Colombia Swears In New President Days Before Deadly Quake
Colombia's new president takes office in Cali, then a 7.4 quake strikes; Raúl Castro appears in Havana; Brasilia embassy vandalized.
A week of dramatic turns in Latin America saw Colombia's political transition collide with a major natural disaster. In Cali, the country's third-largest city, a conservative former criminal defense lawyer with no prior political experience was sworn in as president. The inauguration took place less than 72 hours before a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck, toppling buildings in Cali and across several of Colombia's far-flung provinces.
Meanwhile, in Havana, 95-year-old Raúl Castro, the former president and brother of the late Fidel Castro, made a rare public appearance. He attended a tribute at the Karl Marx Theater commemorating what would have been his brother's 100th birthday.
Elsewhere, tensions between the United States and Brazil spilled into visible protest. One wall of the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia was vandalized with messages against the U.S. government. The act comes amid heightened friction, with Washington imposing high tariffs on select Brazilian goods and revoking the Brazilian ambassador's visa to the U.S. capital.