- Dozens injured after ‘technical problem’ on LATAM flight to Auckland, passengers ‘flew through cabin’ CNN
- Dozens Injured on Latam Flight After ‘Technical Event’ With Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Wall Street Journal
- 50 injured by ‘strong shake’ on flight from Australia to New Zealand WHIO
- At least 50 injured, one critically, after plane nosedives, sending bloodied passengers crashing into the ceiling New York Post
- 50 people are injured by a ‘strong movement’ on a plane traveling from Australia to New Zealand The Associated Press
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Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president, has applied for U.S. tourist visa
WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month tourist visa to remain in the United States, his lawyer said on Monday, despite calls for any U.S. visas held by Bolsonaro to be revoked following violent protests in Brasilia.
The United States received his application on Friday, his lawyer, Felipe Alexandre, said, adding that Bolsonaro will remain in the United States while his application is pending.
“He would like to take some time off, clear his head, and enjoy being a tourist in the United States for a few months before deciding what his next step will be,” Alexandre said in an email response to Reuters.
“Whether or not he will use the full six months will be up to him and whatever strategy we agree to embark on based on his plans as they develop,” Alexandre added.
The Financial Times first reported that Bolsonaro had requested a tourist visa.
A State Department spokesperson said visa records are confidential under U.S. law, adding that the department cannot discuss details of individual visa cases.
[1/2] Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro looks on after a ceremony about the National Policy for Education at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil June 20, 2022. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Far-right Bolsonaro flew to Florida two days before his term ended on Jan. 1 and leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, before the former president’s supporters stormed the country’s capital.
Supporters of Bolsonaro ransacked Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace, calling for a military coup to overturn the October election that Lula won.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has agreed to open an investigation into Bolsonaro for allegedly encouraging anti-democratic protests that ended in the storming of government buildings by his supporters in Brasilia.
Earlier this month, 41 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday to cooperate with Brazil’s investigation into violent protests in Brasilia and revoke any U.S. visas held by Bolsonaro.
The State Department has said repeatedly its policy is not to discuss specific visa cases.
The State Department has said it was incumbent on an individual who entered the United States on a so-called “A” visa reserved for diplomats and heads of state to depart the country within 30 days or apply for a change of immigration status if they are no longer engaged in official business. Bolsonaro is believed to have entered on such a visa.
Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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Unilever names former Heinz exec Schumacher as CEO
LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Unilever on Monday appointed Hein Schumacher to replace Alan Jope as chief executive from July in a move that was welcomed by investors including board member and activist shareholder Nelson Peltz.
Schumacher, 51, rejoined Unilever in October last year as non-executive director and is currently the chief of Dutch dairy business FrieslandCampina.
He worked at Unilever more than 20 years ago before working for retailer Royal Ahold NV and packaged food maker H.J. Heinz in the United States, Europe and Asia.
One of the biggest consumer companies in the world with more than 400 brands ranging from detergent to ice cream, Unilever said in September said that Jope planned to retire at the end of 2023.
Billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz, who heads investor Trian Partners, said he strongly supports Schumacher “as our new CEO and look(s) forward to working closely with him to drive significant sustainable stakeholder value.”
Peltz become a Unilever board member in July after it was revealed early last year that he had built a stake in the company.
“I first met Hein when I served as a director at the H.J. Heinz Company from 2006 to 2013 and was impressed by his leadership skills and business acumen,” Peltz said.
Peltz, through his Trian Fund, holds a nearly 1.5% stake in Unilever, making him the fourth largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Unilever shares were up 0.56% versus a FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index down 0.1% as of 1032 GMT.
The move was also cheered by other investors and analysts, who have felt in recent years that Unilever needed an outsider’s touch.
“Positive that he’s an external appointment,” Jack Martin, a fund manager at Unilever shareholder Oberon Investments, said. “Good CV from what I read, hopefully provides the impetus the company requires.”
‘ESG SAVVY, PRAGMATIC’
Unilever’s shares have underperformed European consumer staples and discretionary indices during CEO Jope’s tenure, which began in January 2019.
His failed bids for GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK.L) consumer healthcare business last year lost him some good faith among investors, including influential British billionaire Terry Smith, owner of Fundsmith.
