Category Archives: Americas

Indigenous party says it is barred from running in Nicaragua elections

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Banning of Yatama party leaves ruling Sandinistas unchallenged in upcoming elections

Nicaraguan electoral authorities have barred an Indigenous party that has clashed with President Daniel Ortega in the past, leaving the ruling Sandinistas with no opposition in upcoming local elections in two regions.

The Yatama party has been disqualified from participating in all future elections, including a local vote scheduled for March, according to a Facebook post by Sammy Allen Cubero, a Yatama youth leader.

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US representative files resolution decrying rightwing calls for invasion of Mexico

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Joaquin Castro urged fellow House members to reject Republican calls for US military action to stem flow of fentanyl from Mexico

A progressive US congressman from Texas has asked his legislative colleagues to join him in condemning some American conservatives’ calls to invade Mexico – ostensibly to do battle with drug cartels there.

Joaquin Castro says he intends to file a resolution in the US House as soon as Friday reaffirming the federal government’s “commitment to respecting the sovereignty of Mexico and condemning calls for military action without Mexico’s consent and congressional authorization”.

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Paddington in Peru films in Colombia – sparking row over legislation in Peru

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Peruvian film-makers outraged over legislation to revitalise industry after film chooses Colombia as shooting location

New legislation to revitalise Peru’s film industry has been proposed after the makers of the British comedy Paddington in Peru chose Colombia as the filming location for the section of the movie in which the bear finally returns to his home country.

The initiative, put forward by rightwing lawmaker Adriana Tudela, cited the “lack of incentives and the high number of national and local bureaucratic barriers to filming in Peru” as the principal obstacle to the mislocation of the third Paddington movie due out in 2024.

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Bolivian president expelled from own party amid political feud

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Conflict erupted after Luis Arce and ex-president Evo Morales both showed interest in the party’s presidential nomination

Bolivia’s president Luis Arce has been expelled from his own party, amid a bitter struggle with the former president, Evo Morales, to lead the party into the 2025 election.

According to a resolution passed at the congress of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) on Wednesday, Arce “expelled himself” from the party by not appearing at the meeting yon Tuesday in the department of Cochabamba.

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Canada’s first First Nations premier elected in Manitoba province

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Voters elect Wab Kinew, 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party and a former rapper and broadcast journalist

The Canadian province of Manitoba has elected the country’s first First Nations premier, handing the progressive leader a legislative majority following a contentious election campaign.

Wab Kinew, the 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party, has led the province’s party since 2017. A former rapper, broadcast journalist and university administrator, Kinew said his newly-elected government will focus on re-opening three emergency rooms shuttered in recent years. He also said the province would invest in more social housing.

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India orders Canada to remove 41 diplomats from Delhi embassy

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Relations between countries continue to fracture over alleged assassination of Sikh separatist in British Columbia

India has told Canada it must remove 41 diplomats from its embassy in Delhi amid a continuing diplomatic spat over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

According to officials who spoke to the Financial Times, the Indian foreign ministry has given Canada a week to repatriate two-thirds of its diplomats stationed in India, reducing the number to 21. India’s ministry of external affairs declined to comment. An official familiar with the matter confirmed the report to the Associated Press.

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Brazil expels illegal settlers from Indigenous lands in Amazon

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Thousands affected as government vows to stamp out land grabs in protected areas

Brazil’s government has begun removing thousands of non-Indigenous people from two native territories in a move that will affect thousands who live in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

The Brazilian intelligence agency ABIN said in a statement that the goal was to return the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacaja lands in Para state to the original peoples. It did not say whether or not the expulsion of non-Indigenous people had been entirely peaceful.

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UN votes to send Kenyan-led security force to Haiti to combat gangs

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Security council approves mission but UN faces concerns over outside force with its own record of abuses

The UN security council has voted to send a Kenyan-led multinational security force to Haiti to help its government combat violent gangs, which have driven the Caribbean country into anarchy.

A US resolution to approve the force, six years since the closure of a previous UN stabilisation mission, drew 13 votes in favour with Russia and China abstaining.

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Two people and their dog killed in rare grizzly bear attack in Canada national park

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Couple have not yet been identified and bear demonstrating ‘aggressive behavior’ was killed by park rangers

Two people and their dog have been killed in a rare grizzly bear attack in Canada’s Banff national park, and the bear was later killed by park rangers.

The couple have not yet been identified but “loved the outdoors and were inseparable”, a family member said in a statement.

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Mexico church roof collapses during mass, killing at least 10 and injuring 60

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A ‘structural failure’ during Sunday service trapped dozens in Santa Cruz church in Gulf coast city of Ciudad Madero

The roof of a church has collapsed in northern Mexico during a Sunday mass, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 60, authorities said as searchers probed the wreckage late into the night looking for survivors and other victims.

Approximately 30 parishioners were believed to have been trapped in the rubble when the roof caved in, officials said. Searchers crawled under the roof slabs and officials brought in dogs to help search for possible survivors.

