South America

BARINAS, Venezuela (AP) — Voters in the home state of Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chávez on Sunday picked an opposition candidate for governor in a closely watched special election called after the contender representing that faction in November’s regular contest was retroactively disqualified as he was ahead in the vote count.

BOGOTA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Colombian Victor Escobar became the first person in the Andean country with a non-terminal illness to die by legally regulated euthanasia late on Friday, his lawyer Luis Giraldo confirmed.

"We reached the goal for patients like me, who aren't terminal but degenerative, to win this battle, a battle that opens the doors for the other patients who come after me and who right now want a dignified death," Escobar, 60 said in a video message sent to media by Giraldo.

BRASILIA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - At least seven people died and nine were seriously injured when a wall of rock collapsed on top of motor boats below a waterfall in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, the fire department said.

A tower of rocks suddenly broke away from the canyon wall and came crashing down on several leisure boats, sending out a huge wave over the lake at Capitolio, in Minas Gerais state.

Videos posted on social media showed tourists shouting as the column of rock crashed into the water, smashing two boats.

BRASILIA, Jan 7 (NNN-CMA) – Brazil recorded the first death from the Omicron variant of COVID-19 yesterday, in the city of Aparecida de Goiania of Goias state.

The municipality reported that, the victim was a 68-year-old man with high blood pressure, suffering from “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” who was admitted to a local hospital.

The patient was a contact of a confirmed Omicron case, and had received three vaccine doses.

QUITO, Jan 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced that he has appointed former presidential adviser Juan Carlos Holguin as the new minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, replacing Mauricio Montalvo, who has been serving in the position since May 24, 2021.

Lasso wrote on Twitter that Holguin assumes following the president’s decision to “entrust new functions” to Montalvo, “which will be announced tomorrow during the award ceremony with which I will thank him for his services.”

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rejected an offer of aid from Argentina, saying on Thursday that his country did not need the assistance dealing with deadly floods that have affected broad swaths of the country's northeast and killed dozens.

His comments drew a quick rebuke from the governor of hard-hit Bahia state, who said local authorities would welcome help from any nation and that foreign countries should feel free to contact the state directly.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 28 (NNN-TELAM) – Argentina reported 20,263 new cases of COVID-19 and 31 more deaths related to the disease in the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said yesterday.

The daily cases was the highest in five months, only slightly lower than the previous record of 21,590 cases on July 6.

According to the ministry, the latest figures raise the total caseload to 5,480,305 and the death toll to 117,066, with 92,395 currently active cases.

27 Dec 2021; MEMO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he will soon visit Iran to finalize new agreements on cooperation with the Middle Eastern country, which has become Venezuela's top ally in boosting oil output amid US sanctions, reports Reuters.

Venezuela and Iran have strengthened their ties since last year.

CARACAS, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- State-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) exceeded one million barrels of crude produced per day at the end of 2021, double what it recorded a year ago, Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami reported on Saturday.

This figure was reached despite the dozens of sanctions the U.S. government has imposed on the South American country, El Aissami said in a Christmas message.

SANTIAGO, Dec 25 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The indigenous Mapuche tribe violent groups in southern Chile, involved in arson and destruction attacks, have warned that as long as forestry and construction companies keep ”devastating our resources, and the jails of southern Chile continue full of Mapuche patriots incarcerated, weichan (armed resistance) will not cease to be it under (president) Piñera or (elected president) Boric”.