Smith said at the time that Jope needed to focus less on sustainbility and more on building Unilever’s core business.
“Hein is ideal for Unilever — he’s got roots at the company but at the same time he’s external,” Allan Leighton, former CEO of British food retailer Asda and ex-chair of Britain’s Royal Mail, told Reuters.
Leighton, who worked with Schumacher on the board of C&A AG, described him as “ESG savvy but in a pragmatic and commercial way.”
Tineke Frikee, a fund manager at Unilever shareholder Waverton Investment Management, said: “It is good Schumacher has plenty of industry experience outside Unilever, particularly international.”
“I note though that his background is mainly in food, rather than beauty and personal care. This may lead the market to reduce the probability of a potential food spin-off.”
Unilever’s food business includes Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Colman’s mustard, Hellman’s mayonnaise and Knorr stock cubes.
Some investors and analysts have speculated over the past year that Unilever might spin off what they feel is a weaker food business to focus on personal goods, beauty and home care.
“Why hire a food exec, if you are planning to sell the food business?” Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne said, adding that selling the food business “will always be on the cards, but I doubt that it is top priority in the short term.”
But Monteyne pointed out that some investors were hoping Unilever would name someone more well-established, globally.
“Investors we spoke to in recent weeks were hopeful for a more familiar name from a successful U.S.-based FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) turnaround.”
Unilever had been considering internal and external candidates for the role.
Sources told Reuters in October that the candidates included finance chief Graeme Pitkethly, personal care division boss Fabian Garcia and Hanneke Faber, who heads the company’s nutrition group.
Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong and Richa Naidu; editing by Matt Scuffham and Jason Neely
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Peru bus plunges off cliff, killing at least 24
Jan 28 (Reuters) – At least 24 people died in northern Peru after a bus carrying 60 passengers plunged off a cliff in early on Saturday, police told local media.
Peru’s transportation supervisory agency (SUTRAN) confirmed the crash in a statement, without providing a number of fatalities or injuries.
The tragedy, involving a bus for the company Q’Orianka Tours Aguila Dorada, occurred in the district of El Alto in the far north of Peru, SUTRAN said.
SUTRAN said early investigations showed the bus appeared to have an up-to-date safety inspection and accident insurance.
Road accidents are relatively common in Peru, with many drivers operating vehicles on precarious roads and without proper training. In 2021, 29 people died when a bus plunged off a highway in the Andes mountains.
Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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Brazil and Argentina to discuss common currency
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Brazil and Argentina aim for greater economic integration, including the development of a common currency, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentine leader Alberto Fernandez said in a joint article they penned.
“We intend to overcome the barriers to our exchanges, simplify and modernize the rules and encourage the use of local currencies,” says the text published on the Argentine website Perfil.
“We also decided to advance discussions on a common South American currency that can be used for both financial and commercial flows, reducing costs operations and our external vulnerability,” the article said.
The idea of a common currency was raised originally in an article written last year by Fernando Haddad and Gabriel Galipolo, now Brazil’s finance minister and his executive secretary, respectively, and was mentioned by Lula during the campaign.
Lula chose Argentina for his inaugural international trip since taking office, keeping with the tradition of first visiting Brazil’s largest trading partner in the region. That follows four years of tense relations during the government of former Brazilian right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula’s trip to neighboring Argentina also marks the return of Brazil to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which Brazil left in 2019 under order from Bolsonaro, who refused to participate in the regional group due to the presence of Cuba and Venezuela.
Both presidents emphasized the need for a good relationship between Argentina and Brazil to strengthen regional integration, according to the article.
The leaders also emphasized strengthening the Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and which Brazilian Finance Minister Haddad recently lamented has been abandoned in recent years.
“Together with our partners, we want Mercosur to constitute a platform for our effective integration into the world, through the joint negotiation of balanced trade agreements that respond to our strategic development objectives,” both presidents said.
Earlier in the day, the Financial Times reported the neighboring nations will announce this week they are starting preparatory work on a common currency.
The plan, set to be discussed at a summit in Buenos Aires this week, will focus on how a new currency which Brazil suggests calling the “sur” (south) could boost regional trade and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar, FT reported citing officials.
