Category Archives: Americas

Peru president at bay as fuel and fertiliser prices detonate political crisis

Posted on by

Pedro Castillo lifted a curfew in Lima but is still facing calls to resign after a rash of bad decisions and allegations of corruption

Peru’s beleaguered president, Pedro Castillo, is at the centre of a spiralling political crisis caused by rising fuel and fertiliser prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and his own heavy-handed efforts to quell the unrest.

On Tuesday Castillo lifted a curfew in Lima that he had decreed less than a day earlier in an attempt to quell sometimes violent protests over rising fuel and food prices. But the move came too late to defuse public anger.

Continue reading...

Ancient cemetery of flying reptiles unearthed in Chile’s Atacama desert

Posted on by

Scientists say remains belong to pterosaurs, who lived alongside dinosaurs more than 100m years ago

Scientists in Chile have unearthed a rare cemetery with well-preserved bones of ancient flying reptiles that roamed the Atacama desert more than 100m years ago.

The remains belong to pterosaurs, scientists determined, flying creatures that lived alongside dinosaurs and had a long wingspan and fed by filtering water through long, thin teeth, similar to flamingos.

Continue reading...

Maradona’s shirt from ‘hand of God’ England match expected to sell for £4m

Posted on by

Former England midfielder Steve Hodge has owned Maradona’s no 10 shirt since the 1986 match

Diego Maradona’s infamous “hand of God” goal made footballing history and cemented the legendary status of the Argentinian superstar. Now the shirt he wore when he scored that goal at the 1986 World Cup is estimated to sell for at least £4m.

Maradona’s no 10 shirt has been owned for the past 35 years by the former England midfielder Steve Hodge. The two players swapped shirts at the end of the quarter-final between Argentina and England.

Continue reading...

Attacks on press in Mexico hit record level during López Obrador’s presidency

Posted on by

Report paints bleak picture of journalist safety under leader who often criticises media and downplays violence against reporters

Attacks against the press in Mexico have increased by 85% since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office, making it the most deadly period for journalists since records began, according to a new report.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists with 1,945 attacks – including 33 murders – between 2019 and 2021, according to the press freedom group Article 19. Another eight have been killed so far this year.

Continue reading...

Fuel protests prompt Lima curfew as Ukraine crisis touches South America

Posted on by

Peru’s embattled president takes drastic step as fertiliser and fuel prices soar and Brazil seeks to open Indigenous territory to mining

Peru’s embattled president Pedro Castillo has banned residents of the capital, Lima, from leaving their homes in an attempt to quell nationwide protests over soaring fuel and fertiliser prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a televised address just before midnight on Monday, Castillo announced a curfew from 2am until 11.59pm on Tuesday, claiming the measure would “protect the fundamental rights of all people”.

Continue reading...

El Salvador reels as 6,000 people arrested in unprecedented crackdown

Posted on by

Authoritarian populist president Nayib Bukele has suspended rights in state of emergency justified as attack on MS13 gang

Distraught families across El Salvador are searching for information on the fate of their loved ones after almost 6,000 people were arrested in an unprecedented security crackdown over the past week.

Men, women and children have been rounded up across the Central American country since the government declared a state of emergency on 27 March, suspending constitutional rights including the presumption of innocence.

Continue reading...

Victims of Brazil’s Mariana dam disaster seek compensation through UK courts

Posted on by

In one of the largest claims in English legal history, 200,000 people affected by the 2015 incident will have their case heard this week

More than 200,000 victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster are seeking compensation in a UK court this week, in one of the largest group claims in English legal history.

The claimants, including representatives of Krenak indigenous communities, are fighting to get compensation for the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in November 2015. The £5bn lawsuit is against the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP.

Continue reading...

Bird populations in Panama rainforest in severe decline, study finds

Posted on by

Of 57 species sampled, 35 decreased in number by 50% over four decades, with climate crisis likely factor

Bird populations in a Central American tropical rainforest are suffering severe declines, with likely factors including climate breakdown and habitat loss.

Scientists from the University of Illinois tracked species of birds in a protected forest reserve in central Panama to determine if and how populations had changed from 1977 to 2020.

Continue reading...

Rodrigo Chaves wins Costa Rica election amid sexual harassment allegations

Posted on by

Former finance minister was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women while working at the World Bank

A former finance minister who surprised many by making it into Costa Rica’s presidential runoff has easily won the election and is to become the Central American country’s new leader next month while still fending off accusations of sexual harassment when he worked at the World Bank.

With nearly all polling stations reporting, the conservative economist Rodrigo Chaves had 53% of the vote, compared with 47% for former president José Figueres Ferrer, the supreme electoral tribunal said.

Continue reading...

Argentina criticises UK refusal to talk about future of Falklands

Posted on by

Argentine foreign minister calls for improvement in bilateral relations with Britain 40 years after conflict

British-Argentine relations will be stifled so long as the UK refuses to engage in discussions about the future sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, or if both sides continue to act as if the war happened only yesterday, the Argentine foreign minister has said.

Writing in the Guardian on the 40th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the islands in April 1982, Santiago Cafiero called for an improvement in bilateral relations.

Continue reading...

