Latin America

UPDATED: Peru’s Castillo says there is ‘hope’ as razor-thin margin keeps country on edge

Socialist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo said Peruvians are a "people of hope" on Sunday, with the country on edge as unofficial vote counts showed him and his conservative election rival…

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Peruvians vote to elect president, divided by class, geography

Peruvians began voting to pick a president on Sunday in an election that has bitterly divided them by class and geography, with urban and higher-income citizens preferring right-wing Keiko Fujimori…

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Ipsos poll shows tie on eve of Peru’s election, with Fujimori slightly ahead

An Ipsos poll on Saturday afternoon showed Peru's runoff presidential election still locked in a statistical tie, but right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori is slightly ahead of leftist Pedro Castillo, by a 0.7 percentage point margin. Peruvians will head to the polls on Sunday in…

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With over 80,000 dead, Argentines struggle under weight of COVID-19

For lawyer Lidia Alverisi, Argentina's COVID-19 pandemic has taken an almost unbearable toll. "We have all lost someone, someone we knew well," she told Reuters. "In my case, it's been…

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Peru’s Castillo falls in polls, suggesting photo finish against Fujimori

Peruvian socialist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo slipped further in public opinion polls, setting up what appeared to be a dead heat against right-wing Keiko Fujimori before Sunday's runoff election. In…

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Photo Story – Building collapses in Rio de Janeiro

Firefighters work among the debris of the collapsed building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 03 June 2021. According to the Municipal authorities three people were rescued alive. At the moment…

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Brazilians protest as another 2,500 die of COVID-19

Pot-banging protests erupted across several cities in Brazil on Wednesday evening as President Jair Bolsonaro addressed the nation, just days after protestors took to the streets across the country over…

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Peru’s Castillo has copper tax deals in his sights; Chinese firms at risk

Peru's presidential front-runner is taking aim at copper mining firms' coveted tax stability agreements that freeze tariffs, and the plan could have an outsized impact on Chinese miners in the…

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Peru’s Fujimori, Castillo spar in presidential debate, neck-and-neck in polls

Peru's two presidential candidates on Sunday sparred in a debate marked by offers of increased public spending, with right-wing Keiko Fujimori offering cash handouts and bonuses as socialist Pedro Castillo…

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Photo Story – People remember victims of a massacre attributed to Sendero Luminoso, in Peru

People participate in a wake to remember the victims who died during an attack by the Sendero Luminoso terrorist group, in San Miguel del Este, Peru, 26 May 2021. According…

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First diesel cargo in six months arrives in Venezuela

Venezuela's first diesel imports since November arrived this week aboard the tanker Bueno, carrying almost 500,000 barrels of fuel desperately needed by farmers and truckers in the sanction-hit country, according…

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Brazilian police arrest Italian drug lord after years on the run

Brazil's Federal Police arrested Rocco Morabito, a fugitive Italian drug lord with ties to the powerful 'Ndrangheta criminal gang, underlining the growing importance of Brazil in the Europe-bound cocaine trade.…

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EPA’s Eye in the Sky: Guaviare, Colombia

The Chiribiquete mountain range, in the Guaviare, Colombia. Photo: EPA-EFE/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda

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COVID-19 deaths in Latin America surpass 1 million as outbreak worsens

The death toll from COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean passed 1 million people, according to a Reuters tally, with the pandemic worsening in the part of the world…

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Argentina to return to strict lockdown

Argentina will tighten pandemic lockdown measures to combat a severe second COVID-19 wave, President Alberto Fernandez said, underscoring concern as daily cases and deaths have broken records over the last…

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Diego Maradona’s medical team charged with homicide

Seven medical professionals were charged with homicide in the death of soccer legend Diego Maradona, according to ESPN. Maradona died in November, two weeks after having brain surgery. He was 60. Following Maradona's…

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Argentina halts meat exports for 30 days amid inflation fears

Argentina announced a 30-day halt on meat exports on Monday amid rising prices that have spooked the government as it struggles with runaway inflation ahead of key mid-term elections at the…

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Peru presidential candidate outlines new taxes, royalties for miners

Peru's socialist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo said he would raise taxes and royalties on Peru's key mining sector and renegotiate the tax contracts of large companies if elected to high…