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Bolivian ex-president to pay damages to victims of military in landmark US case

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Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and former defence minister agree to pay for 2003 violence in which 60 protesters were killed

A former Bolivian president and his defence minister have agreed to pay damages to the families of people killed by the military during their government, in a landmark settlement that sets a precedent by which other foreign leaders could face accountability for human rights abuse in US courts.

The settlement concerns events in 2003, when massive protests broke out over then president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s plan to export Bolivia’s natural gas. The army was sent to clear blockades in the largely Indigenous and working-class city of El Alto, killing more than 60 protesters and injuring hundreds.

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Original letter from Columbus announcing ‘discovery’ of America goes on sale for first time

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The explorer is widely thought of as an exploiter today, and didn’t know east from west. But a version of his boastful missive is expected to fetch up to £1.2m at auction

In 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter that would change the landscape of the modern world. “I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people,” he wrote after his return to Europe to royal treasurer Luis de Santángel. “Of all, I have taken possession for their Highnesses.”

The events relayed in the letter were “the first report of a voyage that really did change the world”, says Columbus biographer Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto.

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Brazil bank’s past slavery ties to be investigated in unprecedented inquiry

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Banco do Brasil, one of country’s biggest banks, under scrutiny as institutions called to account for role in trafficking of Africans

Brazilian prosecutors have launched a civil investigation into one of the country’s largest banks’ historical links to slavery, in an unprecedented move to hold Brazilian institutions to account for their role in the enslavement of millions of Africans.

Banco do Brasil was notified this week of the public inquiry seeking reparations for the bank’s connections with the transatlantic trafficking of Black people.

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Peruvian man arrested for making more than 150 bomb threats to US schools

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Suspect, arrested in Peru, allegedly threatened schools after failing to ‘sextort’ nude photos from schoolchildren

A Peruvian man was arrested in Peru for sending more than 150 fake bomb threats to US schools, airports and a synagogue.

Eddie Manuel Núñez Santos, 33, was arrested by Peruvian officials on Tuesday in Lima, according to a press release from the justice department.

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Cuban officials warn of increased blackouts due to fuel shortages

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Citizens of the island nation were told that power outages of up to 10 hours a day could be expected outside Havana

Cuban officials have warned that blackouts on the island will increase significantly due to a lack of fuel, potentially worsening the country’s plight as it deals with food and medicine shortages.

Local governments have already begun announcing restrictions on power usage at state-run companies and other entities, including moves to postpone sporting events and university classes.

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Brazilians push to make dream of Black woman on supreme court a reality

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Women make up 51% of the population, and Afro-Brazilians 56%, but no Black woman has ever sat on the highest court

A young Black Brazilian girl dreams of being a pop star, a writer or a world champion in gymnastics, dressing up like the Afro-Brazilian women who have achieved that before her.

But when her mother suggests that she aspire to become a judge on the supreme court, the girl looks incredulous and asks: “Like who?”

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Woman shields son from black bear eating birthday picnic in Mexico

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Silvia Macías was celebrating 15th birthday of son Santiago when bear appeared and gulped down tacos

A woman in Mexico shielded her son after a bear leaped on to a picnic table, inches from his face, and devoured the tacos and enchiladas meant for his birthday dinner.

Silvia Macías of Mexico City had travelled to the Chipinque Park on the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey to celebrate the 15th birthday of her son, Santiago, who has Down’s syndrome.

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Canada parliament speaker resigns after calling Ukrainian Nazi veteran a ‘hero’

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Anthony Rota steps down after meeting with party leaders in Ottawa having invited Yaroslav Hunka to special session

The speaker of Canada’s parliament has resigned after inviting a Ukrainian Nazi veteran to attend a special session of parliament, and then calling the man a “hero” amid two standing ovations.

Anthony Rota stepped down as speaker on Tuesday after meeting with party leaders in Ottawa amid growing cross-party calls for his resignation.

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Mexican film showing abuse in military is ‘a fraction’ of reality, says star

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Officials react defensively to Heroico, which has been compared to Full Metal Jacket for its scenes of physical and psychological abuse

Mexico’s national guard has been urging its troops to go to see Héroes, a rousingly patriotic film about a 19th-century US invasion, in an apparent attempt to drown out the similarly named Heroico – a film which paints a much less flattering picture of the armed forces.

Héroes tells the story of the Battle of Chapultepec during the 1846-48 Mexican-American war and the “Child Heroes” – six cadets who refused to retreat and instead fought to the death. The last of them supposedly leapt from the ramparts holding the Mexican flag, to prevent its capture.

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‘Anything for my family’: Venezuelans in US welcome temporary protected status

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Asylum seekers who arrived before the end of July – about 472,000 – will now be able to legally live and work in the US

Venezuelan asylum seekers in the United States have welcomed the news of temporary permission to live and work in the country as a vital “helping hand” after the Biden administration announced that it would extend temporary protected status (TPS) to nearly half a million Venezuelan nationals.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that the TPS extension now includes those who arrived in the US by the end of July, whereas the previous cutoff date was 8 March 2021.

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