South America

BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Argentina received the first batch of vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm on Thursday night.

Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Santiago Cafiero was on hand to receive the shipment at the Ezeiza International Airport on the southern outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires.

Accompanying Cafiero were Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Sola and Health Minister Carla Vizzotti, as well as Chinese Ambassador to Argentina Zou Xiaoli.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll, which surpassed 250,000 on Thursday, is the world’s second-highest for the same reason its second wave has yet to fade: Prevention was never made a priority, experts say.

Since the pandemic’s start, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro scoffed at the “little flu” and lambasted local leaders for imposing restrictions on activity; he said the economy must keep humming along to prevent worse hardship.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Sixty-two inmates have died in riots at prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fights between rival gangs and an escape attempt, authorities said Tuesday.

Prisons Director Edmundo Moncayo said in a news conference that 800 police offices have been helping to regain control of the facilities. Hundreds of officers from tactical units had been deployed since the clashes broke out late Monday.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Brazil will begin to produce a COVID-19 vaccine in the first half of 2021, a state-run biological sciences institution said Monday.

With a technology transfer agreement with British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation based in Rio de Janeiro will be able to start making the vaccine in Brazil in April, said Marco Aurelio Krieger, the vice president of production and innovation in health with the foundation, in an interview with the UOL internet portal.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) –Argentina’s new Health Minister Carla Vizzotti was sworn in on Saturday after the country was rattled by a scandal over VIP coronavirus vaccine access, pledging to strengthen oversight and transparency of the inoculation program.

Her predecessor stepped down on Friday after reports that people had been able to use connections to get priority access to COVID-19 vaccines, piling pressure on the government of President Alberto Fernandez.

BRASILIA, Feb 21 (NNN-TELESUR) — Brazilian demonstrators mobilized in at least 70 cities holding rallies to demand an immediate and free COVID-19 vaccination for the entire population.

Pres Jair Bolsonaro has dismissed the scope of the pandemic since its beginning as the death toll rises to over 244,000 people since March 2020.

The protests “also demand the return of the emergency relief suspended by the government of Jair Bolsonaro. 14 million people are unemployed in Brazil. For many, it was the only source of survival.”

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro moved to replace the head of state-run oil company Petrobras, naming a retired army general with no oil and gas experience as CEO after weeks of clashes with the current chief executive over fuel price hikes.

In a late Friday statement from the Mines and Energy Ministry, first shared on Bolsonaro’s Facebook page, the government said it had decided to appoint former Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna to run Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the firm is known formally.

BOGOTA. Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Colombia’s military carried out at least 6,400 extrajudicial killings and presented them as combat deaths between 2002 and 2008, a number significantly higher than previously estimated, a special court said.

The court, called the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, is investigating crimes and atrocities committed during half a century of armed conflict between government troops and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Marxist rebels who laid down their weapons following a historic 2016 peace accord.

LIMA, Feb 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Peru’s foreign minister resigned Sunday in a growing scandal over the revelation that government officials received Covid-19 vaccinations well before the general public.

The South American nation has been badly hit by the pandemic, with its health system overwhelmed and a targeted vaccination program for health workers rolling out only from Feb 8.

Public resentment over officials receiving vaccinations — despite there being no date for a wider immunization roll out — has seen at least two government officials resign.

BRASILIA, Feb 14 (NNN-Xinhua) — Brazil registered 1,043 more deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 238,532, the Ministry of Health said.

It has been the fifth consecutive day that more than 1,000 daily deaths from the disease have been reported.

The ministry also reported 44,299 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the national tally to 9,809,754.

Brazil has the second highest number of deaths, after the United States, and the third highest number of cases, behind the United States and India.