Latin America

• Wednesday, April 15th 2020 - 13:00 UTC

  “A bomb” hit Ecuadorean city of Guayaquil: “no space for the living or the dead”

  

  Ecuador's economic capital Guayaquil is reeling from the most aggressive outbreak of COVID-19 in Latin America after the pandemic hit the city “like a bomb,” its mayor said. Cynthia Viteri has emerged from her own bout with the virus to battle the worst crisis the port city of nearly 3 million people has known in modern times.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2020 - 12:48 UTC

  A 99 year old Brazilian WW2 veteran released from hospital after “defeating” COVID-19

  

  A 99-year-old World War II veteran in Brazil was released from the hospital with military honors on Tuesday after recovering from COVID-19. Second Lieutenant Ermando Piveta, who served in the Brazilian artillery in Africa during World War II, was brought out of the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia to a burst of trumpet music and applause.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2020 - 19:31 UTC

  IMF: Uruguay's economy will fall 3% in 2020; Latin America's, 5.2%

  

  According to the estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Uruguayan economy will decrease by 3% this 2020. The “great closure” has been how the international body has defined, as the title of its World Economic Outlook, government measures against the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 12:22 UTC

  Latam Brazil CEO: “We expect demand to return to pre-crisis levels in two to three years”

  

  In a general sense, airlines around the world have already realized the short-term effects and the best way to survive the coronavirus crisis. Now, another vital question faces the industry: how demand for air travel will behave after the pandemic is under control?

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:20 UTC

  LATAM suspends all international flights until May

  

  Latin America's biggest airline, the Brazilian-Chilean group LATAM, is suspending all international flights until May because of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:18 UTC

  Following transgender complaints, Peru cancels “gender-based lockdown”

  

  Peru canceled a controversial measure restricting public movement by gender to try to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, after just over a week. A decree in the official gazette stated that instead of men and women leaving their homes on alternate days “to buy food, pharmaceutical products and perform financial operations, only one person per family unit can move from Monday to Saturday.”

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:15 UTC

  Mexico has its oil protected by a sovereign hedge ensuring against low prices

  

  While Mexico and Saudi Arabia fought over a deal to bring the oil-price war to an end, Mexico has a powerful defense: a massive Wall Street hedge shielding it from low prices. The Mexican sovereign oil hedge, which ensures the country against low prices and is considered a state secret, is a factor that may make the country less inclined to accept the OPEC+ agreement.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:34 UTC

  Pandemic doesn't stop murdering journalists in Mexico

  

  A Mexican journalist who disappeared over a week ago in the southern state of Guerrero was found dead close to where his family last saw him, the local prosecutor said on Saturday. Forensic tests on human remains in the seaside resort of Acapulco were identified as belonging to Victor Fernando Alvarez, who disappeared on Apr 2.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 08:49 UTC

  Peruvian police arrest Chinese citizen illegally conducting COVID-19 tests with stolen kits

  

  Police in Lima on Sunday arrested a Chinese citizen for illegally conducting rapid COVID-19 tests on the public with newly-delivered kits stolen from Peru's health ministry. Zhang Tianxing, 36, was arrested in the Brena district of Lima as he was about to take samples from two women at the door of their house, police said.

• Thursday, April 9th 2020 - 12:44 UTC

  Thousands arrested in Central America for violating quarantine rules

  

  Thousands of people have been detained across Central America for violating rules put in place by their governments to curb the fast-spreading new coronavirus in a region that has fewer medical resources than developed countries.