Latin America

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 22:32 UTC

  Colombia's proposed security law violates human rights, opposition claims

  

  Opposition parties in Colombia have raised their voices Wednesday against the Security bill passed Tuesday by the Senate because while it claims to guarantee citizen security, it violates the Constitution, criminalizes social protest, and hands out licenses to kill. The bill is now up to President Iván Duque for enactment.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 11:29 UTC

  Áñez's daughter seeks help from Bachelet regarding her mother's arrest

  

  Carolina Ribera, daughter of Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Áñez, Tuesday sought assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to help put an end to the “torture” her mother is allegedly enduring while incarcerated pending trial.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 20:50 UTC

  Bolivian lorry drivers stranded in the middle of the Andes with Covid-19 and snow

  

  Scores of Bolivian lorry drivers and their vehicles were reported Monday to be stranded on the Chilean border at Tambo Quemado after at least 200 of them tested positive for COVID-19. They claim they had departed with negative PCR tests from 72 hours before the beginning of their journeys. The border crossing now is closed and snow is falling.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 20:23 UTC

  Peru's Congress passes motion of censorship against Education Minister

  

  Peru's Congress Tuesday passed a motion of censure against Education Minister Carlos Gallardo who must now turn in his resignation. President Pedro Castillo has 72 hours to accept it.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 00:51 UTC

  Colombia's Ombudsman calls for protection of sexually diverse individuals

  

  The Office of Colombia's Ombudsman Monday launched an appeal for the authorities to look after the integrity of LGBTQ people after 35 transgender women have been murdered this year nationwide.

• Monday, December 20th 2021 - 12:55 UTC

  Boric wins runoff to become Chile's youngest ever President

  

  Leftwing Deputy Gabriel Boric (35) beat first-round frontrunner Conservative José Antonio Kast in Sunday's presidential runoff to become Chile's youngest-ever head of state. After more than 90% of the votes were counted, Boric led by 56% against Kast's 44%.

• Monday, December 20th 2021 - 09:48 UTC

  Mexico tightens travel requirements on South American visitors

  

  Mexican migration authorities have decided over the past few days to reinstate a visa requirement for travelers from Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil after it was detected large numbers of those alleged tourists were seeking to go on by land and try to cross into the United States.

• Monday, December 20th 2021 - 09:30 UTC

  Colombian authorities seize assets from arrested drug traffickers

  

  Colombian prosecutors have seized assets worth around US $ 37.2 believed to have been acquired by Gulf Clan leader Dairo Antonio Úsuga, a.k.a. “Otoniel,” with money from illegal deeds.

• Saturday, December 18th 2021 - 09:11 UTC

  Peru's president under investigation for corruption

  

  Peru's President Pedro Castillo is once again under the spotlight after the Attorney General said his Office was already investigating press allegations that businesswoman Karelim López had paid the head of state offered to help the Puente Tarata III consortium win the tender for a work.

• Friday, December 17th 2021 - 09:57 UTC

  Argentina to donate 1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Bolivia

  

  Argentina has announced one million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be sent to Bolivia next Monday, making it “the largest donation of doses between countries in South America since the global pandemic was declared,” according to a Health Ministry statement. The doses will be carried in a Hercules C-130 aircraft of the Argentine Air Force.