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Chile votes for body to rewrite dictatorship-era constitution

Chileans head to the polls Sunday in a second day of voting to elect 155 people who will rewrite the country's dictatorship-era constitution in a bid to address deep-seated social…

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Datafolha poll shows Bolsonaro’s approval falls to 24%

Only about 24% of Brazilians think the administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has been "good" or "great," his lowest popularity rating since taking office in 2019 and down from…

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EPA’s Eye in the Sky: Copacabana beach, Brazil

People enjoying Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: EPA-EFE/Antonio Lacerda

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Argentina pushes back mid-term elections as COVID-19 rages

The Argentine government has agreed with opposition parties to postpone primary and mid-term elections due to take place from August for five weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Interior…

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Rio de Janeiro drug shootout death toll rises to 28

The death toll from a police raid on a drug gang in a poor Rio de Janeiro neighborhood on Thursday has risen to 28, civil police said on Friday, the…

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Update – 25 people die in deadly drug raid in Rio’s favelas in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -At least 25 people, including at least one police officer, were killed in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday in a shootout during a police raid targeting…

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Photo Story – Anti-government protest in Bogota, Colombia

A motorcycle is set on fire during a new day of protests in Bogota, Colombia, 05 May 2021. A week into the protests, thousands continued to take to the streets…

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Colombians hold eighth day of protests after overnight violence

BOGOTA, May 5 (Reuters) - Colombians staged mass marches around the country on Wednesday to mark an eighth day of anti-government protests with a laundry list of demands, after violence…

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Youth kills 3 toddlers, 2 employees at Brazilian nursery school

A young man armed with a machete broke into the nursery school Pró-Infância Aquarela, located at Quintino Bocaiúva street, in the Industrial district, in Saudades , in the west of Santa Catarina , on…

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UN, EU call for calm at Colombia protests, warn of excessive force

The United Nations and European Union on Tuesday called for calm and warned of the use of excessive force at protests against the administration of Colombian President Ivan Duque, as…

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Lawyer lambasts ‘trial by media’ in Maradona case

A defense lawyer involved in the case around the death in Argentina last year of soccer star Maradona slammed what he called a "trial by media" on Monday after the leak of…

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Peru presidential race tightens

Peru's presidential election race is tightening a month ahead of a run-off vote in June, with socialist Pedro Castillo still ahead, while pollsters say the key battles are in poor,…

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Argentina COVID-19 cases hit 3 million

Argentina coronavirus cases hit 3 million, as medical workers said hospitals were full to capacity despite toughened government measures to bring down the spread of infections. The country's health ministry…

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Magnitude 6 earthquake strikes offshore Coquimbo, Chile

An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck offshore Coquimbo in Chile, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC)said on Sunday. The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), EMSC added.

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Peru presidential front-runner Castillo rushed to clinic, suspends campaigning

Peruvian front-running left-wing presidential candidate Pedro Castillo was rushed to a clinic in Lima for "respiratory" illness, forcing him to suspend campaigning, the candidate's party said on social media. Castillo,…

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Photo Story – Protests in the Colombian city of Cali against the tax reform

Protesters knock down the statue of the founder of the city, Spanish conqueror Sebastian de Belalcazar, during the protests against the tax reform called by the workers' centrals in Cali,…

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Ecuador announces curfew, curbs as COVID again overwhelms hospitals

Ecuador implemented a nighttime curfew and other mobility restrictions as a spike in coronavirus cases again overwhelms hospitals in the Andean country, which in 2020 experienced one of the region's…

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Argentina COVID-19 deaths hit 60,000 in pandemic’s ‘worst moment’

Argentina is going through its "worst moment" of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health minister said, as deaths from the virus hit 60,000 amid a sharp second wave that has forced…

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Peru pollster puts socialist Castillo ahead going into June run-off

Peruvian socialist Pedro Castillo is in pole position to win the presidency in a second round ballot set for June, according to a survey by pollster Ipsos Peru on Sunday…

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Peru’s Vargas Llosa backs Keiko Fujimori ahead of June run-off

Peruvian Literature Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa on Sunday called on Peruvian voters to support market-friendly candidate Keiko Fujimori ahead of a run-off election to be held in June.…

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Brazil asks women to delay pregnancy over new coronavirus variant fears

