Latin America

• Monday, February 25th 2019 - 09:09 UTC

  Ecuador reaches an agreement with IMF and will receive US$ 4.2 billion

  

  Ecuador and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff have reached an agreement on a set of policies to underpin a US$4.2 billion (435% of quota and SDR3.035 billion) arrangement under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF). This arrangement, which is subject to IMF Executive Board approval, would provide support for the Ecuadorian government’s economic policies over the next three years.

• Sunday, February 24th 2019 - 17:46 UTC

  Humanitarian aid to Venezuela clash: first round for Maduro, but defeat to the world's eyes

  

  Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has called on other nations to consider “all measures” to oust President Nicolas Maduro. International pressure is building on Mr Maduro after opposition-led efforts to bring aid into Venezuela descended into deadly violence on Saturday.

• Saturday, February 23rd 2019 - 19:31 UTC

  Maduro announces “total rupture” of relations between Venezuela and Colombia

  

  In the midst of a tense day in which there have been clashes between volunteers and Venezuelan military officials on the borders of the country, President Nicolás Maduro, considered a usurper by the parliament of his country, announced the “total” cessation of diplomatic relations with Colombia.

• Saturday, February 23rd 2019 - 11:00 UTC

  Venezuela: What will happen today?

  

  Venezuela will live a historic day this Saturday, February 23: thousands of people will gather at the borders of the country for a massive mobilization that expects to receive tons of humanitarian aid.

• Saturday, February 23rd 2019 - 10:55 UTC

  Guaido appeared at the “Venezuela Aid Live” in Colombia along with Duque, Piñera and Abdo

  

  The president of the National Assembly (AN) and recognized Venezuela’s interim president for half a hundred countries, Juan Guaidó, arrived this Friday by surprise to the Colombian city of Cúcuta, where the concert “Venezuela Aid Live” was held, organized by the British billionaire Richard Branson. Guaidó said that he crossed the border to the Colombian side thanks to the support of the Armed Forces of his country despite the prohibition to leave the country that the administration of Nicolás Maduro imposed on him.

• Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 21:59 UTC

  “Massive humanitarian implications:” Venezuelan exodus reaches 3.4 million

  

  The larges exodus in Latin America’s history just got larger, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said. UN agencies sounded the alarm on Friday over the humanitarian needs after the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela reached 3.4 million people.

• Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 10:01 UTC

  Rare giant tortoise surfaces in the Galapagos Islands after a century

  

  Conservationists in the Galapagos Islands have found a giant tortoise from a species thought to have become extinct more than a century ago. The adult female tortoise was found on the island of Fernandina in the west of the Pacific archipelago and is believed to be a Fernandina Giant Tortoise, also known as Chelonoidis phantasticus, a species last sighted in 1906.

• Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 09:48 UTC

  Maduro closes the border with Brazil; Guaidó leads caravan to Colombian border

  

  President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of Venezuela's border with Brazil on Thursday in an increasingly fraught power struggle. Guaido set out in a convoy of vehicles to personally pick up US aid being stockpiled on the other side of the Colombian border, defying Maduro's military to stop him.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 09:09 UTC

  Maduro's regime closes air and sea traffic from Caribbean islands to block humanitarian aid

  

  Venezuela’s government said on Wednesday that it was closing its border to air and sea traffic from three Caribbean islands in an effort to block aid shipments to the country organized by the Venezuelan opposition.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 08:34 UTC

  Taiwan to the rescue of “socialist” Ortega with a 20-year US$ 100 million loan

  

  Nicaragua's Congress on Tuesday accepted a US$ 100 million loan offered by Taiwan, giving a line of support to President Daniel Ortega's government, which has become increasingly isolated after a brutal crackdown on protesters last year.