Latin America

In the capital city of Santiago, health officials reported that more than three-quarters of ventilators are already in use and many fear a collapse of public health resources should the number of cases continue to grow.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged Wednesday to begin reopening Mexico’s economy next week —encouraged by U.S. officials— even as hospitals from Mexico City to the border reeled under the pressure of the largest one-day jump in COVID-19 case numbers and the lack of testing made decision-making difficult.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Faced with overwhelmed hospitals and surging coronavirus deaths, Brazilian state and city governments are lurching forward with mandatory lockdowns against the will of President Jair Bolsonaro, who says job losses are more damaging than COVID-19.

Latino Rebels Radio: May 12, 2020

Public health experts warn that hospitals are receiving patients with suspicion of coronavirus every day.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The death toll from the novel coronavirus among medical personnel in Mexico has reached 111, and the virus has infected between 8,500 and 15,000 hospital staffers, officials said Monday.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Roger Ordoñez was hospitalized with breathing problems last week.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó said Monday that two U.S.-based political advisers have resigned in the fallout from a failed incursion into the Caribbean nation led by a former-Green Beret aimed at capturing President Nicolás Maduro.

“I’m still in contact with all the students in my class, but we’re not talking about school at all because at this moment courses have been suspended,” Eliani Matienzo said.

Venezuelan officials have also accused Colombia of assisting with the operation.

SAN CRISTÓBAL, Ecuador (AP) — Before the coronavirus, sudden life-threatening ailments among tourists, fishermen and others on the Galapagos Islands were considered so rare that hospitals didn’t have a single intensive care unit bed.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — After fleeing Venezuela along with millions of others amid the country’s grueling humanitarian crisis, Misael Cocho made his way by bus to Peru—where he got odd jobs and sent money home monthly to support his mother and his 5-year-old son.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest Friday of a former Green Beret and two opposition figures living in the United States for their purported role in a botched operation aimed at removing Nicolás Maduro from power.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Few countries celebrate Mother’s Day with as much gusto as Mexico, and that has created fears the celebrations could threaten lock-down measures and spread the new coronavirus.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — On a day Mexico saw its worst daily increase yet in coronavirus cases, foreign-owned auto plants began setting dates for reopening.

MIAMI (AP) — Three Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are demanding answers from the Trump administration about how much it knew about an attempted raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an operation they said potentially violated U.S. law and ran counter to American support for negotiations to end the South American country’s political standoff.

Domestic abuse helplines reported receiving nearly four times more calls than in recent years.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — From the Amazon city of Manaus to the seemingly endless urban sprawl of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, freshly dug graves have been filling up quickly for weeks with the bodies of Brazilians killed by COVID-19.

MIAMI (AP) — A former Green Beret who has claimed responsibility for an ill-fated military incursion into Venezuela is under federal investigation for arms trafficking, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials.

On Sunday, Venezuelan authorities intercepted a boat of would-be invaders near the city of La Guaira

HAVANA (AP) — Rarely used in Latin America outside hospitals before the coronavirus pandemic, face masks are now compulsory for subway riders, supermarket shoppers and even joggers in some countries—and they’re becoming a colorful part of the region’s daily life.