The Argentine province of Chubut has asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) for help in the probe into the fires in the Los Alerces National Park, Governor Ignacio Torres announced after meeting with US Ambassador Marc Stanley. “We need to find those responsible as soon as possible, and that there is an exemplary measure in the courts,” said Torres about the catastrophe that has been ongoing since Jan. 25 in which some 8,000 hectares have already been burned down.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a trip to Brazil and Argentina next week, during which he will meet with local authorities to discuss regional matters in addition to participating in G20 engagements in Rio de Janeiro. In Buenos Aires, he will be welcomed by President Javier Milei, who will be traveling to the US the same week, it was also announced.
Health authorities in Brazil started Friday vaccinating children against dengue in six out the the ten State capitals chosen to start the South American Country's immunization program for which 712,000 doses were made available. The distribution of dengue vaccines to 315 municipalities began on February 8.
The Uruguayan government of President Luis Lacalle Pou issued a decree whereby a new surcharge of US$ 2.56 (US$2.10 plus VAT) per passenger will be added to travel by ship to and from the country to finance the new immigration control system. It will apply to regular daily services from Buenos Aires as well as to seasonal cruise ships.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni died suddenly today in the Arctic prison where he has been held since last December, Russia's prison services said.
After little over two months in office, President Javier Milei has managed to reverse a trend whereby people from neighboring countries crossed the border to do their shopping in Argentina. According to reports from the provinces of Misiones and Jujuy, it is now less expensive for Argentines to do it the other way around.
Jair Renan Bolsonaro, the youngest son of former Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, is suspected together with a friend (and shooting instructor, Maciel Alves) of fraudulent misrepresentation, use of false documents, and money laundering in connection with an application for a bank loan, the Federal District Civil Police (PCDF) said in a statement Thursday. No further details were released, given the case's seal of secrecy.
Defendant Margareth Lizeth Chacón Zúñiga was sentenced Thursday by a court in Cartagena to 39 years and 10 months in prison for her involvement in the murder of Paraguayan anti-Mafia Prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in May 2022 while honeymooning in Colombia. Pecci's family requested for Chacón the maximum sentence of 47 years in prison.
Given the arrest in Venezuela of opposition activist Rocío San Miguel last week, the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay issued a joint statement Thursday calling for her release.
Uruguayan Senator Juan Sartori of President Luis Lacalle Pou's National Party met this week with his Salvadorean President friend Nayib Bukele and said that the Central American country had achieved a total change in security and openness to the world.