South America

(Reuters) --- An indigenous community in Ecuador's Amazon region is blocking access to one of state oil company Petroecuador's main fields in a protest over compensation, prompting the company to request help from the armed forces to deliver supplies.

SANTIAGO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Chile on Saturday began historic elections, in which, for the first time, a Constitution Convention comprised of 155 members will be elected to draft the country's new constitution.

The process "is totally unique in Chile," Lucia Dammert, a political scientist and sociologist at the University of Santiago, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"One of the most important decisions in political terms will be made, which is the formation of the constituent convention within the context of the pandemic," she said.

LIMA, May 15 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — An overwhelming majority of Peru’s Parliament voted in plenum against a motion seeking to oust President Francisco Sagasti.

The motion had been submitted by Congressman César Gonzales. It was supported by 12 votes and rejected by 86 legislators, while another 19 abstained.

The nays considered it highly inopportune as the country is heading for a presidential runoff in less than a month between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori and Sagasti is to hand over the presidency to whoever wins on June 6.

BOGOTA, May 15 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The Colombian government of President Iván Duque insisted that the National Unemployment Committee needs to withdraw from the conflicts affecting the country if there is to be any dialogue.

“We are ready to sit down to negotiate,” said the government’s High Commissioner for Peace, Miguel Ceballos as Colombia plunges into a series of strong mobilizations and brutal repression.

15 May 2021; MEMO: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Friday called on the international community to take action to stop the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Arreaza posted a video on Twitter showing Israel's bombing of a 9-storey building in Gaza that entirely collapsed.

He stressed the need for the United Nations (UN) to ensure an urgent response to these attacks, urging: "An immediate response should be established without bias against any ideology or religion."

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The face of a new Chile begins taking shape this weekend as the South American country elects 155 people to draft a constitution to replace one that has governed it since being imposed during a military dictatorship.

Nearly 80% of voters in a plebiscite last year chose to draft a new charter for the nation following a year of protests, though there is much less consistent agreement over what it should contain.

(Reuters) --- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, addressing the nation last month in a social media video, touted the latest in a string of unconventional drugs he says can ease the country's COVID-19 crisis.

Bolsonaro - a vaccine skeptic and promoter of discredited treatments such as hydroxychloroquine - said this new drug, Proxalutamide, would "soon be available to all Brazil." He invited a little-known Health Ministry official, Helio Angotti, to expand on its promise.

BRASILIA, May 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian states on Tuesday suspended immunization of pregnant women with the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on the advice of the national health regulator after a reported death.

The suspension was to remain in place until the health ministry establishes the cause of death of a woman in Rio de Janeiro who received the vaccine, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga told a news conference.

Queiroga said the call was made by a team of experts and was based “exclusively on technical criteria.”

12 May 2021; MEMO: Organisations from across Latin America have come together to "strongly condemn brutal Zionist terrorism and the ongoing Israeli atrocities against believers and protesters in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound", they said in a statement.

BOGOTA, May 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — Colombian President Ivan Duque warned that protests could lead to a rise in COVID-19 cases, shortly before sitting down to talks with members of the National Strike Committee in a bid to end days of chaos.

“We have seen an increase in movement in many parts of the country, with much interaction between citizens in recent days amid a third peak (in infections), and I must send the message that we must all take care of ourselves,” Duque said at the government headquarters.