Latin America

The Argentine legislature has narrowly approved big changes in the country’s pension system, repudiated by organized labor, which called for a 24-hour general strike, and other sectors of society, reports Democracy Now on Wednesday.

The government of Puerto Rico said on Monday that it will launch an official body count of those who died with the passing of Hurricane Maria last September 20th. At first greatly underestimated by the authorities, several investigations maintain that nearly 1,000 people died in the storm, reports Democracy Now.

Ecuador’s Vice President Jorge Glas was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for receiving huge bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. The court also sentenced eight other defendants to various sentences, including Glas’s uncle, Ricardo Rivera.

This Christmas season most Venezuelans aren’t thinking much about sprucing up the home, buying gifts and special meals as they are preoccupied with how to put the bear basics on the table today and then tomorrow. Foto: caratodigital.net

Teodora del Carmen Vásquez is an El Salvadoran woman who suffered a stillbirth in 2007, after the rapid onset of serious pain while she was at work, notes Amnesty International. Police arrested her as she lay in a pool of blood. She was later sentenced to 30 years for ‘aggravated homicide’ under El Salvador’s strict ban on abortions of any kind and has been in jail since 2008.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro affirmed that the ruling United Socialist Party won more than 300 of the 335 mayor’s races in Sundays elections, in which most of the opposition did not participate after denouncing that the elections would not be transparent.

Venezuelans will vote tomorrow in the elections for 335 mayors and one regional governor, which will be held without formal participation of the opposition, which protested the lack of fair conditions. The vote, with a predictable victory for the United Socialist Party (PSUV) of President Maduro, were preceded by the governors’ elections of October 15, in which the ruling party won in 18 of 23 states.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday that more than 100 top officials of the state oil company PDVSA have been arrested on corruption charges. The officials were put in their positions mainly by the late president Hugo Chavez and Maduro, his successor.

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa returned to Quito from his home in Belgium last weekend. On Tuesday he expressed his willingness to testify in favor of imprisoned Vice President Jorge Glas in the trial over illicit association following alleged bribes by the Brazilian company, Odebrecht.