Latin America

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:30 UTC

  Bolsonaro asks Congress to declare state of emergency to free federal funds from spending caps

  

  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday his second coronavirus test was negative and his government asked Congress to authorize a state of emergency that would allow it to scrap fiscal targets and free up funds to combat the virus’ spread.

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:24 UTC

  IMF rejects Maduro's request for coronavirus aid loan: who runs Venezuela?

  

  The International Monetary Fund has quickly rejected a surprise request on Tuesday by Venezuela for an emergency US$ 5 billion loan to fight the new coronavirus, which threatens to push its already battered economy over the edge.

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 06:14 UTC

  Meatpacker Marfrig has a new CEO; plans to buy back shares

  

  Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig has elected a new chief executive officer and plans to buy back up to 5.91 million of its own shares, it said in two separate securities filings.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:20 UTC

  Beijing furious with Vargas Llosa for saying combating the coronavirus outbreak would be different if China was a democracy

  

  China hit out on Monday at Peru's Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa for allegedly expressing “irresponsible and prejudiced opinions” over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:10 UTC

  Dispatch from Uruguay: “Democracy or Bureaucracy & Mediocrity”

  

  By David P. Michaels (*) - Luis-Alberto Lacalle Pou, Uruguay’s recently inaugurated President, faces one of the most significant challenges in Uruguay’s recent history.

• Monday, March 16th 2020 - 11:20 UTC

  Coronavirus: Argentina closes borders for 15 days and suspends classes until March 31

  

  Argentina will close its borders for 15 days to non-residents in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, President Alberto Fernandez announced on Sunday. Public and private school classes would also be suspended until March 31, Fernandez said. National parks would also be closed.

• Monday, March 16th 2020 - 11:15 UTC

  Chile quarantines 1.300 people aboard two cruise vessels

  

  Chile has quarantined more than 1,300 people aboard two cruise ships after an elderly Briton aboard one of them tested positive for the coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Saturday. Both ships are cruising the Chilean fjords in Patagonia.

• Saturday, March 14th 2020 - 09:55 UTC

  Uruguay confirms first four tested cases of coronavirus, all arrived from Italy

  

  Uruguay confirmed its first four tested cases of coronavirus on Friday, the Ministry of Health announced in a tweet. All four cases were people who had arrived to Uruguay from Milan, Italy between March 3 and March 6, the ministry said, adding that the patients are stable and at their homes.

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 08:47 UTC

  South American stock markets suffer heavy losses on Thursday

  

  Argentina's main stock exchange crashed by nearly 10% on Thursday as markets continued to panic over the coronavirus pandemic. The fall wasn't as bad as Monday's that reached almost 14% but it continued the week's general downward spiral across the region.

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 07:29 UTC

  Civil disobedience resumes in Chile with demands for president Piñera to step down

  

  A Chilean student blinded in both eyes by police rubber bullets became the symbol of this week's protests on the second year of president Sebastián Piñera's mandate but also the thirtieth anniversary of the return of democracy to Chile.