Mexico extradites 29 drug cartel figures to the US
Mexico has extradited 29 senior drug cartel members to the US. They include cartel boss Rafael Caro Quintero. Source link
All posts tagged: Latin America
Petro prompts Colombian government chaos with demand for resignations | Government News
Petro had lambasted his cabinet on state TV last week and said the government was underperforming. President Gustavo Petro has prompted government chaos as he demanded that the entire cabinet should resign. The president called on Sunday for ministers and other senior officials to step down. The move came amid soaring tension after Petro lambasted his team on live television, while some members of the government have condemned recent appointments. “There will be some changes in the cabinet to achieve greater compliance with the program ordered by the people,” Petro wrote on social media platform X. Shortly afterwards, Labour Minister Gloria Ramirez announced her resignation on social media platform X. “Politics must proceed without sectarianism and without ambiguities,” she said. Building tension Tension has been building within the government in the weeks since Petro appointed some new ministers. Some in the cabinet have protested, expressing disapproval over the appointment of Laura Sarabia, Petro’s scandal-hit former chief of staff, as foreign minister. The appointment last month came as Petro engaged US President Donald Trump in a …
Trump Team Rebuffs Talks on Mass Deportations, Latin American Countries Say
Donald Trump has promised to pursue the largest deportation operation in American history as soon as he takes office. But the Mexican government and other regional allies have been unable to meet with the incoming Trump administration, according to officials in Latin America, leaving them in the dark about the president-elect’s plans to deport millions of illegal immigrants. The incoming administration rebuffed requests by Mexico for a formal meeting, insisting that detailed discussions would begin only after Mr. Trump is sworn in next Monday, according to a Mexican official and two people familiar with the exchanges who were not authorized to speak publicly. The Guatemalan and Honduran governments received similar messages, according to officials from those countries. “This is not the way things usually work,” said Eric L. Olson, a fellow at the Wilson Center’s Latin American program and Mexico Institute. “Usually there are more informal contacts and some level of discussion by now.” The incoming administration may want to limit confrontation before ramping up pressure by signing a flurry of executive orders on migration, …
Haitian authorities say 28 alleged gang members killed by police, residents | Conflict News
Armed gangs attacked a wealthy suburb of the capital, police say, as part of an effort to bring down the government. The Haitian National Police have reported that 28 alleged gang members were killed by state security forces and armed residents in the latest clashes in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. A Tuesday attack targeting the upscale suburb of Petion-Ville overlooking the capital had been announced over social media by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer turned leader of the powerful gang coalition calling itself Viv Ansanm (Haitian Creole for “Living Together”). The latest violence comes in the wake of the collapse of Haiti’s government last week and more than three years of constant turmoil following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. Cherizier has called for the resignation of the Presidential Transition Council (CPT) now leading the country. “The Viv Ansanm coalition will use all its means to achieve the departure of the CPT,” Cherizier said on Monday. The police say that two vehicles carrying alleged gang members tried to enter Petion-Ville …
The Floating Doctors: Mobile medicine comes to Panama’s jungles | Health
‘A true blessing’ At the conclusion of the second day of the clinic, the tired volunteers walk down a muddy hill to bathe in the cold waters of a nearby river, as there are few available showers in the village. They towel off, have a warm dinner and string up their hammocks for a final night. Over the past two days, beneath the tropical heat and rain, they saw 133 patients and provided assistance and treatment for a number of maladies, from lesions and diarrhoea to fevers, cysts and pregnancy concerns. “As a doctor, you’re always facing an uncertain and challenging environment where you’re questioning yourself,” says Dr Geoff McCullen, an orthopaedic surgeon and professor at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This week, I think our students learned they can face uncertainty, they can face challenges, manage these complexities simultaneously and be decisive about what a patient needs.” Iryna Hrynyk, a Floating Doctors volunteer from the United States, and Federico Criado Rota, a volunteer from Argentina, attend to a patient with …