Brazil asked women to delay getting pregnant until the worst of the pandemic passes, saying the virus variant that is devastating the South American country appears to affect expectant mothers…

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Peruvian ex-president Vizcarra banned from public office over vaccines scandal

LIMA (Reuters) - Former Peruvian president Martín Vizcarra has been banned from holding public office for 10 years in a unanimous vote by the country's congress after he allegedly jumped…

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Brazil’s COVID-19 response cost thousands of lives, says Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The Brazilian government's "failed response" to the pandemic led to thousands of otherwise avoidable deaths and created a humanitarian catastrophe that is still playing out,…

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Argentina closes schools, imposes curfew in Buenos Aires as COVID-19 cases spike

Argentina’s government will tighten pandemic restrictions in and around the capital Buenos Aires to rein in a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases, including shutting schools and imposing a curfew from…

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Study shows Brazil’s P1 coronavirus variant mutating, may become more dangerous

Brazil’s P1 coronavirus variant, behind a deadly COVID-19 surge in the Latin American country that has raised international alarm, is mutating in ways that could make it better able to…

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Majority of Brazil COVID-19 ICU patients aged 40 years or younger

The surging COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil is increasingly affecting younger people, with hospital data showing that last month the majority of those in intensive care were aged 40 or younger,…

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UPDATED: Far-left candidate Castillo leads Peruvian presidential race

Far-left candidate Pedro Castillo will face conservative Keiko Fujimori in a June run-off of Peru’s presidential election, according to a fast count by pollster Ipsos of more than two thirds…

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Guillermo Lasso wins presidency in Ecuador

Ecuadorean banker Guillermo Lasso has won Sunday’s presidential runoff vote against leftist economist Andres Arauz, putting the country on track to maintain open market policies rather than return to socialism.…

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Peruvians head to polls with masks, pens and little excitement

LIMA, April 11 (Reuters) - Peruvians were preparing to head to the polls on Sunday in a presidential election marked by uncertainty due to widespread public apathy following decades of…

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Ecuador to choose between socialism and free markets in presidential runoff

Ecuadoreans on Sunday will choose between a conservative banker and a left-wing economist in a presidential runoff that follows months of debate over whether the country’s economic malaise can be…

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Peru braces for ‘most fragmented election in history’

Peru will vote for a new president on Sunday in a wide-open election framed by a deadly surge in coronavirus cases, and under the long shadow of a constitutional crisis…

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Amazon deforestation rose 17% in ‘dire’ 2020, data shows

Deforestation in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, rose by 17% last year, with wildfires, beef production and logging causing forested areas roughly the size of El Salvador to disappear,…

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Mexico, Brazil will not limit AstraZeneca vaccine

Mexican and Brazilian health regulators said on Wednesday they would not limit the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot after Britain's vaccine advisory committee recommended not using it for people under…

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‘A biological Fukushima’: Brazil COVID-19 deaths on track to pass worst of U.S. wave

Brazil’s brutal surge in COVID-19 deaths will soon surpass the worst of a record January wave in the United States, scientists forecast, with fatalities climbing for the first time above…

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Brazil hopes veterinary facilities can help increase COVID-19 vaccine output

Brazil hopes to use veterinary facilities to increase COVID-19 vaccine output, authorities said on Saturday, as the country accounts for the world’s worst daily death tolls and its vaccination efforts…

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Argentine President Alberto Fernandez says tests positive for coronavirus

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has tested positive for the new coronavirus, is waiting for the result to be confirmed and is in good spirits despite having a light fever, the…

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Cooking oil or crude? Italian restaurant owner was mistaken target of U.S. sanctions

One of the final acts of the Trump administration was almost certainly one of the most confounding for Alessandro Bazzoni, a restaurant owner in Verona, Italy. As part of a…

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Photo Story – Procession of the ‘Nazareno de San Pablo’ in Caracas

Catholic faithful protected with masks attend the procession of the advocation of Jesus Christ 'The Nazarene of Saint Paul' in the context of the celebration of Holy Week, in Caracas,…

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Brazil detects new coronavirus variant

Brazil has detected a new COVID-19 variant in Sao Paulo state that is similar to the one first seen in South Africa, the head of the state's Butantan biomedical institute…

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