Latin America

• Thursday, September 8th 2016 - 02:45 UTC

  Morales demands FIFA sanctions Chile for offensive chanting against Bolivia during Russia 2018 qualifier

  

  President Evo Morales has called on the soccer authorities of Bolivia, the South American football confederation, Conmebol, and FIFA to sanction Chile for the offensive chanting towards Bolivians during the Russia 2018 Cup qualifier match played on Tuesday night in Santiago's Monumental Stadium.

• Wednesday, September 7th 2016 - 17:00 UTC

  Brazil's central bank sounds more flexible on the world's highest interest rates

  

  The Brazilian central bank said on Tuesday that future interest rate cuts will not depend on any single factor, signaling that policymakers are ready to ease monetary policy as inflation expectations improve. In the minutes of its last rate-setting meeting, the bank said all members were satisfied with the progress of disinflation, but remained cautious about high inflation expectations for 2017.

• Tuesday, September 6th 2016 - 19:36 UTC

  Cuba looking for new oil supplier and begins implementing social security tax

  

  President Raul Castro has asked Russia to consider beginning to supply Cuba with oil. Before the Soviet Union’s disintegration in 1991, the ex URSS was Cuba’s main supplier under favorable trade terms. Russia's official news network revealed the news, allegedly in a direct request from Castro to president Vladimir Putin.

• Friday, September 2nd 2016 - 11:21 UTC

  A million Venezuelans take to the streets peacefully to protest against Maduro

  

  Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded Venezuela's capital on Thursday in one of the biggest mass protests against socialist rule for more than a decade. Dressed in white and chanting “this government will fall,” hundreds of thousands rallied across Caracas to demand a recall referendum against Maduro and decry a deep economic crisis in the oil rich country.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 23:29 UTC

  Uruguay's Home Secretary questions the legitimacy of Temer, and calls removal of Rousseff, a “coup”

  

  Uruguay's Home Secretary Eduardo Bonomi described the removal of Brazilian ex president Dilma Rousseff as a “coup” and underlined her successor Michel Temer “has no legitimacy” to occupy the Executive. He added that the events of this week in Brazil have had an impact on Brazilian democracy and the region overall.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:58 UTC

  Fears the “Great March on Caracas” could trigger violent clashes between Chavistas and opposition

  

  Venezuela's opposition and government head into a crucial test of strength this Thursday with massive marches for and against a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro that have raised fears of a violent confrontation.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:45 UTC

  First US commercial flight lands in Cuba in more than half a century

  

  United States Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stepped onto Cuban soil from the first U.S. commercial flight to the island nation in more than half a century on Wednesday, a JetBlue Airways flight from Florida, marking a big step in restoring normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:29 UTC

  Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia freeze relations with Brazil in support of Rousseff

  

  Venezuela on Wednesday withdrew its ambassador from Brazil and froze ties in response to president Dilma Rousseff's removal from office.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:10 UTC

  Pope declines request to help select judges for Colombia's peace tribunal

  

  The Vatican announced Wednesday that, although Pope Francis is pleased about a peace deal between the government of Colombia and the country’s guerrillas, he has declined a request to have a Vatican envoy help select judges for a new peace tribunal.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 07:35 UTC

  Guantanamo Bay inmate is back in Uruguay following his arrest in Venezuela

  

  A former Guantanamo Bay inmate who was resettled in Uruguay and then arrested in Venezuela after going missing has been sent back to Uruguay, officials announced in Montevideo. Syrian Jihad Diyab, 45, who was resettled in Uruguay as a refugee in 2014 -- was jailed at the headquarters of the Venezuelan secret police after going off the radar in Uruguay then traveling to Venezuela, apparently evading border control.