Latin America

• Monday, December 23rd 2019 - 19:50 UTC

  Arrest of Mexican ex security minister by US officials shocks both countries

  

  Business ties between former U.S. officials and an ex-Mexican security minister charged with taking bribes from a drug cartel have raised questions about what U.S. law enforcement knew about him before his arrest this month.

• Monday, December 23rd 2019 - 10:29 UTC

  Cuba names a prime minister for the first time in decades, to decentralize administration

  

  Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Saturday named tourism minister Manuel Marrero Cruz as the country’s first prime minister in decades, under a new constitution that seeks to decentralize former leader Fidel Castro’s job.

• Monday, December 23rd 2019 - 10:26 UTC

  Carnival Cruise apologizes for the “allision” at Cozumel between two of its vessels

  

  In a letter sent to guests on Friday, Carnival Cruise Line apologized for an earlier accident in Cozumel, Mexico, during which the Carnival Glory came into contact with the Carnival Legend while docking, resulting in six passengers sustaining minor injuries.

• Monday, December 23rd 2019 - 09:04 UTC

  Hundreds of children sexually abused by priests from ultra conservative branch of Mexican Catholic Church

  

  At least 175 children were sexually assaulted by priests belonging to an ultra-conservative Mexican branch of the Roman Catholic Church, according to an internal report published over the weekend.

• Monday, December 23rd 2019 - 08:55 UTC

  Bolivia's interim government decides to join the Lima Group to address the Venezuela situation

  

  Bolivia on Sunday announced its entry into the Lima Group regional bloc that was set up to find a way out of the Venezuelan crisis. The Bolivian foreign ministry said in a statement that it hoped to “contribute to a peaceful, democratic and constitutional solution to the crisis in Venezuela, which must be guided by the Venezuelan people.”

• Saturday, December 21st 2019 - 11:05 UTC

  Maduro trying to block Guaido's re-election; US anticipates further sanctions

  

  The United States on Friday promised further sanctions to pressure Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of bribing lawmakers to block the re-election of his opponent Juan Guaido.

• Friday, December 20th 2019 - 09:58 UTC

  Boris Johnson: Political status of the Falkland Islands is not going to change

  

  Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his Christmas message to the Falkland Islands points out the second commercial flight to South America as the great achievement of 2019, and assures that his government's support “for your right to determine your own political status is not going to change”

• Friday, December 20th 2019 - 09:46 UTC

  IMF releases loan tranche to embattled Ecuadorean government

  

  The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a delayed loan tranche for Ecuador, releasing nearly US$500 million under a three-year aid program. The IMF board gave the go-ahead for a US$4.2 billion loan in March to help support the oil-rich nation's economic reforms, but massive protests led by indigenous groups erupted in October when President Lenin Moreno scrapped fuel subsidies, causing gasoline prices to soar.

• Thursday, December 19th 2019 - 09:40 UTC

  McDonald Peru outlets closed on mourning after two employees were electrocuted

  

  Every McDonald's in Peru has been closed for two days of mourning, after two young employees were electrocuted at a branch in the capital, Lima. Alexandra Porras Inga, 19, and Gabriel Campos Zapata, 18, reportedly died on a night shift while cleaning the kitchen. Apparently they were killed by a loose cable on Sunday.

• Wednesday, December 18th 2019 - 09:58 UTC

  Latin America as deadly as Middle East for journalists, RSF annual report

  

  Forty-nine journalists were killed across the world in 2019, Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday, the lowest death toll in 16 years.