South America

BRASILIA, Feb 2 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The Brazilian Ministry of Justice on Wednesday set a 60-day deadline so that the owners of licensed or restricted-use weapons can register those war devices in a method administered by the Federal Police (PF).    

The registrations will be virtual and centralized in the National Weapons System (SINARM), for which the PF is responsible.

SAO PAULO, Feb 1 (NNN-CMA) – At least seven people were killed and another 22 injured yesterday, when a tour bus heading for Iguazu Falls, overturned in the southern Brazilian state of Parana, police said.

According to Parana’s Federal Highway Police, the bus, carrying 54 persons, had departed from Florianopolis, capital of Santa Catarina state, on its way further south, to Foz do Iguacu, a Brazilian town bordering Argentina and Paraguay.

QUITO, Feb 1 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Ecuadorian President, Guillermo Lasso met yesterday with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, in the northern Ecuadorian city of Tulcan, with the two sides vowing to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation.

Border security cooperation and joint crackdown on environmental crimes are high on the agenda, as violence fueled by drug trafficking gangs, armed rebel groups and other crimes are on the rise in their bordering area.

CARACAS, Jan 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (DDHH), Volker Türk, stressed that it is evident that the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Venezuela in 2017 aggravated the economic crisis in the country.    

When presenting to the press this Saturday the balance of three days of work with the different actors in society, the official pointed out that his Office once again recommended that the Member States (in reference to the United States) suspend or lift the sanctions, which “have a detrimental effect on human rights”.

LIMA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 24 people were killed early on Saturday in a traffic accident in the northwestern Peruvian department of Piura, according to the local press.

The accident occurred when a bus belonging to the company Q'orianka Tours Aguila Dorada, carrying about 60 people, plunged off an abyss at a steep section of the road, known as "the devil's curve."

Rescue workers and police had arrived at the scene to help the victims.

The injured were taken to local hospitals in El Alto and Mancora.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — When police fire tear gas at protesters demanding the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, most run away.

A few, though, run toward the gas canisters as quickly as possible — to neutralize them.

These are the “deactivators.” Donning gas masks, safety goggles and thick gloves, these volunteers grab the hot canisters and toss them inside large plastic bottles filled with a mixture of water, baking soda and vinegar.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 25 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font called for free elections in Venezuela and said he was willing to sponsor dialogue between the administration of President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition. He also said he hoped Venezuela would soon once again participate in multilateral forums.

During his speech at the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), Boric also called for the release of political opponents still detained in Nicaragua.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — More than 50 people have died in ongoing street protests in the weeks since Peru’s elected leader was jailed, mostly demonstrators at the hands of police officers, but only a few international voices of concern have emerged.

The relative silence of much of the regional and global community has dismayed human rights advocates, who are calling for condemnation of the state violence unleashed since Pedro Castillo was impeached and imprisoned for trying to dissolve Congress.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Peru’s capital and were met with volleys of tear gas and pellets amid clashes with security forces just hours after President Dina Boluarte called for a “truce” in almost two months of protests.

The antigovernment protest Tuesday was the largest – and most violent — since last Thursday, when large groups of people, many from remote Andean regions, descended on the capital to demand Boluarte’s resignation, immediate elections and the dissolution of Congress.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru indefinitely shut the famed ancient ruins of Machu Picchu on Saturday in the latest sign that anti-government protests that began last month are increasingly engulfing the South American country.

The Culture Ministry said it had closed the country’s most famous tourist attraction as well as the Inca Trail leading up to the site “to protect the safety of tourists and the population in general.”