Latin America

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican health officials on Tuesday called on all businesses and organizations to suspend work that requires the movement of people.

The U.S. has come under repeated criticism for unsanitary conditions in its immigration facilities.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Increasingly empty beaches and quieter streets in Mexico contrast with a still-crowded subway system and active street vendors, as shutdowns and social distancing measures have begun but remain very uneven.

For many Latinos, political events that affect their places of origin significantly influence their electoral preferences.

Colombia is scheduled to begin a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — A deadly riot broke out in a prison in Colombia’s capital, leaving 23 inmates dead, authorities said Sunday, as tensions rise over the spread of the coronavirus in one of the most vulnerable locations: crowded, poorly kept penitentiaries.

Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Saturday recommended that elections scheduled for May 3 be delayed as the government imposes nationwide restrictions in an attempt to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians rushed to buy food, gas, soap and face masks Friday after the announcement of two imported cases of the coronavirus sparked worries that the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation could be overwhelmed by the illness.

“We should be spending more time together anyway, as life is too short to be apart from loved ones,” a release about the new corrido says.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Sharing the mate beverage is an old tradition in parts of South America. The new coronavirus is changing that.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico and the U.S. announced Friday that they would prohibit all “non-essential” travel across their shared border as part of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Many countries in Latin America have taken aggressive measures to deal with the coronavirus such as closing their borders, dock and airports to foreigners, declaring states of emergencies and ordering business shutdowns.

LIMA, Perú (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has provided a silver lining for a former Peruvian president who has been in U.S. custody while he fights extradition back home to face trial on corruption charges.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. officials are expected to announce new restrictions on the southern border Friday as they try to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Faced with a growing backlash, a concerned-looking Bolsonaro, flanked by many of his ministers, on Wednesday gave his first press conference on the coronavirus at Brazil’s presidential palace.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican judge issued an arrest warrant for the former head of investigations for the Attorney General’s Office for alleged violations in the investigation of the case of 43 college students who disappeared in 2014, officials said Wednesday.

HAVANA (AP) — A British cruise ship rejected by Caribbean port officials for weeks docked in Cuba on Wednesday to unload more than 1,000 people on board, including five with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, which appears to balance improbably atop Corcovado mountain, has withstood the worst of what the elements could muster for nearly nine decades. Now it, too, is succumbing to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

MIAMI (AP) — Venezuela said Tuesday it is seeking an emergency $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, appealing to an institution it has long vilified to cope with the fallout from the new coronavirus on its already collapsed oil economy.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — Wash your hands. Try to stay home. But if you have to go out, consider taking a bike.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Diana Zurco did not attend her high school graduation because she refused to receive a diploma with her birth name. At 17 and considered a boy by school officials, she grew her hair long and adopted the name Diana after the alien character on the show “V” about an extraterrestrial invasion.