Crowds have poured into the streets of Uruguay’s capital to bid a poignant farewell to former President José Mujica, a guerrilla fighter-turned-pioneering leader who became an icon of the Latin American left, remembered most for his humility, simple lifestyle and ideological earnestness.

After a reprieve of months, confirmed cases of COVID-19 are surging in the southern tip of South America.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to leave questions of human rights and democracy to the United Nations, as part of his continuing criticisms of the Organization of American States.

FILE - In this March 1, 2005 Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez opens his arms to supporters from the balcony of the Government Palace in Montevideo, Uruguay. The former president died in Montevideo early Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Marcelo Hernandez, File)SANTIAGO – Uruguay's first socialist president, Tabaré Vázquez, who rose from poverty to win two terms as leader, died Sunday of cancer, a disease the physician dedicated much of his life to fighting. But in the second Vázquez administration, the economy softened, crime rose and Vice President Raúl Sendic was forced to resign over corruption allegations. During that first term, as president he championed some of the world’s strictest tobacco regulations.