I didn't realize the Argentinian President and Vice President attacked those who criticized the Argentinian players for their incredible offensive song

From a long opinion piece at New Lines about racism in Argentina:

When the secretary of sports suggested in an interview that the players could apologize, he was promptly fired from his position by order of President Javier Milei, who asserted that no one could dictate “what to do or say to the world champion and two-time American champion players.”

Vice President Victoria Villarruel went a step further, turning the incident into a fervent nationalist and anticolonialist appeal in a post on X (formerly Twitter), which remains on her account @VickyVillarruel: “Argentina is a sovereign and free country. We have never had colonies or second-class citizens. We have never imposed our way of life on anyone. And we will not tolerate anyone doing it to us. Argentina was built with the sweat and courage of the Indigenous people, Europeans, Creoles and Black people like Remedios del Valle, Sergeant Cabral and Bernardo de Monteagudo. No colonialist country will intimidate us with a song on the pitch or by confronting the truths they refuse to admit. Stop pretending to be outraged, hypocrites. Enzo, I support you; Lionel Messi, thanks for everything! Argentinians, always hold your head high! Viva the Argentineness!”

That same night, the president’s sister rushed to the French Embassy to apologize for the vice president’s remarks. 

Bogota "has been divided into nine sectors, which will each go 24 hours without water on an assigned day before the cycle repeats"

"restrictions will last until water levels improve"

Kite fighting in Brazil is sustained by a black market that provides the potentially deadly kite lines

Rest of the World:

Kite fighters do everything they can to bring down the kites of their opponents — including using strings doused with wax, or sharp materials like glass or quartz, which turn kite lines into razors.

Once a string plummets from the sky, it becomes a hazard for pedestrians, motorcycle riders, and vehicles, with the potential to cause grievous injuries. In February, legislators began discussing a nationwide ban on the sharp kite lines — already outlawed in 15 states and over a dozen municipalities across Brazil in the last few years, in some cases as early as 2001. But content creators have fueled a black market where the kite lines remain readily available.

An energy company in Peru employs its own archaeologists because they discover ancient tombs so often while digging

Reuters:

Energy company workers in Peru discovered a dozen centuries-old tombs from pre-Inca cultures during the construction of a gas pipeline

AP:

the company’s excavation work to expand its system of gas lines over the last 19 years has produced more than 1,900 archaeological finds of various kinds, including mummies, pottery and textiles

Funny summary of an attempted lawsuit by a very famous celebrity lawyer

From Matt Levine's April 24 newsletter, which has a lengthy write-up of the legal shenanigans:

Ultimately this defense worked, and the judge dismissed [the extremely famous celebrity lawyer]’s lawsuit. I love that a famous US lawyer learned of Swiss companies defrauding a Venezuelan company out of billions of dollars, and his natural first reaction was to go to a US federal court to get it to order those companies to give him the money instead. “If a US lawyer notices anyone stealing any money anywhere in the world, that money belongs to him, and a US court will enforce his rights to it” is not 100% wrong as a description of US law, which explains a lot about the extraterritorial application of US law, the hegemony of the dollar system, and the entrepreneurial American legal culture. But it is not 100% right either, and it did not work out for [the extremely famous celebrity lawyer].

A Twitter account purportedly documenting jewelry used by Rio de Janeiro drug lords

If you want to (try to) understand Brazil a little bit better, check out this account that documents the insane jewelry used by Rio de Janeiro drug lords. https://t.co/Fu8PPJ6Jjv

— Dan Werneck (@werneck_art_br) June 29, 2022

The Brazilian town known as “New Egypt” because of the popularity of crypto pyramid schemes

AP:

With so many alleged pyramid schemes, Cabo Frio came to be known as the “New Egypt.” And as the town’s top dog [he] was dubbed the “Bitcoin Pharaoh.”

Police say [he] began trading in Bitcoin after leaving his job as a waiter in 2014. A one-time evangelical preacher in training, he enlisted clients from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Brazil’s largest neo-Pentecostal group, who earned a referral fee for bringing in fresh recruits and kicking back money to G.A.S., police documents say.

...

Rio state police have also linked two attempted killings to [him] and what they called his “extermination team.”

...

Prosecutors have identified at least 27,000 G.A.S. victims

Argentina's president apologizes for saying "Brazilians came from the jungle, but we Argentines came from the ships"

He made the comments to impress Spain's prime minister, and later said they came from a song he liked:

“The Mexicans came from the Indians, the Brazilians came from the jungle, but we Argentines came from the ships. And they were ships that came from Europe,” Fernández said, referring to the many European migrants who arrived in the country. He later apologized for the comments and said his country’s diversity was something to be proud of. 

Dozens of gunman flooded a Brazilian town to rob a bank

Guardian:

Bank robbers armed with military-grade weapons have laid siege to a city in southern Brazil, torching vehicles, kidnapping government workers, blowing up a bank and engaging in a two-hour gun battle as the mayor begged residents to stay indoors.

