South America

CARACAS, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela on Friday urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to intervene against the U.S. trade and financial sanctions which are undermining Venezuela's economy.

Addressing a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Venezuelan Vice Foreign Minister William Castillo said the sanctions met the body's definition of "unilateral coercive measures" and should be lifted, according to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

LA SERENA, Chile (AP) — Tens of thousands of tourists and locals gaped skyward Tuesday as a total eclipse of the sun darkened the heavens over Chile and Argentina.

Tourists from around the world gathered to witness the cosmic spectacle, which began in the morning as the moon crossed in front of the sun and cast a shadow that passed over a tiny uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific and headed to South America. Chile and Argentina were the only inhabited places where the total eclipse could be seen.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — María Victoria Guarín was a key adviser on Colombia’s biggest-ever transportation project: a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) highway across mountainous terrain connecting the capital to busy Caribbean ports.

As an investment officer for a World Bank unit, it was her job to help the government set the terms for competitive bidding by contractors. It turns out she was also married to a senior executive of a company that won part of the very contract she helped to oversee.

CARACAS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela on Friday strongly condemned new sanctions imposed by the United States against Venezuelan government officials.

In a statement, the Venezuelan government said the latest round of sanctions represented Washington's "systematic use of unilateral and illegal coercive measures" to impose its political will on another country.

MEDELLIN, June 29. /TASS/: The Organization of American States (OAS) supports restoring democracy in Venezuela by peaceful means and calls for holding presidential elections in the Bolivarian Republic, according to the declaration adopted on Friday at the session of the OAS General Assembly.

"We support peaceful restoration of democracy in Venezuela by Venezuelan people through constitutional means. We call for holding free, honest, transparent and legitimate presidential elections in the nearest future," the declaration said.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — South America’s Mercosur bloc and the European Union struck a free-trade deal Friday after two decades of negotiations that concluded amid global trade tensions and rising protectionism.

The agreement announced by both sides came as trade talks between the EU and the United States have stalled with the Trump administration threatening to impose tariffs on all autos, a major European export to the U.S.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Roberto Escalona Moreno says he witnessed a double murder on the street last week near the hostel where is staying. The Cuban immigrant has been assaulted, and his friends have been shaken down by police, he says.

Moreno, 22, is among more than 30,000 migrants who are pressing for asylum in the U.S. but are stuck in Mexico’s drug- and gang-infested border cities under Trump administration policies intended to stem the flow. They say the months of waiting are increasingly putting them in harm’s way.

27 June 2019; DW: An attempt to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has failed, the crisis-hit country's government said. The leader has accused the United States of being behind an alleged coup plot.

Venezuela thwarted a US-linked plan to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro and seize power from his socialist government, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez alleged on Wednesday.

CARACAS, June 27. /TASS/: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has refuted accusations of trying to stage a coup voiced earlier by Minister of Communications and Information Jorge Rodriguez.

"Journalists have alreadt lost count of how many times such accusations were put forward. Our call which we have made and will continue to make is directed toward the military as they need to take the side of the constitution," Guaido told AFP.

BRASILIA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday revoked a decree loosening gun control, a week after the measure was pushed back by the Senate.

Bolsonaro edited three new decrees and sent a bill to the Congress, a move contradicting the comment made earlier by government spokesman Otavio do Rego Barros, who has said that the decree would not be revoked.

Bolsonaro has signed a decree easing gun control in May. To come into force, the decree needs congressional approval, but last week the Senate rejected it by a vote of 47 to 28.