South America

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chileans are voting in a plebiscite Sunday on whether to adopt a far-reaching new constitution that would fundamentally change the South American country.

The proposed charter is intended to replace a constitution imposed by a military dictatorship 41 years ago.

For months, opinion polls have shown a clear advantage for the rejection camp, but the difference has been narrowing, giving hope to the charter’s supporters that they can pull out a victory.

BOGOTA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Seven police officers were killed in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Friday, the government said, the deadliest attack on security forces since President Gustavo Petro took office promising to end the country's nearly 60-year conflict.

Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla, has pledged to seek "total peace" by restarting talks with leftist ELN rebels, applying a 2016 peace accord to former FARC guerrilla fighters who reject it, and negotiating the surrender of crime gangs in exchange for reduced sentences. 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A man tried to kill Argentina’s politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández outside her home, but the handgun misfired, the country’s president said.

The man was quickly overpowered by her security officers in the incident Thursday night, officials said.

President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, a former president herself, said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.

MONTEVIDEO, Aug 31 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Authorities from Uruguay and Brazil defense authorities have held bilateral meetings towards coordinating joint efforts along the border between the two countries to carry out operations against drug trafficking and organized crime in the area.

 Uruguay’s Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, explained that the encounters with officials from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul aimed at “sharing the problems both sides” have regarding these issues.

BRASILIA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has maintained his lead in the polls ahead of the October general elections.

Lula, who represents the Workers' Party, holds 42.3 percent of voter support, while current President Jair Bolsonaro of the conservative Liberal Party has 34.1 percent, according to the latest poll released Tuesday by the MDA Survey Institute and commissioned by the National Transport Confederation.

29 August 2022; AA: Colombia will formerly reestablish diplomatic relations with Venezuela as of Monday after years of tensions.

Colombian Ambassador Armando Benedetti, appointed by new President Gustavo Petro, arrived in Venezuela’s capital Caracas on Sunday to present his credentials to President Nicolas Maduro.

The new ambassador will have as a priority the reestablishment of diplomatic and commercial ties between the two countries after three years of deteriorating relations.

SANTIAGO, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Chilean authorities warned that the area around a copper mine where a sinkhole suddenly appeared is at high risk of further collapse and has set up a security perimeter.

Government agencies and the mine's owners are studying what caused the appearance in late July of the mysterious hole that spans 36.5 meters (120 feet) in diameter.

LA PAZ, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia accumulated 55 monkeypox cases in less than a month after the first infection was recorded, with an average of two cases per day, the Ministry of Health and Sports announced Friday.

Three new cases were registered in the department of Santa Cruz, bringing the overall figure in that region to 47, with one recovery.

The department with the second most cases was Cochabamba with five, followed by La Paz with three, and Potosi with one.

BRASILIA, Aug 27 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) cleared the Health Ministry to import and use the Jynneos / Imvanex vaccine and the drug Tecovirimat, both against monkeypox.

The vaccine known as Jynneos in the United States or Imvanex in countries under the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a smallpox vaccine and monkeypox, modified vaccinia virus, Ankara strain, it was explained. It is manufactured by the Bavarian Nordic laboratory in Denmark and Germany.

SANTIAGO, Aug 27 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Chile’s President Gabriel Boric Font accepted the resignation of Minister of Social Development, Jeannette Vega, after she was found to have tried to contact a Mapuche leader arrested earlier this week for acts of violence.