South America

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 5 (NNN-TELESUR) — Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires Wednesday to demonstrate against the government of President Mauricio Macri’s reforms, demanding the Congress to pass a bill declaring a state of Food Emergency in order to address poverty and hunger growing across the country.

Protesters brandished banners slamming Macri’s economic austerity policies and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), heading towards the Congress and the Ministry of Social Development.

LA PAZ, Sept 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Wildfires raging in Bolivia’s forests and grasslands since May have destroyed 1.7 million hectares, officials said Wednesday, amid an $11 million effort by the government to contain them.

Environmentalists blame laws enacted under President Evo Morales, who has encouraged the burning of forest and pasture land to expand agricultural production, while the government attributes the blazes to dry weather and winds.

SANTIAGO, Sept 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced a 5 billion U.S.-dollar investment plan to renovate and expand the country’s railway network.

“Trains are not just going to be part of the daily life of Chileans as passengers, but also part of our country’s economic life,” said Pinera.

“We are making a great effort so the railways will not only improve the quality of life of our compatriots, but also make a great contribution to the development of our country,” Pinera added.

LA PAZ, Sept 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — Bolivian anti-narcotics forces seized 220.7 tons of drugs during 8,261 operations between January and September this year, an official said.

With the support of some international bodies, Bolivia’s antinarcotics model is “producing important results,” Deputy Interior Minister Jose Luis Quiroga told the press.

Of the 220.7 tons of drugs seized, 6.6 tons were cocaine paste, 4.9 were cocaine, 204.5 corresponded to marijuana plantations and 4.5 to marijuana ready for sale, the minister said.

CARACAS, Aug 31 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Venezuelans will march in defense of national sovereignty and against the blockade imposed by the United States on the South American nation, according to Francisco Torrealba, vice president of the working class section of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

The popular mobilization is slated for Saturday, 10:00 a.m. local time, marching from Morelos square to the Miraflores Presidential Palace.

31 August 2019; AFP: President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday that Europe has "nothing to teach" Brazil about preserving the environment, as the country aligns itself with the United States over fires raging in the Amazon rainforest.

The far-right leader's comments come as the latest official data show thousands of new fires were ignited across Brazil on Thursday -- the first day of a ban on burning -- with most of them in the Amazon basin.

VILA NOVA SAMUEL, Brazil (AP) — “Without smoke, there’s no progress,” said the Amazon rancher in a torn straw hat and cowboy boots caked in red dirt.

The rancher, 75-year-old Antonio Lopes da Silva, was talking about the fires that have swept parts of one of the world’s most precious regions in recent weeks. People around the world reacted with shock at what they consider a monumental threat to the environment, but for many living in the Amazon, land-clearing fires mean survival and development.

30 August 2019; AFP: A 60-day ban on burning in Brazil took effect Thursday after a global outcry over fires raging in the Amazon and data showing hundreds of new blazes in the rainforest.

The decree issued by President Jair Bolsonaro comes after escalating international pressure over the worst fires in the Amazon in years, which have ignited a diplomatic spat between Brazil and Europe.

But activists quickly doused hopes that the ban would work.

BOGOTA, Aug 30 (NNN-Xinhua) — The leftist political party created by the dismantled Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group on Thursday apologized for some of its rebel leaders’ decision to take up arms again against the state.

“We apologize to the country and the international community … They distanced themselves from the (peace) process,” said Rodrigo Londono, president of the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, a party born of a peace deal signed between the government and the FARC rebels in 2016.

29 Aug 2019; MEMO: Honduran announced on Tuesday that President Juan Orlando Hernández is paying an official visit to Israel tomorrow to open the country’s diplomatic office in Jerusalem, recognising the occupied city as Israel’s capital, news agencies reported.

Hernández said that opening a diplomatic office in Jerusalem “is an extension” to the embassy in Tel Aviv.