Category Archives: Americas

Brazilians protest in their thousands against granting Bolsonaro amnesty

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Huge crowds pack the streets to oppose endeavours to help ex-president escape jail

Tens of thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to demand no amnesty be granted to their country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro after he was convicted of plotting a coup.

The far-right populist was sentenced to 27 years in prison earlier this month for illegally attempting to cling to power after he lost the 2022 presidential election to his leftwing opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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Trump again asks supreme court to end protections for Venezuelans in US

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Justice department urges court to overturn ruling that Kristi Noem lacked authority to end TPS program

The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States.

The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.

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UN votes to allow Palestinian president to address annual gathering via video link

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Trump had refused to grant visas for Palestinian delegation due to attend conference and UN general assembly

The United Nations general assembly has voted to allow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to address next week’s annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York via video link after Donald Trump said he would not give him a US visa.

The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained.

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Judges rule against Trump administration on deporting Guatemalan children and Venezuelans

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Double defeat protects Venezuelans with temporary protected status and Guatemalan minors

The Trump administration has been handed a double defeat by judges in immigration cases, barring the executive branch from deporting a group of Guatemalan children and from slashing protections for many Venezuelans in the US.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the administration to refrain from deporting Guatemalan unaccompanied immigrant children with active immigration cases while a legal challenge plays out.

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Venezuela starts days of military and ‘electronic warfare’ drills after US strikes on alleged drug boats

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Armed forces say ‘special naval militia’ involved in Caribbean deployment as defence minister cites ‘threatening, vulgar voice’ of Washington

Venezuela says it has begun three days of military exercises on its Caribbean island of La Orchila as tensions soar amid US military activity in the region.

Forces deployed for what Washington called an anti-drug operation have blown up at least two Venezuelan boats and a combined 14 people allegedly transporting drugs across the Caribbean this month – a move slammed by UN experts as “extrajudicial execution”.

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Rocks on train tracks strand 900 Machu Picchu tourists amid protest

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About 1,400 visitors were evacuated but hundreds were left stuck because of action linked to bus contract dispute, say Peru authorities

At least 900 tourists were stranded near the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu on Tuesday, Peru’s tourism minister said, after a passenger train service was suspended due to a protest.

PeruRail said service was suspended on Monday because the route in Peru’s mountainous Cusco region had been blocked by “rocks of various sizes” as residents clashed with authorities and bus companies. PeruRail’s local unit also said “third parties” had excavated part of its rail route, which affected the track’s stability and slowed down the evacuation of tourists.

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‘We’re still in the dark’: a missing land defender and the deadly toll of land conflict on Indigenous people

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Julia Chuñil is one of 146 land defenders who were killed or went missing last year, a third of them from Indigenous communities

One day last November, Julia Chuñil called for her dog, Cholito, and they set off into the woods around her home to search for lost livestock. The animals returned but Chuñil, who was 72 at the time, and Cholito did not.

More than 100 people joined her family in a search lasting weeks in the steep, wet and densely overgrown terrain of Chile’s ancient Valdivian forest. After a month, they even kept an eye on vultures for any grim signs. But they found no trace of Chuñil.

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Bolsonaro ordered to pay damages for racist remarks in office

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Court rules former president, sentenced to 27 years for coup attempt, must pay R$1m for ‘cockroaches’ comment in 2021

Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to pay R$1m (£138,000) in collective moral damages for remarks deemed “racist” while he was in office.

The latest ruling, delivered by a state appeals court, came less than a week after Brazil’s former president was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for leading an attempted coup to overturn the result of the 2022 election.

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UN tries to limit staff going to Cop30 in Brazil due to high price of hotels

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Accommodation costs at climate summit in Belem are pricing out some developing countries and media outlets

The United Nations has urged its staff to limit attendance at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil in November due to high accommodation prices, while government delegations are still scrambling to find rooms within their budgets.

The move comes as delegations grow increasingly concerned about the cost of accommodation in the coastal Amazon city of Belem hosting Cop30. Brazil said it is working to increase the number of available hotel beds, but soaring prices for accommodation have stoked calls from some governments to relocate the conference, which Brazilian officials have rejected.

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Brazilian musician identified as victim of 1976 killing by Argentina military

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The bossa nova pianist Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior went out for cigarettes after a concert in Buenos Aires – a forensic team has finally revealed his fate

Early on 18 March 1976, Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior, a Brazilian pianist who had played alongside some of Latin America’s greatest musicians, disappeared from the streets of Buenos Aires.

For nearly 50 years, his fate has remained a mystery, sparking desperate searches, raising suspicions of government complicity, and inspiring international documentaries. Now the mystery has been solved, with forensic scientists formally identifying Tenório Júnior’s body – and confirming he was a victim of Argentina’s bloody dictatorship.