Politicians from both countries have discussed the idea already in 2019, but met with pushback from Brazil’s central bank at the time.
Initially starting as a bilateral project, the initiative would later be extended to invite other Latin American nations, the report said, adding an official announcement was expected during Lula’s visit to Argentina that starts on Sunday night.
Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Additional reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Diane Craft and Chris Reese
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In Mexico, a reporter published a story. The next day he was shot dead
MEXICO CITY, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Just after sunset on Thursday, February 10th, two men in a white Dodge Ram pickup pulled up in front of Heber Lopez Vasquez’s small radio studio in southern Mexico. One man got out, walked inside and shot the 42-year-old journalist dead. Lopez’s 12-year-old son Oscar, the only person with him, hid, Lopez’s brother told Reuters.
Lopez was one of 13 Mexican journalists killed in 2022, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based rights group. It was the deadliest year on record for journalists in Mexico, now the most dangerous country for reporters in the world outside the war in Ukraine, where CPJ says 15 reporters were killed last year.
A day earlier, Lopez–who ran two online news sites in the southern Oaxaca state–had published a story on Facebook accusing local politician Arminda Espinosa Cartas of corruption related to her re-election efforts.
As he lay dead, a nearby patrol car responded to an emergency call, intercepted the pickup and arrested the two men. One of them, it later emerged, was the brother of Espinosa, the politician in Lopez’s story.
Espinosa has not been charged in connection with Lopez’s killing. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment and Reuters could not find any previous comment she made about her role in corruption or on Lopez’s story.
Her brother and the other man remain detained but have yet to be tried. Their lawyer did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“I already stopped covering drug trafficking and corruption and Heber’s death still scares me,” said Hiram Moreno, a veteran Oaxacan journalist who was shot three times in 2019, sustaining injuries in the leg and back, after writing about drug deals by local crime groups. His assailant was never identified. “You cannot count on the government. Self-censorship is the only thing that will keep you safe.”
It is a pattern of fear and intimidation playing out across Mexico, as years of violence and impunity have created what academics call “silence zones” where killing and corruption go unchecked and undocumented.
“In silence zones people don’t get access to basic information to conduct their lives,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “They don’t know who to vote for because there are no corruption investigations. They don’t know which areas are violent, what they can say and not say, so they stay silent.”
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about attacks on the media.
Since the start of Mexico’s drug war in 2006, 133 reporters have been killed for motives related to their work, CPJ determined, and another 13 for undetermined reasons. In that time Mexico has registered over 360,000 homicides.
Aggression against journalists has spread in recent years to previously less hostile areas–such as Oaxaca and Chiapas–threatening to turn more parts of Mexico into information dead zones, say rights groups like Reporters Without Borders and 10 local journalists.
Lopez was the second journalist since mid-2021 to be murdered in Salina Cruz, a Pacific port in Oaxaca. It nestles in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a skinny stretch of land connecting the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific that has become a landing spot for precursor chemicals to make fentanyl and meth, according to three security analysts and a DEA source.
Lopez’s last story, one of several he wrote about Espinosa, covered the politician’s alleged efforts to get a company constructing a breakwater in Salina Cruz’s port to threaten workers to cast their vote for her re-election or else be fired.
The infrastructure was a part of the Interoceanic Corridor–one of Lopez Obrador’s flagship development projects in southern Mexico.
Jose Ignacio Martinez, a crime reporter in the isthmus, and nine of Lopez’s fellow journalists say since his murder they are more afraid to publish stories delving into the corridor project, drug trafficking and state collusion with organized crime.
One outlet Reuters spoke to, which asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said it had done an investigation on the corridor, but did not feel safe to publish after Lopez’s death.
Lopez Obrador’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about corruption accusations related to the corridor.
THE MECHANISM
In 2012 the government established the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
[1/4] Marilu Sanchez holds a framed picture of her late husband Gustavo Sanchez, a journalist killed by assailants while riding his motorcycle with his son, at her home in Morro de Mazatan, in Oaxaca state, Mexico, October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Jorge Luis Plata
Known simply as the Mechanism, the body provides journalists with protections such as panic buttons, surveillance equipment, home police watch, armed guards and relocation. Since 2017, nine Mechanism-protected reporters have been murdered, CPJ found.
