South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A massive blackout left tens of millions of people without electricity in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay on Sunday in what the Argentine president called an “unprecedented” failure in the countries’ power grid.

Authorities were working frantically to restore power, and by the evening electricity had returned to 98 percent of Argentina, according to state news agency Telam. Power also had been restored to most of Uruguay’s 3 million people as well as to people in neighboring Paraguay.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Major European nations are considering imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and several top officials for their recent crackdown on political opponents, although divisions remain over the timing of any action for fear of derailing a negotiated exit to the country’s crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Sweden is hosting talks between major global powers with stakes in dealing with Venezuela’s political turmoil, the latest effort to jumpstart flagging attempts to find a peaceful solution to the country’s crisis.

A European diplomat said Thursday that representatives of Russia, the United Nations, the Vatican, Cuba and the European Union were attending the Stockholm meeting. An American official with knowledge of the discussions said the U.S. was invited but decided against participating.

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — Wilfido Briñez considers himself lucky to live with the roar of electric generators outside his front door in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city and ground zero for the nation’s rolling blackouts.

While many of his neighbors sit in the dark waiting for the lights to come back on, the university professor charges his phone and grades students’ papers on his laptop. Food in his refrigerator stays cold and the air conditioner hums.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — In Venezuela, the financial hopes of Eliset González are riding on a niche trade.

Each day, González sits at a market kiosk in Caracas and repairs broken lightbulbs for people who can’t afford new ones in the crisis-torn nation.

“I feel that with this I help the community, because these lightbulbs are super expensive nowadays. I help myself as well,” said González, who learned how to disassemble and rewire a bulb while spending several years in prison for theft.

CARACAS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's rich natural sources, specifically mineral reserves, allow investors to recoup their investment, a Venezuelan minister said.

"If you make an investment, it is surely going to be recovered because we have minerals, gold, coltan, diamonds and with enough reserves to recover any investment," said Venezuelan Minister of Ecological Mining Development Victor Cano in an interview with Xinhua.

8 June 2019; DW: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the decision to open the border post with Colombia, near where international aid refused by his government has been accumulating. 

"In exercising our sovereignty I have ordered the opening of the border crossing to Colombia in the state of Tachira on Saturday," Maduro wrote on Twitter.

"We are a peaceful people, who determinedly defend our independence and self-determination," he continued.

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese telecom company Huawei will not be banned from operating a fifth-generation (5G) mobile telecoms network in Brazil, Vice President Hamilton Mourao has said.

In an interview published Friday by daily Valor Economico, Brazil's largest financial newspaper, Mourao said the idea of banning Huawei is not being considered by his administration.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan leader Juan Guaidó said Friday that the opposition’s demand for presidential elections is not negotiable, slowing mediation efforts by Norway aimed at resolving Venezuela’s political crisis.

“A new meeting isn’t planned at the moment, we can get what we’ve proposed on the agenda” Guaidó said at an event in the central city of Valencia, dismissing earlier comments from Russia’s foreign ministry that a third round of exploratory talks with representatives of Nicolás Maduro would take place next week.

BUENOS AIRES, June 3. /TASS/: Some individuals are using media fakes to paint a negative image of Russia because of Moscow's cooperation with Venezuela, the Russian Embassy in Argentina said on Monday.

The embassy was responding to recent media reports that Russia is allegedly operating a system of informational intelligence in Latin America.