Financial strangulation, as he put it, is the latest weapon in the government's escalating effort to clear the way for expanded mining and oil development in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. Months earlier, officials had temporarily frozen the accounts of several of Ecuador's most prominent environmental defenders, including Tapia, citing investigations into unjust private enrichment and financing terrorism.
In his opening address of the parliamentary year, while insulting and mocking opposition legislators, Milei alluded to an alleged conspiracy involving members of his government to try to overthrow him and with a rather unsubtle gesture, he seemed to point to Villarruel, seated behind him.
The Senate approved the so-called labour modernization law on Friday with 42 votes in favour, 28 against and two abstentions, handing the libertarian president one of his most significant legislative wins. Milei's administration argues the changes will spur investment and create formal jobs, while labour unions contend they weaken worker protections.
The Siekopai Nation, which has historically occupied territories along the northern border between Ecuador and Peru, was separated and displaced during the 1941 border war between the two countries, a conflict with consequences that extended into the 1990s. According to Justino Piaguaje, leader of the Siekopai in Ecuador, the nation's original population was close to 20,000 but diseases brought by colonisers, Jesuit missions, conditions of slavery during the rubber boom, and the impacts of the oil industry led to a drastic decline.
According to the annual ranking by the Mexican organization Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, which compiles a list of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world, six Ecuadorian cities will appear among the top 10 in 2025. Babahoyo appears on the list for the first time as the second most violent, with 166 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.
I think we are in a transition process. It's happening in stages. Sometimes we don't see that certain preconditions must be met for this electoral process to take place. The United States, which has become a key player in domestic politics, has said so. Marco Rubio confirmed it in his meeting with the Caribbean countries: we are heading towards an electoral consultation.
Over the past three years, several Latin American countries have witnessed the arrival of the Orb, a futuristic-looking spherical device used to read irises and capture biometric data. This striking technology, developed by World Foundation and created by Sam Altman, a leading figure in artificial intelligence and CEO of OpenAI, along with its operational partner, Tools for Humanity, has been installed in shopping malls, gas stations, and other locations in Colombia, Chile, and Brazil.
Under international treaties, law enforcement officers of host nations are barred from entering foreign embassies and consulates without permission. One eyewitness to the incident in Minneapolis, a flashpoint in the Trump administration's violent mass deportation efforts, told Reuters that they saw ICE agents "going after two people in the street, and then those people went into the consulate and the officers tried to go in after them."
Costa Rica heads to the polls on Sunday in an election dominated by increasing insecurity and warnings of an authoritarian turn in a country long seen as a model of liberal democracy in the region. Crime is a big concern for many voters as criminal groups battle to control lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US, casting a shadow on the Central American country famous for its wildlife tourism.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has stressed the importance of having open lines of communication with the United States despite President Donald Trump's recent threats of military action against the South American country. In an interview with Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo in Colombia's capital, Bogota which aired on Friday Petro said his government is seeking to maintain cooperation on combating narcotics with Washington, striking a softer tone following days of escalating rhetoric.
Peru's interim president, Jose Jeri, has denied lying to the country and claimed he was the victim of a plot to discredit him amid a growing political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen. Jeri, 39, who took office in October after his predecessor Dina Boluarte was forced out, told a congressional oversight committee on Wednesday that he had been the target of a smear campaign designed to destabilise the country ahead of elections in April.
Members of the opposition coalition expressed joy at the news of Tudares Bracho's release. After 380 days of unjust and arbitrary detention having endured more than a year of the inhumane reality of enforced disappearance my husband Rafael Tudares Bracho returned home this morning, Edmundo Gonzalez's daughter, Mariana Gonzalez, wrote on the social media platform X. It has been a stoic and profoundly difficult struggle.
With 94% of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing president, Rodrigo Chaves, had captured 48.3% of the vote, compared with Ramos's 33.4%, according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez's Sovereign People's party erupted in celebrations around the country, waving blue, red and white-striped Costa Rican flags. Viva Rodrigo Chaves, some cheered, in a nod to Fernandez's mentor.
In April 2025, Peter Thiel's Palantir made headlines after documents were released detailing its partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to create ImmigrationOS, a massive database of information gathered from a variety of sources including the IRS, in order to surveil, detain, and deport immigrants. Thiel is not new to spearheading endeavors that aim to dehumanize and attack people of color. In fact, the tech mogul is one of the billionaires leading our modern-day version of tech neocolonialism,