Journalists and activists may request protection from the Mechanism, which evaluates their case along with a group of human rights defenders, journalists and representatives of nonprofits, as well as officials from various government agencies that make up a governing board. Not all those who request protection receive it, based on the analysis.
At present there are 1,600 people enrolled in the Mechanism, including 500 journalists.
One of those killed was Gustavo Sanchez, a journalist shot at close range in June 2021 by two motorcycle-riding hitmen. Sanchez, who had written critical articles about politicians and criminal groups, enrolled in the Mechanism for a third time after surviving an assassination attempt in 2020. Protection never arrived.
Oaxaca’s prosecutor at the time said Sanchez’s coverage of local elections would be a primary line of investigation into his murder. No one has been charged in the case.
Sanchez’s killing triggered Mexico’s human rights commission to produce a 100-page investigation into authorities’ failings. Evidence “revealed omissions, delays, negligence and breach of duties by at least 15 public servants,” said the report.
Enrique Irazoque, head of the Interior Ministry’s department for the Defense of Human Rights, said the Mechanism accepted the findings, but highlighted the role local authorities played in the protection lag.
Fifteen people within government and civil society told Reuters the Mechanism is under-resourced given the scope of the problem. Irazoque agreed, though he noted its staff of 40 increased last year to a staff of 70. Its 2023 budget increased to around $28.8 million from $20 million in 2022.
In addition to the shortage of funding, Irazoque said that local authorities, state governments and courts need to do more, but there was a lack of political will.
“The Mechanism is absorbing all the problems, but the issues are not federal, they are local,” he said in an interview with Reuters.
More convictions are what Irazoque believes are most needed, saying the lack of legal repercussions for public officials encourages corruption.
Impunity for journalist killings hovers around 89%, a 2021 report from the Interior Ministry, which oversees the Mechanism, showed. Local public servants were the biggest source of violence against journalists, ahead of organized crime, the report found.
“You would think the biggest enemy would be armed groups and organized crime,” said journalist Patricia Mayorga, who fled Mexico after investigating corruption. “But really it’s the ties between those groups and the state officials that are the problem.”
Many Mexican journalists killed worked for small, independent, digital outlets that sometimes only published on Facebook, noted Irazoque, saying their stories dug deep into local political issues.
Mexico’s National Association of Mayors (ANAC) and its National Conference of Governors (CONAGO) did not respond to requests for comment about the role of state and local governments in journalist killings or allegations of corrupt ties to crime groups.
President Lopez Obrador frequently pillories the press, calling out reporters critical of his administration and holding a weekly segment in his daily news conference dedicated to the “lies of the week.” He condemns the murders, while accusing adversaries of talking up the violence to discredit him.
Irazoque says he has no evidence the president’s verbal attacks have led to violence against journalists. Lopez Obrador’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
“What type of life is this?,” journalist Rodolfo Montes said, eyeing security footage from inside his home where the Mechanism, in which he first enrolled in 2017, had installed cameras with eyes on the garage, street and entryway.
Years earlier, a cartel rolled a bullet under the door as a threat, and he has been on edge ever since. An entire archive box of threats spread over a decade sat in the corner. Looking down at his phone after a cartel threatened his 24-year-old daughter just a few days before, he said, “I’m living, but I’m dead, you know?”
Editing by Claudia Parsons and Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Pepe Cortes in Oaxaca
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Over 50 injured in Peru as protests cause ‘nationwide chaos’
LIMA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Dozens of Peruvians were injured after tensions flared again on Friday night as police clashed with protesters in anti-government demonstrations that are spreading across the country.
In the capital Lima, police officers used tear gas to repel demonstrators throwing glass bottles and stones, as fires burned in the streets, local TV footage showed.
In the country’s southern Puno region, some 1,500 protesters attacked a police station in the town of Ilave, Interior Minister Vicente Romero said in a statement to news media.
A police station in Zepita, Puno, was also on fire, Romero said.
