South America

BRASILIA, April 1 (Reuters) - Brazilian democracy is being "threatened," Edson Fachin, the president of Brazil's electoral court (TSE), said on Friday, saying the country faced "a turbulent period" ahead of a fraught October presidential election.

Fachin's comments come as polls show President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army who has repeatedly questioned the credibility of Brazil's electronic voting system, narrowing the gap on leftist frontrunner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's lead.

QUITO, March 29 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso said on Tuesday he would use decrees, referendums and other tools to meet his election promise to reactivate the country's struggling economy, bypassing the national assembly, where lawmakers have rejected his proposals.

The comments from the conservative ex-banker came after the assembly last week voted down an investment bill which Lasso's opponents decried as privatization of public assets. 

LIMA, March 28 (Reuters) - Peruvian President Pedro Castillo is facing an impeachment vote in Congress that could see the center-left leader ousted just eight months after taking office, a result which would tip the world's no. 2 copper-producing nation into a fresh political crisis.

Castillo, a former teacher from a peasant farming family who shot to prominence when he narrowly won election last year, is set to face lawmakers in the unicameral legislature on Monday, ahead of a vote likely to take place after midnight.

BRASILIA, March 28 (Reuters) - Brazil's Education Minister Milton Ribeiro resigned on Monday following allegations of corruption in the awarding of ministry funds to municipal districts, according to an announcement in the country's official gazette.

Ribeiro has been facing political pressure after local newspapers reported that two pastors had allegedly gained preferential treatment for educational funding for their municipal districts and taken bribes. 

18 March 2022; MEMO: Chilean President Gabriel Boric called on the international community to show solidarity with Palestine as it has shown support for Ukraine.

BOGOTA, March 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Colombia’s President Ivan Duque inaugurated the world’s largest genetic library for beans, cassava and tropical forages for feeding livestock, which will provide long-term crop conservation and could help shock-proof global food systems.

Increasing demand for food and falling crop output amid climate change mean researchers must breed new plant varieties to withstand the twin impacts of rising temperature and extreme weather events, according to the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

LIMA, March 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Part of a hill collapsed in northern Peru on Tuesday, burying at least 60 homes, the government said, with harrowing images on social media showing whole apartment buildings being covered by the landslide.

While casualties are yet unknown, dozens of people are feared dead after a landslide buried multiple homes. The disaster occurred at around 8.30am local time and was believed to be a result of the heavy rain in the La Libertad region of Peru.

BUENOS AIRES, March 14 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine are intensifying and biting, with consequences for the Argentine fishing industry, mainly because Russian importers are rejecting shipments as the Rubble, last week, had devalued almost 75%.

SANTIAGO (Chile), March 14 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Presidents Pedro Castillo Terrones of Peru and Luis Arce Catacora of Bolivia held a private meeting in Santigo de Chile on the sides of Gabriel Boric Font’s inauguration to discuss the possibility of supplying Peru with LPG, among other issues.

Castillo and Arce talked about “cooperation on various issues of shared interests between the two countries”, according to the official Twitter account of the Presidency of Peru.

LIMA, March 13 (NNN-ANDINA) — Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister Cesar Landa expressed to United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, Peru’s interest in reaching an agreement for the non-lethal interdiction of illicit flights to combat drug trafficking.

The dignitaries met in Chile during the activities linked to the recent swearing-in of the hosting country’s President Gabriel Boric.