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[US reacts to Ortega's announcement that Nicaragua will hold no more elections]]> “Daniel Ortega's declaration that under his family's dictatorship Nicaragua will never again hold elections lays bare their true authoritarian nature,” Rubio said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Tuesday that his country "will not stand idly by" after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced that the country will no longer hold elections. In a State Department statement, Rubio called on the international community to "join forces" to respond to what he described as the Nicaraguan government's attacks on the democratic principles of the hemisphere.

]]> Tue, 21 Jul 2026 21:23:00 GMT <![CDATA[Conmebol presses FIFA for a 64-team 2030 World Cup and more matches in South America]]> The proposal, originally presented by Uruguay's Ignacio Alonso to the FIFA Council in March 2025 and taken up by Domínguez, faces strong opposition The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has stepped up its pressure on FIFA for the 2030 World Cup to be played with 64 teams, which would allow Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay to host more matches than currently planned. A day after the 2026 World Cup final, won by Spain, the body's president, Alejandro Domínguez, treated the format as all but settled in a message on the social network X: "In 2030 the World Cup is coming to Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay," he wrote, proposing to mark the centenary "with a 64-team competition."

]]> Tue, 21 Jul 2026 21:08:00 GMT <![CDATA[Petro calls for 'general and indefinite strike' if successor repeals his reforms]]> Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, called on Monday for a “general and indefinite strike” should the government of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, repeal his administration's labor reform or reverse the land reform. De la Espriella, elected in the June 21 runoff, will take office on August 7.

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 20:12:00 GMT <![CDATA[Ortega says Nicaragua will hold no more elections]]> The president announced during the commemoration of the Sandinista revolution that he will pursue legal reforms to prevent the opposition from contesting power through the ballot box Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Sunday that the country will no longer hold elections as a mechanism for the opposition to reach power. "There will be no more elections here for them to try to seize the government, to seize power," he declared during the event marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista uprising that overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, held in Managua.

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 20:03:00 GMT <![CDATA[ICE kills a Colombian and a Mexican in operations where they weren't the target, officials say]]> Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, who had lived in Houston for three decades, had died on July 7, at a traffic stop in that city Two Latin American migrants were shot dead by agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within a week, in operations in which, as federal authorities and lawmakers acknowledged, neither was the intended target. The deaths revived protests and calls for accountability over President Donald Trump's immigration policy.

]]> Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT <![CDATA[Petro confirms he will skip De la Espriella's inauguration, repeating fraud claim]]> “I cannot accept a president, and that is why I will not be anywhere on August 7, nor shake his hand; let him say so, but he knows why, because it is a fraud,” Petro said Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, has confirmed he will not attend the August 7 inauguration of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, whose victory he continues to reject. The decision breaks with the tradition under which the departing head of state accompanies the president-elect during the oath before Congress.

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2026 22:16:00 GMT <![CDATA[Fujimori takes on Peru's presidency with security and national unity as her main challenges]]> Fujimori will govern a country fractured by inequality, ideological divisions, and territorial tensions, with the Andean south as the main focus of resistance to her authority Keiko Fujimori, 51, received on Wednesday in Lima the credentials confirming her as Peru's president-elect, a post she will be sworn into on July 28, the country's independence day. She will be the first woman to reach the executive office through the ballot box, arriving after a career defined by persistence: she won on her fourth attempt, following three consecutive runoff defeats.

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2026 07:07:00 GMT <![CDATA[Colombia: Petro bars military sites for inauguration; De la Espriella says he will go ahead]]> The president-elect, who adopted a military salute and the slogan “Firm for the homeland” during his campaign, has expressed his intention to hold the ceremony in Popayán Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, has ordered that no military facility be used for the inauguration of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, scheduled for August 7. The president-elect responded that he will maintain his intention to be sworn in at a garrison in the south of the country, deepening the standoff between the two men less than a month before the handover.

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:33:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump says US is investigating whether Iran stores drones in Cuba]]> “If they do have that, and they might very well have that, we'll take care of it in short order. We're not going to allow that to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his government is investigating whether Iran is storing drones in Cuba and warned that Washington would act if their presence on the island is confirmed, though he framed the matter as a hypothesis that has not been verified.

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:24:00 GMT <![CDATA[Uruguay postpones second aid flight to Venezuela over changed entry conditions]]> Uruguayan authorities stressed that this is a postponement, not a cancellation of the mission Uruguay has postponed the second shipment of humanitarian aid to Venezuela, scheduled for Tuesday, after a change in the conditions set by Venezuelan authorities for the entry of cargo, Defense Minister Sandra Lazo said. The Air Force's KC-130H Hercules remains loaded with some 15 tons of supplies intended for victims of the June 24 twin earthquakes.

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