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UN condemns reported Haitian village massacre by armed gangs

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Fishing village of Labodrie reportedly set on fire after killing of a gang leader in sign of rising violence outside capital

The UN secretary-general has condemned the reported killing of at least 40 people during an attack by armed gangs in a fishing village north of Haiti’s capital.

Media in Haiti widely reported that the attack took place on Thursday night in Labodrie. It is another sign of escalating gang violence that has spread outside the capital.

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Brazilians take to the streets to celebrate Bolsonaro conviction

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Indigenous groups and other minorities praise verdict while US officials issue warnings of possible sanctions

• Operation World Cup: the murder plot at the heart of Brazil’s trial of the century

• Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for plotting military coup in Brazil

Thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to rejoice at Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction for plotting a coup, as progressive politicians celebrated the historic move and rightwing figures linked to Donald Trump responded with anger and threats.

Chile’s leftwing president, Gabriel Boric, led regional congratulations of the decision to jail Bolsonaro for 27 years for leading a criminal organisation that sought to seize power after the far-right populist lost the 2022 election.

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Jail for Bolsonaro by no means signals the end of his political movement

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With widespread support at home and from Trump, his heir will take the fight to Lula in the 2026 presidential election

Four years have passed since Jair Bolsonaro laid out three possible denouements for his extraordinary political career, during which the oft-ridiculed fringe politician rose to become one of leading lights of the global populist right alongside Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump.

“Going to jail, being killed or victory,” predicted Brazil’s then president as he grappled with a deluge of political crises in August 2021.

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Venezuela says 11 killed in US boat strike were not gang members amid reports vessel was returning to shore

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Interior minister says ‘murder has been committed’ while US Congress demands justification for attack

None of the 11 people killed in a US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean last week were members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s interior minister has said, while US media reported the attack came after the vessel had turned around and was heading back to shore.

The administration of Donald Trump has said the boat was transporting illegal narcotics, but has provided little further information about the incident, even amid demands from members of the US Congress for a justification for the action.

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Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for plotting military coup in Brazil

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Former president sought to ‘annihilate’ country’s democracy after losing 2022 election

​Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro ​has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a military coup​ and seeking to “annihilate” the South American country’s democracy.

Justices Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha and Cristiano Zanin ruled on ​Thursday that Bolsonaro – a former paratrooper who was elected president in 2018 – was guilty of seeking to forcibly cling to power after losing the 2022 election, meaning four of the five judges involved in the trial had found Brazil’s former leader guilty.

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Canada: Carney unveils array of national projects to ‘turbocharge’ economy

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List leaves out oil pipelines and focuses on LNG expansion, mines and nuclear power as it fends off US trade war

Canada’s Liberal government has said that a liquefied natural gas facility, critical mineral mines, a nuclear reactor and port expansion will mark the first wave of major national projects to “turbocharge” the country’s economy as it fends off a trade war with the United States.

Notably, the list unveiled by the prime minster, Mark Carney, on Thursday does not include any new oil pipelines – projects which have proven to be deeply divisive and politically fractious in recent years.

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What did Jair Bolsonaro’s trial reveal about an attempted coup in Brazil?

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Far-right ex-president was found to have led a ‘criminal organisation’ to try to stay in power

Brazil’s supreme court has made Jair Bolsonaro the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted for attempting a coup.

The 70-year-old far-right leader claims he is the victim of political persecution, but three out of five judges concluded on Thursday that it was sufficiently proven that Bolsonaro and his close allies attempted to overturn the 2022 election, which he lost to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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Politicians in at least 51 countries used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during elections, NGO finds

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Rights group also finds rise in openly gay, bisexual and transgender people running for office in 36 countries

Politicians in at least 51 countries used homophobic or transphobic rhetoric during elections last year, from depicting LGBTQ+ identity as a foreign threat to condemning “gender ideology”, according to a new study of 60 countries and the EU.

However, there were also gains for LGBTQ+ representation in some countries. Openly gay, bisexual and transgender people ran for office in at least 36 countries, including for the first time in Botswana, Namibia and Romania – albeit unsuccessfully – according to the report by Outright International. The number of LGBTQ+ elected officials doubled to at least 233 in Brazil.

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James McAvoy reportedly assaulted in Toronto bar

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Actor promoting his directorial debut California Schemin’ at the city’s film festival is reported to have been punched by another drinker

The actor James McAvoy was assaulted in a bar in Toronto, it has been reported.

According to People magazine, McAvoy was “sucker punched” by another visitor to Charlotte’s Room bar on Monday evening, two days after the premiere of his directorial debut, California Schemin’, at the Toronto film festival.

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Junk food leads to more children being obese than underweight for first time

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Cheap ultra-processed food behind rise in overweight children, with one in 10 now obese globally, says Unicef

More children around the world are obese than underweight for the first time, according to a UN report that warns ultra-processed junk food is overwhelming childhood diets.

There are 188 million teenagers and school-age children with obesity – one in 10 – Unicef said, affecting health and development and bringing a risk of life-threatening diseases.

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