Latin America

• Wednesday, January 9th 2019 - 08:30 UTC

  Government shutdown persists as Trump and Democrats clash over US/Mexican border wall funding

  

  United States president Donald Trump has demanded funding for his long-promised US-Mexico border wall to halt “a growing humanitarian and security crisis”. But in his first TV address to the nation from the Oval Office, Mr Trump did not declare a national emergency to bypass Congress and build the barrier.

• Tuesday, January 8th 2019 - 07:18 UTC

  UN anti corruption commission given 24 hours to leave Guatemala

  

  Guatemala has said it is withdrawing from a UN-backed anti-corruption commission which has been investigating the country's President Jimmy Morales. Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel said on Monday that the UN body had 24 hours to leave the country.

• Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:50 UTC

  Lima Group, without Mexico, urges Maduro to refrain from taking office next Thursday

  

  Mexico’s new government on Friday called on its peers to refrain from interfering in Venezuela’s internal affairs, declining to back a regional declaration that urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to take office on Jan. 10.

• Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:37 UTC

  Brazil seeks supremacy in South America, said Bolsonaro, who did not discard a US military base in Brazil

  

  Brazil’s new President Jair Bolsonaro said that he would be open to the possibility of the United States operating a military base on his country’s soil, a move that would form a sharp shift in direction for Brazilian foreign policy.

• Wednesday, January 2nd 2019 - 04:55 UTC

  President Bolsonaro vows to tackle corruption, crime and economic mismanagement

  

  Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday his election had freed the country from “socialism and political correctness,” and he vowed to tackle corruption, crime and economic mismanagement in Latin America’s largest nation.

• Monday, December 31st 2018 - 00:51 UTC

  South America does not help self-employed individuals thrive, study shows

  

  Uruguay and Argentina finished last and next respectively in a study carried out by international consultants Expert Market on the difficulties faced by self-employed individuals in 57 countries, it was reported Saturday.

• Saturday, December 29th 2018 - 11:20 UTC

  Bolivian police colonel sacked over controversial statements regarding feminicides

  

  Bolivian Police Chief Rómulo Delgado Friday ordered the “immediate” dismissal of the director of the Special Force for the Fight against Violence (Felcv) of La Paz, Colonel Víctor Hugo Soria, who sparked controversy for having allegedly said that the consumption of alcohol and the “double life” of women caused feminicides.

• Saturday, December 29th 2018 - 09:21 UTC

  Yet another witness in Odebrecht case found dead in Colombia

  

  Colombian former Secretary of Transparency Rafael Merchán, who had been slated to testify in the local version of the Odebrecht corruption scandal, was found dead, it was reported.

• Thursday, December 27th 2018 - 21:59 UTC

  Peru's GDP forecast to go up in 2019 thanks to private investment, domestic consumption

  

  Peru's gross domestic product (GDP) is set to expand 3.7% this year and the next, boosted by the good performance of private investment and consumption, according to The Economist.

• Thursday, December 27th 2018 - 04:58 UTC

  Venezuela calls US “interventionist” for backing Guyana's offshore oil exploration

  

  Venezuela’s foreign ministry on Tuesday described as “interventionist and disrespectful” U.S. comments on a weekend incident in which the country’s navy stopped two ships exploring for oil for Exxon Mobil off Guyana’s coast.