Rediscovering Reinaldo Arenas | Julia Kornberg
Reinaldo Arenas dedicated most of his books to telling and retelling his life story. The first time was in his debut novel, Singing from the Well (1967), about his abusive childhood in the rural Cuban province of Holguín. He told it again in The Color of Summer (1982), a loosely autobiographical satire set in Havana’s underground youth circles during the jubilee of a fictional tyrant. But he only told it directly at the end of his life, in his memoir Before Night Falls, which was published in Spanish and English in 1992, two years after committed suicide at forty-seven, following a yearslong struggle with AIDS. Julian Schnabel’s film adaption won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2000 Venice International Film Festival. In it, the author, played by Javier Bardem, recounts his memories to the camera during his last days in New York. If the fiction obscured Arenas’s life behind the stained glass of neo-baroque style, Before Night Falls did the opposite, laying out his history of suffering and upheaval in lucid prose. He was born in 1943 …
Maduro’s greatest test? All you need to know about Venezuela’s election | Elections News
On Sunday, voters in the South American nation of Venezuela will take part in what may be one of the most consequential elections in the country’s modern history. After 11 years in power, President Nicolas Maduro is facing steep odds as he seeks a third term against opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Polls show Maduro trailing Gonzalez by nearly 40 points, as voters express exhaustion over Venezuela’s economic crisis and political repression. But critics question whether Maduro will accept defeat if he is indeed trounced at the polls. The socialist leader has been accused of wielding his power to suppress potential rivals, arresting some and barring others from holding office. Who are the candidates, what developments have we seen so far, and under what circumstances will voting take place? We answer these questions and more in this brief explainer. Supporters of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in Caracas wave a flag showing a cartoon of President Maduro’s face crossed out [Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters] When is the election taking place? The election will take place on July 28, …
Can salt mitigate hunger? Inside the salt flats of La Guajira, Colombia | Business and Economy News
Some critics point to mismanagement in the salt industry as part of the reason for La Guajira’s economic instability. From 1941 to 2002, the national government was in charge of the salt mines, first through the Bank of the Republic and later through the Institute of Industrial Development (IFI). But Indigenous communities chafed at the federal control. They asserted their rights to the territory and eventually struck an agreement with the government to create a new entity called the Maritime Salt Flats of Manaure (SAMA). It was conceived as a public-private partnership. The municipal government of Manaure holds a 24-percent stake in the company, while three Indigenous associations — the Sumain Ichi, the Waya Wayuu and the Asocharma — manage the rest. But in the two decades since it took control of the salt industry, SAMA has faced criticism for failing to generate a profit, even after handing its administration to a private operator, the Big Group. Motorbike riders pass graffiti outside the SAMA offices in Manaure that reads, ‘Big Group, sham company’ [Antonio Cascio/Al …
Latin America experienced record heat, ‘climatic hazards’ in 2023
Latin America and the Caribbean had their warmest year on record in 2023 as a “double-whammy” of El Nino and climate change caused major weather calamities, the World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday. Issued on: 08/05/2024 – 20:01Modified: 08/05/2024 – 19:59 2 min Droughts, heatwaves, extreme rainfall and a record-breaking hurricane had major impacts on health, food and energy security, and economic development, the UN body said in a new report. “Unfortunately, 2023 was a year of record climatic hazards in Latin America and the Caribbean,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a statement. “El Nino conditions during the second half of 2023 contributed to a record warm year and exacerbated many extreme events. This combined with rising temperatures and more frequent and extreme hazards due to human-induced climate change,” she added. The report said the mean temperature for 2023 was the highest on record, with Mexico experiencing the fastest warming rate in the region. Severe drought – exacerbated by heatwaves – affected large areas of Latin America, including much of Central America, forcing a reduction …
Scores killed and thousands displaced by Brazil’s floods | Floods
NewsFeed Flooding in south Brazil has submerged one of its biggest cities, killed dozens of people and displaced thousands of others. Published On 8 May 20248 May 2024 Source link