oil giant PDVSA were coveted for above average salaries, generous benefits and cheap credit that brought home ownership and vacationing abroad within reach for many workers. Now, in Venezuela’s asphyxiating economy, even PDVSA employees are struggling to pay for everything from food and bus rides to school fees as triple-digit inflation eats away… Read more »
UPI: Talks with Russian officials this week could add additional weight to an oil production agreement reached last week in Algeria, Venezuela’s president said. State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, known also as PDVSA, said through its official Twitter account that President Nicolas Maduro aims to carry a message to Russia about cooperating on production arrangements “It is very certain that we have… Read more »
CNN: After pouring billions into Venezuela over the last decade, China is cutting off new loans to the Latin American nation. It’s a major reversal of relations between the two nations, experts say. It also comes at the worst time for Venezuela, which is spiraling into an economic and humanitarian crisis. “China is not especially interested in loaning more money to Venezuela,”… Read more »