South America

BUENOS AIRES, November 9. /TASS/: A fire has broken out in the building of the Pedro de Valvidia University in Chile's capital Santiago as protests continue in the country, 24 horas TV channel reported on Friday.

Footage shown by 24 horas indicates that the whole building of the university is on fire. Firefighters are working on the scene. They say that the building was set on fire.

CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s release from jail has fired up Brazil’s weakened leftist opposition, though it’s likely to anger conservatives who considered his incarceration proof the country was finally serious about ending corruption.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court delivered a narrow decision Thursday night that could release almost 5,000 inmates still appealing their convictions, including jailed former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The court decided in a 6-5 vote that a person can be imprisoned only after all appeals to higher courts have been exhausted.

The decision appears to cover Da Silva and others convicted in cases arising from the sprawling “Car Wash” corruption investigation, which has ensnared dozens of top politicians and business leaders in Latin America’s biggest nation.

BOGOTA, Nov 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Colombia’s defence minister Guillermo Botero resigned Wednesday after facing accusations of trying to cover up the deaths of several children in a military air strike on a drug trafficking gang.

“Today, in a meeting with the president of the republic to analyse the current political situation, it was agreed that the most suitable thing was to resign from the position of minister of national defence,” Botero said in a statement.

7 November 2019; AFP: Demonstrations in Chile against the government of President Sebastian Pinera spread into Santiago's wealthiest neighborhoods Wednesday, tainting previously untouched enclaves with violence amid the country's deadly protests.

CARACAS, Nov 6 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stressed on Tuesday that Venezuela is moving forward despite the tightening of the US economic blockade.

‘The year 2019 has been a complex one, hard, full of conspiracies, plots, international aggressions and many lessons learned. We prove that Venezuela can triumph and move forward victorious throughout the 21st century, with the flag of the Revolution flying high,’ the president tweeted.

BRASILIA, Nov 6 (NNN-TELESUR) — Brazil’s student organizations, social movements, unions, and progressive parties on Tuesday held protests across the country with the motto, “For justice, democracy and rights. For Marielle, enough of Bolsonaro!”

BRASILIA, Nov 6 (NNN-TELESUR) — Brazil’s mining regulator blasted iron ore miner Vale SA for failing to disclose problems with a mining dam before a deadly collapse in January, saying this kept the agency from taking actions that could have saved lives.

The dam in Brumadinho collapsed and flooded a nearby company cafeteria and the surrounding countryside with mining waste, killing more than 250 people. It was Vale’s second deadly dam collapse in less than four years.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — El Salvador has ordered the expulsion of all Venezuelan diplomats from the Central American country, the authorities announced Sunday.

El Salvador recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president until free elections were held in the country, the government said in a statement.

It gives 48 hours to the entire diplomatic corps of the Venezuelan government to leave the country, the statement added.

2 November 2019; AFP: Dressed in black, marching silently and raising one fist, around a thousand women on Friday demanded justice for those killed and injured during the last two weeks of social unrest in Chile.

Their march started off a day of demonstrations on a long weekend in the country, expanding later as tens of thousands answered social media calls to match last Friday's huge protest that attracted more than a million people.