South America

SANTIAGO, Oct 27 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Chilean President, Sebastian Pinera, asked all of his ministers to resign, as a measure to respond to social demands, after a week of street protests.

“I asked all ministers to resign, in order to structure a new cabinet, to be able to respond to these new demands and to the future,” Pinera told reporters, at the presidential palace.

He said, his government “has heard the people’s message. We all have changed. Now we have to combine forces to give real, urgent and responsible solutions to those social demands.”

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera asked all his Cabinet members to offer their resignations Saturday as he prepared to shake up his government in response to a wave of protests, including one that drew more than a million people the day before.

Santiago, Oct 26; AFP/GANASHAKTI:  More than one million people took to the streets in Chile Friday for the largest protests in a week of deadly demonstrations demanding economic reforms and the resignation of President Sebastian Pinera.

The leader told the thronging masses that he had "heard the message" in a post on Twitter, characterizing the protests in a positive light and as a means towards change.

BRASILIA, Oct 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the South American nation will drop its requirement that visiting Chinese and Indian tourists or businesspeople obtain visas.

Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, came to power at the beginning of the year and has made it a policy to reduce visa requirements from a number of developed countries.

But the announcement, made during an official visit to China, is the first he has made expanding that policy to the developing world.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A new round of clashes broke out Thursday as demonstrators returned to Chile’s streets, dissatisfied with economic concessions announced by the government in a bid to curb a week of deadly violence.

Stone-throwing protesters did battle with police firing tear gas and water cannons in the capital, Santiago, and the port of Valparaiso, as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in city squares around the country. Clashes continued into the night.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — President Evo Morales on Thursday declared himself victor of the weekend election, stirring more anger among his opponents who have protested for days claiming fraud in the vote count, while the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Colombia joined in calling for Bolivia to hold a runoff between the incumbent and his top challenger.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina sheriff faces up to a year in prison and will lose his job after a jury found him guilty Thursday of misconduct in office.

A Greenville jury deliberated more than four hours before splitting its verdicts, finding suspended Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis guilty of misconduct that involves corruption or fraud, but not guilty of misconduct that involves not doing a public job properly.

SANTIAGO, Oct 22 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Protests over the weekend left 11 people dead, in Chile’s capital Santiago and the Metropolitan area, an official said.

“The official death toll we regrettably have, from the past two days is 11: three deaths on Saturday and eight on Sunday,” Santiago Mayor, Karla Rubilar, said.

The protests, sparked by a hike in subway fares snowballed into riots, against the high cost of living and lack of services, with dozens of subway stations vandalised or set on fire.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia’s electoral authority announced Monday night that President Evo Morales was close to avoiding a runoff in his re-election bid, touching off protests by the leader’s opponents already upset by a sudden halt in the release of the vote count.

A crowd burned the offices of the electoral body in the southern city of Sucre, and groups of Morales’ supporters and opponents clashed in a number of places.

21 October 2019; AFP: Evo Morales, seeking a controversial fourth term, led Bolivia's presidential election race Sunday but faces a historic second round run-off against opposition rival Carlos Mesa, partial results showed.

Morales had 45 percent of the vote to Mesa's 38 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced, with most of the votes counted.