South America

BRASILIA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva extended best wishes to the newly elected government in Argentina, without making direct mention of President-elect Javier Milei, who has previously criticized Lula and labeled him an "angry communist."

"I wish good luck and success to the new government. Argentina is a great country and deserves all our respect. Brazil will always be available to work together with our Argentine brothers," he wrote on Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Voters in Argentina were heading to the polls Sunday in a presidential runoff election that will determine whether South America’s second-largest economy will take a rightward shift.

Populist Javier Milei, an upstart candidate who got his start as a television talking head, has frequently been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump. He faces Economy Minister Sergio Massa of the Peronist party, which has been a leading force in Argentine politics for decades.

QUITO, Nov 18 (NNN-XINHUA) — Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso delivered 15 Turkish-built Otokar armored tactical vehicles to the armed forces to help fight organized crime and violence.

The armored vehicles, each of which can accommodate nine soldiers, “have greater ballistic and mine protection. They also have technical characteristics for entering places that are difficult to access and highly dangerous in urban and rural settings,” Lasso said during the handover at Mariscal Sucre Air Base here.

CIUDAD EVITA, Argentina (AP) — As Argentina heads for a presidential runoff election on Sunday, the decades-old populist movement known as Peronism is on shaky ground, its candidate having lost some traction even among longtime loyalists living in a suburb of the capital that is its literal and figurative embodiment.

BELEM (Brazil), Nov 11 (NNN-AGENCIA BRASIL) — The Culture Ministers of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) signed a declaration in Belém condemning racism, thus reaffirming the bloc’s commitment to promoting ethnic-racial equality and combating racism in the region, Agencia Brasil reported.

The proposal, penned and put forward by Brazil’s Minister Margareth Menezes, who is acting as Pro Tempore President of Mercosur Cultural, considers that racial inequality is a structural problem to be tackled throughout the region.

LA PAZ, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and around a dozen injured Friday in a head-on collision between a passenger bus and a trailer truck in the eastern Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, local police said.

The accident occurred when one vehicle strayed into the opposite lane where a passenger bus was traveling from the town of Puerto Suarez to the department's capital city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commander of the Robore Police, Major Pedro Silva, told reporters.

10 November 2023; MEMO: During a session on Gaza in the Brazilian Parliament yesterday, police expelled pro-Israel Congressman, Abilio Brunini, after an argument broke out between him and pro-Palestinian Brazilian congressmen.

Brunini said he supports Israel’s genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza, which led other participants to interrupt him and ask him to leave the session...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - An unusual statement by Israeli spy agency Mossad saying that it had helped foil a Hezbollah attack in Brazil is the latest incident to strain relations between Israel and Latin America's largest nation against the backdrop of the Gaza war.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Wednesday he is sending the armed forces to boost security at some of the country’s most important airports, ports and international borders as part of a renewed effort to tackle organized crime in Latin America’s largest nation.

The decision comes days after members of a criminal gang set fire to dozens of buses in Rio de Janeiro, apparently in retaliation for the police slaying their leader’s nephew.

31 October 2023; MEMO: Bolivia’s government is breaking diplomatic ties with Israel, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, accusing Israel of committing crimes against humanity in its attacks on the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.

Bolivia, in 2009, cut diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

In 2020, the government of President Jeanine Anez re-established ties.