South America

CARACAS, Aug 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 20 people have died in the western Venezuelan state of Merida following intense rains that caused mudslides and rivers to overflow.

On state TV on Wednesday a ruling Socialist Party official in Merida announced the death doll had risen and said authorities were working to restore telephone service in some areas.

State governor Ramon Guevara said earlier that more than 1,200 houses had been destroyed and 17 people remained missing as rescue workers search the wreckage.

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 23 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — A 62-year-old Bolivian citizen residing in the Argentine city of Córdoba who gained notoriety as the Delta variant “Case Zero,” has died Sunday morning after being hospitalized for three weeks.

The cause of death was stated as “respiratory failure caused by severe bilateral pneumonia” according to hospital documents.

The man had failed to observe the mandatory isolation after arriving into the country on July 29, thus spreading the Delta variant of the coronavirus among his friends and near ones.

SANTIAGO, Aug 23 (NNN-TELESUR) — Chile’s President of the Senate Yasna Provoste won the Social-Democrat Primary Elections with an overwhelming majority of 62.2 percent of the votes and will represent the Constituent Union alliance in the Nov 21 Presidential Elections.

“This country cannot think the next government will come to experiment, to make trial-and-error tests. We cannot either think we will change from one Sebastian to another. We have to offer a better destiny to our country,” Provoste said after the election result was published.

BRASÍLIA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that he will ask his health minister to set a date to end the use of face masks as a means of reducing transmission of COVID-19 in Brazil.

Maks have become a political issue in Brazil, with Bolsonaro long ranting against their use and frequently refusing to wear one in public despite a legal requirement to do so.

In the radio interview, the president argued that with much of the population already vaccinated or having caught the virus, masks are not needed.

LA PAZ, Aug 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former Bolivian President Jeanine Anez harmed herself by cutting her lower arms while in jail on Saturday, her lawyer Norka Cuellar told local media after police reported what they categorised as attempted suicide.

“This is a cry for help from the former president. She feels very harassed,” the lawyer told reporters.

“The doctor came in and found her with the cuts. On her left wrist she has three cuts, they have sutured her,” Cuellar said.

CARACAS, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced several changes in his cabinet on Thursday, including the appointment of Mervin Maldonado as the new vice president for social and territorial socialism.

The announcement follows the selection of several cabinet ministers as candidates of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela for regional and municipal elections scheduled for Nov. 21, Maduro tweeted.

BRASILIA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro raised the stakes in his battle with the country's Supreme Court on Friday, sending the Senate a request for the impeachment of one of its justices, according to the request seen by Reuters.

Bolsonaro is seeking to impeach Justice Alexandre de Moraes after he opened an investigation into the president for allegedly leaking to the media a secret federal police report of a hacking that backed up his views that Brazil's electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud.

LIMA, Aug 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Peru’s Foreign Minister Hector Bejar has resigned after allegedly claiming earlier this year that the country’s Shining Path rebel movement was established with help from the US foreign intelligence service CIA.

President Pedro Castillo accepted Bejar’s resignation, the Agencia Andina news agency reported.

Bejar’s remarks in February were widely rejected and led to calls for him to leave office.

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 14 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentina officially invited the Portuguese president and Prime Minister to visit the country as part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the recognition by Lisbon of Argentina’s independence.

Foreign minister Felipe Solá met with Portuguese ambassador Jose Frederico Viola de Drummond Ludovice, and following talks extended president Alberto Fernandez’ invitation for the heads of state and government of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Antonio Costa to visit Argentina.

BRASILIA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday called for the Senate to bring charges against two Supreme Court justices, warning of an "institutional rupture" in his latest clash with the judiciary as investigations threaten him and his allies.

"It has been a while since Supreme Court Justices Alexandre de Moraes and Luis Roberto Barroso have exceeded constitutional limits with their acts," Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter. "Everyone knows the consequences, internal and external, of an institutional rupture, which we neither provoke nor desire."