Canada’s ‘maple syrup heist’ thief must repay millions for sweet stolen goods

Posted on by

Perpetrators siphoned syrup from barrels stored in Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserves and replaced it with water

Richard Vallières’s plan to make millions of dollars was deceptively simple: secretly drain the province of Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserve and then sell the illicit product.

But the Quebec man’s daring theft fell short after police were tipped off and he and his accomplices landed in jail.

Continue reading...

Protect Indigenous people’s rights or Paris climate goals will fail, says report

Posted on by

Rainforests looked after by communities absorb twice as much carbon as other lands, analysis shows

Paris climate agreement goals will fail unless the rights of Indigenous people who protect rainforests are honoured, according to a new report.

Forest lands stewarded by Indigenous people and communities in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru sequester about twice as much carbon as other lands, according to the analysis.

Continue reading...

Canada police renew effort to arrest ‘devil priest’ for alleged abuse of Inuit children

Posted on by

Royal Canadian Mounted Police say an arrest warrant was issued last month for Johannes Rivoire, who currently lives in France

Police in Canada have laid a new charge against a “devil priest” hiding in France amid allegations he sexually abused multiple Inuit children.

The case against Johannes Rivoire, who victims say has evaded justice for decades, received renewed focus this week when Canada’s Inuit leader requested the pope personally intervene during a visit to the Vatican by a delegation of Indigenous groups.

Continue reading...

Mexico armed forces knew fate of 43 disappeared students from day one

Posted on by

Military hid evidence that student teachers who went missing in 2014 were kidnapped by criminals, independent report finds

Mexico’s armed forces knew that 43 student teachers who disappeared in 2014 were being kidnapped by criminals, then hid evidence that could have helped locate them, according to a report released on Monday by a special investigation.

A former Colombian prosecutor, Angela Buitrago, said the group of independent experts found evidence that authorities withheld or falsified evidence from the start of the search.

Continue reading...

Police at Canada mass shooting nearly fired on wrong man in chaotic response

Posted on by

RCMP officers chased man whose brother had just been killed into woodland during shooter’s rampage at Portapique, Nova Scotia

Police responding to one of Canada’s worst mass shootings nearly shot the wrong man, officers have said during a public inquiry examining the attack and authorities’ chaotic response.

Testifying on Monday at a public inquiry into the 2020 attack in the town of Portapique, Nova Scotia, which left 22 dead, three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers said the scene resembled a “war zone” and that they were unprepared for the number of casualties.

Continue reading...

Not just ‘cocaine and war’: Colombian pride at Oscar-winning Encanto’s positive portrayal

Posted on by

Animated film, influenced heavily by magical realism, breaks frequent representation as country beset by drugs and violence

When Encanto was announced the winner of the Oscar for best animated film on Sunday night, Martín Anzellini – the Colombian architect who helped develop the film’s representation of his home country – had little idea. Instead, he was watching Encanto at home with his twin toddler daughters, who had yet to see it.

“Once we finished watching the film, I checked my phone and saw my WhatsApp was going wow!” Anzellini said. “It was so exciting, I almost cried. And I hugged my daughters, as my work on the film was for them.”

Continue reading...

El Salvador locks down prisons after wave of 87 killings over weekend

Posted on by

Government declares state of emergency after arresting more than 600 gang suspects and ordering food restrictions

The government of El Salvador said it had arrested more than 600 gang suspects and ordered reductions in food for prison inmates, after a wave of killings over the weekend.

The government declared a state of emergency and locked down prisons after 87 murders were committed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. By comparison, there were 79 homicides in the entire month of February.

Continue reading...

Massacre at cockfight in Mexico leaves 20 dead

Posted on by

Gunmen with assault rifles burst into event in western state of Michoacán long plagued by violence between drug cartels

Mexican authorities have confirmed that 20 people were killed when a group of gunmen stormed a cockfight, in a small town in the western state of Michoacán.

Officials and witnesses described a choreographed massacre in which assailants in military uniforms arrived just after 10.30pm on Sunday night and opened fire with assault rifles at the crowds of primarily middle-aged men.

Continue reading...

Pope meets Canada Indigenous groups seeking apology for abuse of children

Posted on by

Apology sought after over 1,300 unmarked graves discovered since last May at church-run schools attended by Indigenous children

Pope Francis has heard first-hand the horrors of abuse committed at church-run residential schools in Canada, as Indigenous delegations pressed him for an apology.

Indigenous survivors are visiting the Vatican this week for meetings with the pope about the scandal that has rocked the Catholic church.

Continue reading...

Venezuelan troops operated alongside Colombian rebels, report claims

Posted on by

Human Rights Watch says Venezuelan soldiers conducted joint operations with ELN in violence-plagued Apure state

Venezuelan soldiers conducted joint operations with Colombian rebels in the state of Apure earlier this year, as violence increased along a remote and often lawless stretch of the Colombia-Venezuela border, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

The report published on Monday said that in January a truce ended between the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and another rebel organization known as the Joint Eastern Command, leading to clashes, abductions and murders of civilians that forced more than 3,300 people to flee their homes in the Venezuelan state of Apure. In the Colombian province of Arauca, more than 3,800 people were displaced.

Continue reading...