MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[Brazil: Flávio Bolsonaro promises 500,000 prison places inspired by the Salvadoran model]]> “There are few prisoners in Brazil, there should be more; there are not more only because the legislation is weak,” the senator said after the meeting Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party's presidential candidate and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's main rival in October's elections, met on Sunday in São Paulo with El Salvador's justice and public security minister, Gustavo Villatoro, and announced he will incorporate into his programme measures inspired by President Nayib Bukele's security policy.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:13:00 GMT <![CDATA[The Panama Canal will cut daily transits from Wednesday because of drought]]> Panama has eleven watersheds under water stress and declared an emergency last week, alongside Honduras and El Salvador The Panama Canal will reduce the number of vessels allowed to cross from 38 to 34 a day from September 3, and to 32 from the 15th, as well as imposing new draught restrictions, because of falling water levels linked to El Niño. According to the waterway's authorities, rainfall since May has been 34% below the historical average and inflows to the basin have dropped 44%. Around 5% of world maritime traffic passes through the canal.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:46:00 GMT <![CDATA[Bolivia deploys troops against blockades over a decree its own government wants repealed]]> At least ten organisations are defying the state of emergency Bolivia's government deployed military and police units on Tuesday in the municipality of Yapacaní, in Santa Cruz department, ahead of announced road blockades called by farming organisations against the decree that raised the price of diesel for large consumers. Hours later, the deputy interior minister acknowledged that the same measure must be annulled.

]]> Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT <![CDATA[Argentina acknowledges the Magellan treaties and seeks to defuse friction with Chile]]> The 1881 treaty recognised Chilean sovereignty over the strait and established its perpetual neutralisation, with free navigation for vessels of all nations Argentina's foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday reaffirming that its position on the Strait of Magellan is the one established by the 1881 Boundary Treaty and the 1984 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, a day after Chile announced it would send a note of protest over remarks by the head of the Argentine Air Force General Staff.

]]> Tue, 25 Aug 2026 21:28:00 GMT <![CDATA[The Pan-American Congress closes with a call for more equal north-south dialogue]]> “It is necessary to reframe the dialogue between the north and south of the Americas in more equal terms,” said the meeting's coordinator, David Adler, at the closing session held at the Teatro Solís The third Pan-American Congress concluded on Sunday in Montevideo with a call to reframe relations between the north and south of the Americas on more equal terms. The forum, which brought together some 150 lawmakers, governors and former heads of state from fifteen countries, will hold its next edition in Brazil in 2027.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:55:00 GMT <![CDATA[Colombia orders deportation of irregular migrants after a decade as the main host country]]> “The order to Migration is clear: first those committing crimes, second those who have not regularised their status, who in due course will have to be deported,” he said Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered coordinated operations between the migration authority and the police to begin this week to identify and deport foreigners without regular migration status, marking a shift from the policy the country has maintained for more than a decade as the main destination for Venezuelan migration.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:37:00 GMT <![CDATA[Milei links Lula to the case of the Argentine former adviser detained in Bolivia]]> The remarks come during the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since the return to democracy Argentine President Javier Milei has attributed the criminal case against his former adviser Fernando Cerimedo, detained in Bolivia over an attempted femicide, to a regional plot in which he included Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former Bolivian president Evo Morales and Argentine lawmaker Marcela Pagano. He offered no evidence to support the claim.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:26:00 GMT <![CDATA[Some 25,000 people are seeking housing in Cali two weeks after Colombia's earthquake]]> Among those seeking accommodation, the prevailing perception is of a generalised rise in prices The municipal survey in Cali, Colombia's third city with more than two million inhabitants, now covers 10,000 families affected by the magnitude 7.4 earthquake of August 10 and estimates around 25,000 people have been left without adequate housing. Many have spent recent days in shelters or with relatives while searching for a rental, in a market strained by the sudden loss of supply.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:08:00 GMT <![CDATA[Almost half the minors recruited by armed groups in 2025 were approached via social media]]> The 124-page document, titled “I Thought I Would Never See My Mother Again,” draws on 184 interviews with officials, humanitarian workers, indigenous and community leaders and child protection staff Some 44% of children and adolescents recruited by armed groups in Colombia during 2025 were approached through social media or platforms such as TikTok and Facebook, according to data from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace cited in a Human Rights Watch report published on Monday.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2026 07:32:00 GMT <![CDATA[Two newly detained men testify in the case over the shooting of the Bolivian lawyer]]> Beller was shot three times on August 10 outside a hotel in Santa Cruz and spent five days in hospital Two men held as part of the investigation into the shooting of Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller gave statements to prosecutors in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on Sunday. One is accused of supplying the weapon used in the ambush; the other, a Colombian national identified as a possible gunman, turned himself in after learning he was being sought.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2026 06:53:00 GMT