Latin America

August is the month of major political crises in Brazil, but no one suspected that an environmental issue would be the trigger for the storms threatening the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, just eight months into his term.

France is to oppose a European Union trade deal with the South American Mercosur group of countries because of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmental policy, the Elysee Palace confirmed on Friday.

In Mexico, the Zapatista National Liberation Army announced this week that it is extending its leadership of autonomous indigenous zones to 11 more areas in the southern state of Chiapas.

Brazilian prosecutors have launched an investigation into massive wildfires in the Amazon region. The probe will look into why a “day of fire,” announced by farmers in the region last week, was not barred from taking place in the state of Para, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Venezuela on Wednesday opened an embassy in North Korea, At the opening ceremony, Venezuela’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ruben Dario Molina criticized US “attacks” against the governments in Caracas and Pyongyang.

Colombia said Tuesday that its capacity to deal with the mass influx of Venezuelan migrants had been “surpassed,” adding that it had only received 30 per cent of the necessary international funding.

In El Salvador, 21-year-old rape survivor Evelyn Hernandez, who was being retried on aggravated homicide charges for having a stillborn birth in 2016, has been acquitted.

Volunteers with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths have been venturing into the harsh Sonoran Desert for years to leave water, food and other life-saving supplies for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed support on Thursday for oil-rich Venezuela’s efforts to counter “attempts by the United States to change the legally elected government,” reported dpa news.