... 

a convoy of luxury vehicles including Audis, Land Rovers and BMWs [] cruised into town carrying a platoon of masked raiders whose armoury included 50-calibre rifles capable of downing helicopters.

Reuters:

In their wake, the robbers left cash strewn across the streets. Residents soon spread out to snatch up the notes, television footage showed.

...

Brazil has a long history of bank heists, and major lenders have struggled with a wave of violent robberies in recent years as criminals have mastered the use of explosives to access cash.

Al Jazeera:

Police later located the attackers’ vehicles in a neighbouring municipality

...

The brazen robbery resembles another that took place in July in the city of Botucatu, in Sao Paulo state. There, around 30 armed men blew up a bank branch, took residents hostage and exchanged gunfire with police officers before making their getaway.

"Venezuelan warship shoots, rams into German cruise vessel before sinking"

Jerusalem Post:

Columbia Cruise Services continued, stating that “Shortly after mid-night, the cruise vessel was approached by an armed Venezuelan navy vessel, which via radio questioning the intentions of the RCGS RESOLUTE’s presence and gave the order to follow to Puerto Moreno on Isla De Margarita. As the RCGS RESOLUTE was sailing in international waters at that time, the Master wanted to reconfirm this particular request resulting into a serious deviation from the scheduled vessel’s route with the company DPA.”

According to the statement, “While the Master was in contact with the head office, gun shots were fired and, shortly thereafter, the navy vessel approached the starboard side at speed with an angle of 135° and purposely collided with the RCGS RESOLUTE. The navy vessel continued to ram the starboard bow in an apparent attempt to turn the ship’s head towards Venezuelan territorial waters.”

The cruise company said the RCGS RESOLUTE sustained minor damages, not affecting vessel’s seaworthiness, it occurs that the navy vessel suffered severe damages while making contact with the ice-strengthened bulbous bow of the ice-class expedition cruise vessel RCGS RESOLUTE and started to take water.”

CNN:

According to Venezuela, the incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday in Venezuelan waters, next to Isla La Tortuga. Columbia CS says it took place in International waters, near Willemsted, Curacao.

The country's defense ministry suggested the Resolute may have been carrying mercenaries ready to attack Venezuela.

Earlier this week:

Japan SDF destroyer, China fishing boat collide in East China Sea

"Armed neo-Pentecostals torment Brazil’s religious minorities"

WaPo:

The mayor is a bishop in a Pentecostal church. The city is home to President Jair Bolsonaro, baptized in the River Jordan and carried to office by the Pentecostal vote. And it’s the birthplace of the powerful Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

...

In the past generation, Brazil has undergone a spiritual transformation like few other places on the planet. As recently as 1980, about 9 in 10 people here identified as Catholic. But that proportion has cratered to 50 percent, and will soon be overtaken by evangelicalism, which now accounts for one-third of the population.

...

Several of the converted were leaders of the powerful gang Pure Third Command. The conversions, Vital said, helped instill a new “evangelical religious morality” in the criminal group as it waged a war of conquest against other gangs in Rio’s northern reaches

...

Gangs are unfurling the flag of Israel, a nation seen by some evangelicals as necessary to bringing about the return of Christ.

"The situation at the Venezuelan Embassy [in Washington, D.C.] has spiraled out of control"

Politico:

The Embassy of Venezuela’s previous occupants, the diplomatic corps of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, have been gone since April 24, after the White House revoked their status and ordered them to leave the building. They left—but not before inviting in a collection of activists as one last act of resistance from the embattled regime.

...

Since last week, Venezuelans have been staying outside the building in tents, blocking the entrances to the embassy and at times confronting and harassing the leftist demonstrators face to face.

As the face-off drags on, attracting attention from U.S. and international outlets in Washington, an unanswered question looms over the street: When will the U.S.-recognized ambassador swoop in to take the building—and who will seize it for him?

So far, dozens of Secret Service and local police officers have completely surrounded the area, but they have not gone inside the building.

"It Doesn’t Matter if Ecuador Can Afford This Dam. China Still Gets Paid"

NYT:

only two years after opening, thousands of cracks are splintering the dam’s machinery. Its reservoir is clogged with silt, sand and trees. And the only time engineers tried to throttle up the facility completely, it shook violently and shorted out the national electricity grid.

This giant dam in the jungle, financed and built by China, was supposed to christen Ecuador’s vast ambitions, solve its energy needs and help lift the small South American country out of poverty.

Instead, it has become part of a national scandal engulfing the country in corruption, perilous amounts of debt — and a future tethered to China.

...

Nearly every top Ecuadorean official involved in the dam’s construction is either imprisoned or sentenced on bribery charges

"Why the Amazon River Can't Be Crossed By Bridge"

CNN:

For most of its length, the Amazon isn't anywhere close to too wide to bridge—in the dry season. But during the rainy season, the river rises thirty feet, and crossings that were once three miles wide can balloon to thirty miles in a matter of weeks. The soft sediment that makes up the river bank is constantly eroding, and the river is often full of debris, including floating vegetation islands called matupás, which can measure up to 10 square acres.

