South America

CARACAS, Jan 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro invited delegates from the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the governments of Argentina, Mexico and Panama to accompany his government’s conciliation talks with the opposition.

During an anti-imperialist rally in Caracas, Maduro called on the regional governments and the international organizations to follow the process of the talks, as the two sides are trying on an agreement for holding legislative elections.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — The prosecution office of the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais said it has filed charges against mining giant Vale and consulting company TUV SUD for intentional murder over the collapse of a tailings dam in 2019.

The collapse of the tailings dam occurred in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, on Jan 25, 2019, leaving 270 people dead and more than 10 missing.

The prosecution office also filed charges against 16 individuals, including former Chief Executive officer of Vale Fabio Schvartsman.

22 January 2020; AFP: Agents from Venezuela's Sebin intelligence service have raided the offices of opposition leader Juan Guaido while he is travelling in Europe, an opposition lawmaker said.

"We have just confirmed that Sebin officers are inside the office," lawmaker Delsa Solorzano told reporters Tuesday after speaking with security guards at Caracas's Zurich Tower.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 21 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Bolivia’s leftist Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, said, it picked former economy minister, Luis Arce, to be its presidential candidate in the general elections to be held in May.

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s former president and the party’s founder, made the announcement in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, where he was granted political asylum, after being forced out of office in Nov.

20 January 2020; AFP: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido surfaced in Colombia on Sunday to meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as his power struggle with President Nicolas Maduro entered a challenging new phase.

"Already in #Colombia," the Venezuelan National Assembly leader wrote on Twitter, thanking Colombian President Ivan Duque for his "support for the struggle."

Washington, Jan 19 (AFP/PTI) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was still comfortably in charge and open to direct negotiations with the US, in an interview published Saturday by The Washington Post.

The interview was Maduro's first with a major US outlet since February of last year, when he abruptly ejected all Univision journalists from Venezuela.

CARACAS, January 19. /TASS/: At least five Venezuelan states experience problems with electricity supply, the international nonprofit monitoring organization NetBlocks tweeted.

"Confirmed: Significant power outage in Venezuela at 9 p.m. local time (04.00 am Moscow time on Sunday) affecting multiple states including Tachira, Zulia, Merida, Carabobo, Falcon," the Organization says. The incident is ongoing, NetBlocks added.

LA PAZ (Reuters) - A former foreign minister and a coca farmer are the front-runners to be on the ticket for exiled Bolivian President Evo Morales’ political party in the May elections in the South American country, officials said on Friday.

Former Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, an Aymara Indian, was picked as the presidential candidate for the Movement to Socialism (MAS) party in the vote, which will serve as a re-run of a disputed October election.

SANTIAGO, Jan 18 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — At least three communes in central Bio Bio region are now on red alert due to forest fires that have already destroyed five homes and more than 600 hectares.

The fires, started on Thursday, have affected the Cabrero, Nacimiento and Santa Juana communes, where authorities ordered the preventive evacuation of hundreds of people from inhabited areas that were threatened by the flames, Radio Bio Bio station reported.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Outrage rained on Brazil’s government from across the political spectrum after the culture secretary used language similar to that of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels in launching an arts initiative focused on nationalism and religion, forcing President Jair Bolsonaro to fire him Friday.

The parallels between Thursday’s remarks by Roberto Alvim, who had held the culture post only since November, and those of Goebbels in the 1930s drew irate reactions from Jewish organizations, key lawmakers, political parties, artists and Brazil’s bar association.