Health authorities in Ilave reported eight patients hospitalized with injuries, including broken arms and legs, eye contusions and punctured abdomens.
By late afternoon, 58 people had been injured nationwide in demonstrations, according to a report from Peru’s ombudsman.
The unrest followed a day of turmoil in Thursday, when one of Lima’s most historic buildings burned to the ground, as President Dina Boluarte vowed to get tougher on “vandals.”
The destruction of the building, a near-century-old mansion in central Lima, was described by officials as the loss of a “monumental asset.” Authorities are investigating the causes.
Romero on Friday claimed the blaze was “duly planned and arranged.”
Thousands of protesters descended on Lima this week calling for change and angered by the protests’ mounting death toll, which officially stood at 45 on Friday.
[1/6] A riot police officer points with a weapon during the ‘Take over Lima’ march to demonstrate against Peru’s President Dina Boluarte, following the ousting and arrest of former President Pedro Castillo, in Lima, Peru January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
Protests have rocked Peru since President Pedro Castillo was ousted in December after he attempted to dissolve the legislature to prevent an impeachment vote.
The unrest has until this week been concentrated in Peru’s south.
In the Cusco region, Glencore’s (GLEN.L) major Antapaccay copper mine suspended operations on Friday after protesters attacked the premises – one of the largest in the country – for the third time this month.
Airports in Arequipa, Cusco and the southern city of Juliaca were also attacked by demonstrators, delivering a fresh blow to Peru’s tourism industry.
“It’s nationwide chaos, you can’t live like this. We are in a terrible uncertainty – the economy, vandalism,” said Lima resident Leonardo Rojas.
The government has extended a state of emergency to six regions, curtailing some civil rights.
But Boluarte has dismissed calls for her to resign and hold snap elections, instead calling for dialogue and promising to punish those involved in the unrest.
“All the rigor of the law will fall on those people who have acted with vandalism,” Boluarte said on Thursday.
Some locals pointed the finger at Boluarte, accusing her of not taking action to quell the protests, which began on Dec. 7 in response to the ouster and arrest of Castillo.
Human rights groups have accused the police and army of using deadly firearms. The police say protesters have used weapons and homemade explosives.
Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Leslie Adler and William Mallard
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Brazil court grants bankruptcy protection for retailer Americanas
SAO PAULO, Jan 19 (Reuters) – A Rio de Janeiro court on Thursday accepted Brazilian retailer Americanas SA’s (AMER3.SA) bankruptcy protection request, days after the company disclosed nearly $4 billion in accounting inconsistencies that have sparked a legal feud with creditors and investors.
Americanas, a 93-year-old company with stores all over Brazil and a major e-commerce unit, said in a securities filing that it would restructure debts of about 43 billion reais ($8.2 billion).
Shares in the company plunged about 42.5% to 1.00 real following news of the filing, extending its year-to-date drop to around 90%.
The firm, backed by the billionaire trio that founded 3G Capital, said the move had come “despite the efforts and measures that the management has been taking in the past few days alongside its financial and legal advisers to protect the company from the effects” of the accounting scandal.
Investors had expected the decision, with some deeming it unavoidable, especially after lender BTG Pactual (BPAC3.SA) obtained on Wednesday a court decision overturning part of the firm’s protection from creditors.
Americanas is also facing seven different investigations launched by securities regulator CVM, as well as an arbitration process requesting compensation of 500 million reais to the firm and the trio that founded 3G Capital.
In a document filed with the court, law firms Basilio Advogados and Salomao Kaiuca Abrahao attributed the urgency in filing for bankruptcy to the creditors’ decision to seize the companies’ assets.
The retailer also mentioned a debt downgrade by ratings agencies, which prevented any new loans from being extended. S&P, Moody’s and Fitch all downgraded Americanas’ credit ratings following the accounting scandal.
Earlier, Americanas had said that its current cash position stood at only 800 million reais, down from a previously reported 7.8 billion.
Lucas Pogetti, a partner at M&A advisers RGS Partners, said a large part of Americanas’ previously disclosed cash position was linked to the prepayment of receivables or deposited with creditors.
