South America

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia’s defense ministry on Friday announced the ouster of 11 military officials and the resignation of a general related to an ongoing probe into allegations the army spied on journalists, politicians, magistrates and other members of the military.

The ministry did not name any of the people dismissed or the general. The country’s attorney general opened the investigation in January after local news magazine Semana published the allegations.

CARACAS (Reuters) - At least 17 prisoners in a Venezuelan jail were killed on Friday as they attempted to escape during a riot, according to a military report seen by Reuters and an opposition lawmaker from the area.

The National Guard report said soldiers fired at a group of armed prisoners as they tried to break out of the main entrance of the Los Llanos jail in central Portuguesa state. One officer with a megaphone then negotiated with the prisoners and they agreed to withdraw, it said.

QUITO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno on Friday asked employers and employees to come to agreements to avoid layoffs in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has strongly impacted the economy.

"These are difficult times for Ecuador and the world. That is why it is important, especially now, that the employer and worker work together, that they reach agreements, forming a single team to get ahead," Moreno said while speaking on national television to mark the occasion of International Workers' Day.

BRASILIA, May 1 (NNN-Xinhua) — Brazil registered 7,218 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health reported, showing that the pandemic contagion curve in the country has accelerated in recent days.

According to data on the country’s official COVID-19 platform, confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose from 78,162 on Wednesday to 85,380 on Thursday, an increase of 9 percent.

The death toll rose from 5,466 to 5,901, with a fatality rate of 6.9 percent. In the last 24 hours, 435 new deaths were registered, compared to 449 in the previous day.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Brazil’s virtually uncontrolled surge of COVID-19 cases is spawning fear that construction workers, truck drivers and tourists from Latin America’s biggest nation will spread the disease to neighboring countries that are doing a better job of controlling the coronavirus.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – The Brazilian government announced the appointment of Andre Mendonca, as the country’s new minister of justice and public security, and Alexandre Ramagem, as the new head of the Federal Police.

The announcement was made in Tuesday’s edition of the Official Journal, which publishes all government decrees.

Mendonca previously served as Attorney General, a position he held since the beginning of the Bolsonaro administration. In addition to his legal career, Mendonca is also an ordained Presbyterian minister.

28 April 2020; AFP: A Brazilian supreme court judge on Monday ordered a probe into accusations by former justice and security minister Sergio Moro that President Jair Bolsonaro sought to "interfere" with police investigations.

In his decision, obtained by AFP, Judge Celso de Mello gave the federal police 60 days to question Moro about his explosive allegations against the right-wing president.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has appointed André Mendonça as the new Justice Minister, replacing Sergio Moro who resigned last Friday after accusing his boss of wrongdoing, according to the official gazette on Tuesday.

Mendonça, 47, previously served as Brazil’s attorney general and was once considered for a nomination to the Brazilian Supreme Court.

CARACAS, April 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named a top official targeted by US sanctions as oil minister as the market for the country’s vital export is in tumult.

Maduro tasked Tareck El Aissami — a vice president for the economy who has been indicted in the United States on drugs trafficking charges — with “restructuring and reorganization” of the OPEC member’s crippled oil industry.

Maduro also named Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, as interim president of the state oil firm PDVSA.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a “little flu” and that there is no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the U.S.