LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Nicaraguan, anti-Ortega bishop under house arrest

The latest in Latin American politics today: Nicaraguan, anti-Ortega bishop under house arrest after pre-dawn raid Rolando Alvarez, one of the most influential bishops in Nicaragua's Catholic Church and a critic of President Daniel Ortega's government, is under house arrest in the capital Managua following a pre-dawn raid, police said on Friday.

The latest in Latin American politics today: Nicaraguan, anti-Ortega bishop under house arrest after pre-dawn raid

Rolando Alvarez, one of the most influential bishops in Nicaragua's Catholic Church and a critic of President Daniel Ortega's government, is under house arrest in the capital Managua following a pre-dawn raid, police said on Friday. The arrest is the latest in the government's clamp downs on the local Catholic Church, which had acted as a mediator between the government and opponents until relations deteriorated following anti-Ortega protests in 2018.

Cuba to send hundreds of doctors to Italy amid shortage HAVANA - Cuba will send hundreds of doctors to southern Italy next month, Cuban state media reported this week, with the communist-run island frequently sending surplus medics to countries in need, particularly during the COVID pandemic.

From September, Cuba will start sending nearly 500 doctors of various specialties to Calabria, where there is a shortage of medics, Cubadebate reported. Bolsonaro's re-election campaign to double down on opposition's past scandals

President Jair Bolonaro's re-election campaign plans to rehash historical corruption issues surrounding opposition candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's leftist Workers Party, campaign sources told Reuters. The sources said Bolsonaro's campaign would use social media to focus on past issues of corruption, Lula's former and current allies, and socio-economic problems in South American countries with left-wing governments.

Support for Bolsonaro, who lags Lula in the polls, has been gradually increasing. Argentina secures $740 million in loans from development bank

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina has secured six loans worth $740 million from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), its economy ministry said on Friday, as the country tries to reverse a severe fiscal deficit and foreign currency shortage. The ministry said the credits would "encourage exports, promote sustainable development, improve road and educational infrastructure, guarantee food security, and expand water and sanitation services in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area."

Mexico calls disappearance of 43 students a 'state crime' MEXICO CITY - Mexican officials late on Thursday said government involvement in the 2014 disappearance of 43 students constituted a "state crime", another damning assessment of the previous administration's actions regarding one of the country's worst recent human rights atrocities.

"There is no indication the students are alive," Mexico's top human rights official Alejandro Encinas said. "It's a sad reality." Despite extensive searches, the remains of only three students have been discovered and identified, Encinas said. The students' families have long expressed hope their loved ones had survived. (Compiled by Steven Grattan and Sarah Morland Editing by Alistair Bell)

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