“Naturally, when the banks became aware of the company’s real situation they began to adopt a more aggressive posture to protect themselves, consequently restricting access to resources,” Pogetti said.
In the filing, Americanas asks to exclude its fintech, Ame, from the bankruptcy protection, as it is regulated by the central bank, and for authorization to increase its capital.
Americanas’ stores are ubiquitous at Brazilian shopping malls. It e-commerce unit, which traded as a separate company before a recent restructuring, is one of the country’s top online retailers.
Chief executive Sergio Rial resigned last week, less than two weeks after taking the job, citing the discovery of “accounting inconsistencies” totaling 20 billion reais.
Rial, the former head of Banco Santander’s Brazilian arm (SANB3.SA), attributed the inconsistencies to differences in accounting for the financial cost of bank loans and debt with suppliers.
Chief financial officer Andre Covre, who had just joined Americanas as well, also left the firm, which has Brazilian billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles as reference shareholders.
Americanas said the reference shareholders intended to maintain the company’s liquidity at levels that allowed for a “good operation” of its stores, digital channel and other entities.
($1 = 5.2226 reais)
Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Tatiana Bautzer and Peter Frontini in Sao Paulo and Carolina Pulice in Mexico City; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Bradley Perrett
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Amazon to lay off staff in U.S., Canada and Costa Rica by end of day
Jan 18 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) will cut some jobs in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica by the end of Wednesday as part of its plan to lay off 18,000 employees, the e-commerce giant said in a memo to staff seen by Reuters.
The layoffs are the latest in the U.S. technology sector, with companies cutting their bloated workforce and slashing costs to reverse pandemic-era excesses and prepare for a worsening global economy.
The company is terminating 2,300 employees in Seattle and Bellevue, according to an update on the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) site. The U.S. labor law requires companies planning a mass layoff to inform employees 60 days before the closure.
Amazon.com Chief Executive Andy Jassy said earlier this month the cuts, about 6% of the company’s roughly 300,000 corporate employees, would mostly impact the e-commerce and human resources divisions. read more
Microsoft (MSFT.O) said earlier on Wednesday it would cut about 10,000 jobs and take a $1.2-billion charge. read more
Reporting by Tiyashi Datta, Eva Mathews and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Shinjini Ganguli, and Uttaresh.V
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Scientists unearth megaraptors, feathered dinosaur fossils in Chile’s Patagonia
Jan 16 (Reuters) – Scientists in Chile’s Patagonia region are unearthing the southernmost dinosaur fossils recorded outside Antarctica, including remains of megaraptors that would have dominated the area’s food chain before their mass extinction.
Fossils of megaraptors, a carnivorous dinosaur that inhabited parts of South America during the Cretaceous period some 70 million years ago, were found in sizes up to 10 meters long, according to the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.
“We were missing a piece,” Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), told Reuters. “We knew where there were large mammals, there would also be large carnivores, but we hadn’t found them yet.”
The remains, recovered from Chile’s far south Rio de las Chinas Valley in the Magallanes Basin between 2016 and 2020, also include some unusual remains of unenlagia, velociraptor-like dinosaurs which likely lived covered in feathers.
The specimens, according to University of Chile researcher Jared Amudeo, had some characteristics not present in Argentine or Brazilian counterparts.
[1/5] A man works at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at ‘Guido’ hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Instituto Chileno Antartico/Handout via REUTERS
“It could be a new species, which is very likely, or belong to another family of dinosaurs that are closely related,” he said, adding more conclusive evidence is needed.
The studies also shed more light on the conditions of the meteorite impact on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula that may have triggered the dinosaurs’ extinction some 65 million years ago.
INACH’s Leppe pointed to a sharp drop in temperatures over present-day Patagonia and waves of intense cold lasting up to several thousand years, in contrast to the extremely warm climate that prevailed for much of the Cretaceous period.
“The enormous variation we are seeing, the biological diversity, was also responding to very powerful environmental stimuli,” Leppe said.
“This world was already in crisis before (the meteorite) and this is evidenced in the rocks of the Rio de las Chinas Valley,” he said.
Reporting by Marion Giraldo; Writing by Sarah Morland, Editing by Alistair Bell
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