Zarana painting; Vintage map of South America; How logos used to be assembled

I painted Zarana for @YesteryearComic's variant for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #249 by @IDWPublishing. This was very much inspired by those old pulp covers. pic.twitter.com/Gyzc0jBEcR

— Miguel Mercado (@merkymerx) February 15, 2018

11x17 Death Vader commission. pic.twitter.com/BjZ9baQipO

— Daniel WarrenJohnson (@danielwarrenart) March 13, 2018

STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS
Gun-totin’, Badass, First Black Woman hired by US Postal Service (1895). At 60yrs old, Mary proved herself the fastest applicant to hitch a team of 6 horses & was hired. Living proof of “be so darn good that they can’t ignore you” #WomensHistoryMonth #Day15 pic.twitter.com/kWnDvCT7VS

— FrancescoFrancavilla (@f_francavilla) March 16, 2018

NEW TODAY AT ECCC!
A set of 5x7" Wiccan (in his Sorceror Supreme outfit) prints!
You can buy them from me at H-1 in the Artists' Alley.
❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/rWG3Za8UJX

— Aud Koch (@audkoch) March 3, 2018

Went a different route for this project. Here's my vision of what the @Jaguars helmet would look like if they were part of the 1976 expansion versus the '95 expansion. #helmetnerd pic.twitter.com/mFYmhRFf9B

— The Tao of Steve B. (@SteveBCreations) March 16, 2018

1932 Japanese Pictorial Map of South America #map #maps pic.twitter.com/tfyEtx5JxE

— OnlMaps (@onlmaps) March 12, 2018

I love when this happens: I just got an email that someone bought 3 tank tops of my (very old) ping pong or die design (no idea what color though). Some things sit in my shops for years before anyone buys them. Glad I didn’t mix the design. 👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/sc6B9pxzzL

— Andrew Burgertron 🍔🤖[👖] (@gimetzco) March 8, 2018

1986 the construction of the logo, magic markers -white out copy machine -Exacto knife ..no computer or Photoshop pic.twitter.com/67SV6vFK2H

— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) August 3, 2014

"Brazilian judge approves 'gay conversion therapy', sparking national outrage"

TG:

Waldemar de Carvalho, a federal judge in the capital of Brasília, overruled a 1999 decision by the Federal Council of Psychology that forbade psychologists from offering widely discredited treatments which claims to “cure” gay people.

...

Brazil has a growing population of evangelical Christians who have protested vociferously

"At ancient pyramid in Peru, remains of 19th century Chinese labourers found"

Reuters:

Peru was one of the biggest destinations for Chinese labour in Latin America in the 19th century, a market that thrived after slavery was abolished in the country in 1854.

...

Chinese labourers were generally not allowed to be buried at Lima’s Catholic cemeteries, forcing them to improvise burial sites

"Amid hungry, violent looting, Venezuelan shopkeepers fortify their businesses"

MH:

In one of the most high-profile cases earlier this month, authorities said as many as 11 people died in a single night of looting in Caracas. While the numbers vary, it appears at least seven were electrocuted while trying to rob a bakery called La Mayer del Pan.

At the time, there was speculation that the store had been booby-trapped with an electric fence or that a power-line had fallen. But the truth is more mundane, said Jose de Freitas, the store’s 34-year-old manager.

He said the night of April 20, armed gangs descended from the surrounding barrios to start sacking stores. They forced the bakery’s doors open with crowbars and emptied the shelves and the warehouse. He said the bakery had not been rigged to purposefully harm anyone.

“The people died because they tried to steal a coffee maker that was full of water,” he explained. “When the plug was pulled it made contact with the water, and because we have stainless steel furniture, it made a big circuit and, well, they were electrocuted.”

"Brazilian prison gang suspected in Paraguay’s ‘heist of the century’"

WaPo:

Dozens of gunmen blocked highways, burned trucks and cars, sealing off the perimeter of their target for hundreds of yards. The assailants, who were wearing flak jackets and driving in armored vehicles, used explosives and .50 caliber guns to blow the facade off a transportation company office in Ciudad del Este, a town in Paraguay near the smugglers' haven in the border region with Brazil and Argentina. They killed a policeman, broke open the vault and then escaped -- apparently fleeing by motorboats up the Paraná River -- with millions of dollars.

The haul was initially estimated at $40 million, which would be roughly equivalent in today's dollars to the amount lifted during the "Great Train Robbery," the infamous 1963 theft of a post office train in England. Officials with the targeted company, Prosegur, which transports valuables, said the amount was less. Still, Paraguay news reports were calling the robbery the largest in the country's history and the "heist of the century."

"Brazilian Meat Giants Rush to Contain Scandal"

"The scandal is threatening to undermine years of extensive publicity focused on the quality and safety of their products, which starred celebrities including British chef Jamie Oliver and two-time Oscar-winner Robert de Niro."