Latin America

A US Navy drug-patrol plane violated Venuzuelan airspace Saturday night, exacerbating  the  already-tense relationship between the two nations. The S-3 Viking, used to spot and attack drug-running ships, flew over the line near the island of Curacao, reports CNN. The pilot realized he made a navigational error, contacted a Venezuela tower to acknowledge that, and returned to international air space—but the Venezuelans are furious and insist the fly-over was intentional. More »

Mexican drug cartels are running a campaign of warnings and death threats to police who won’t join them, the AP reports. Banners across roads, hit lists, and messages on cops' two-way radios work to intimidate “those who still don’t believe” in the cartels’ power. Four top Mexican police officials, including the acting federal police chief, have been killed this month. More »

Shakira, Ricky Martin, and dozens of other Spanish-speaking pop stars performed at simultaneous fundraising concerts in Mexico City and Buenos Aires yesterday, reports the LA Times . “It is doable, we can really eradicate poverty,” said the Colombian singer, whose shows benefited Alas, a charity that helps Latin America's neediest children. Shakira secured nearly $200 million in donations from billionaires Howard Buffet (son of Warren) and Carlos Slim, reports the BBC. More »

Hugo Chavez fired back at Angela Merkel after the German leader suggested Latin American countries should be wary of ties to Venezuela. "She is from the German right," he said yesterday, "the same that supported Hitler, that supported fascism, that's the Chancellor of Germany." More »

A cache of computer files found on a dead Colombian guerrilla leader's laptops implicates Hugo Chávez in arms deals with the FARC rebels. The Wall Street Journal reports that Colombian and American intelligence agencies, which came into possession of about 100 files, have no doubt of their authenticity. Both FARC and the Venezuelan president claim that they are counterfeit. More »

The official leading Mexico's anti-drug efforts was gunned down early this morning, the Los Angeles Times , shot eight times after arriving at his Mexico City home from work. Mexican outlets reported that the so-called Sinaloa cartel is behind the death of Edgar Millan Gomez, 42; he's the third high-ranking federal law-enforcement official shot in the capital in the past week. More »

A mammoth plume of ash and smoke from a newly erupted volcano in Chile is slowly working its way across South America and now poses a health risk to the 8 million residents of Beunos Aires, AFP reports. Thousands of residents of southern Chile were evacuated Tuesday, with ash coating city streets and health officials urging people to don masks. More »

The southern Chilean town of Chaiten has been totally evacuated after a volcano, active since Friday, belched molten lava and ash more than 12 miles high, the AP reports. Around 4,000 people have already left the area since the volcano—believed dormant for thousands of years—began acting up, and navy ships evacuated any that remained today. More »

Guatemala has suspended roughly 2,300 adoptions in an effort to prevent fraud, the BBC reports. The hold-up, for at least a month, will allow authorities to verify—using DNA testing if necessary—that each child is a legitimate candidate. Charges of baby-snatching and other fraud have prompted a crackdown on the adoption system that channeled 4,700 children to American parents  last year. More »

Sixty gunmen opened fire on a Mexican ranch yesterday, killing 10 and injuring six more, AFP reports. The shooting came a day after another in the same state killed at least seven. Both attacks were on the head of a local cattlemens' organization; both carried signs of organized crime in a wave of violence linked to drug cartels. The motive for yesterday’s shooting was unclear, the BBC notes. More »

Politics are getting steamy in Ecuador these days. Maria Soledad Vela, a member of the nation's ruling party, wants to give Ecuadorian women the right to seek sexual happiness. Her proposal is sparking controversy in the conservative country, where women are traditionally seen as sexual objects or child bearers, the BBC reports. More »

New Cuban president Raul Castro has commuted all but three of the country's death sentences to prison terms of 30 years to life, reports Reuters. Castro, who also has been gradually easing the country's restrictions on daily life, said the death penalty would remain on the books to deter "imperialist mercenaries." The three prisoners remaining on death row are charged with terrorist offenses. More »

Soccer virtuoso Ronaldo was questioned by police in Rio de Janeiro yesterday after an altercation in a motel with transvestite prostitutes, Reuters reports. The star of AC Milan and the Brazilian national team took three call girls to the motel, only to discover that they were men in drag, according to cops. Ronaldo then offered them $600 each to close the affair, but one of them demanded $30,000 to keep the story from the media. More »

Hosts of whale sightings are being reported off southern Chile, raising conservationists' hopes for a resurgence of the populations—including the real-life inspiration for Moby Dick —that flourished in the area before they were hunted nearly to extinction. Experts warn the apparent boom could be the result of more pairs of eyes looking for the animals, the Los Angeles Times reports.  More »

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico yesterday, but no major damage or injuries were reported, AP reports. The rumble, centered 96 miles north of Acapulco, rattled buildings in Mexico City and sent many scurrying into the streets. "It scared us. It was strong," remarked one resident who recalled the 1985 quake that killed thousands. “We’re just waiting for an earthquake that strong to hit again.” More »

A gunfight between Tijuana drug cartel rivals left 15 dead and eight wounded near the US border today, Reuters reports. The worst violence in Mexico's 3-year drug war, it filled a city road with bodies and took the lives of two top hit men from the Arellano Felix cartel. "Today shows we are facing a terrible war never seen before on the (U.S.-Mexico) border," said Baja California Attorney General Rommel Moreno. More »

Saying the House's top Democrat has been swayed by "voices of false populism," President Bush today ripped Nancy Pelosi for blocking a trade accord with Colombia, the New York Times reports. "it’s bad for our hemisphere to have the United States of America turn its back on a mutual friend like Colombia," Bush said in an appearance with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. More »

Rescuers in boats and helicopters are searching off the coast of Brazil for a priest who vanished while trying to set a world record for the longest flight with helium-filled party balloons, AP reports. The priest took off from the northeastern city of Paranagua in a chair with hundreds of balloons attached. He was last heard from 30 miles offshore. More »

Opposition leader Fernando Lugo won Paraguay’s presidential election yesterday, ending 61 years of one-party rule, Reuters reports. With nearly all votes counted, the former bishop beat Paraguay’s first female presidential contender by 41% of the vote to 10%. “We've made history,” the center-leftist Lugo told a packed square as he hailed a newly “free and independent” country. More »

The downturn in the US economy is also hitting Mexico hard, the Washington Post reports. Money sent home from the US, known as remittances, dropped nearly 7% in January compared with the year before, the biggest plunge in 13 years, says the Mexican government. Without that money, the country's No. 2 source of foreign currency, many Mexicans can’t pay for basic needs. More »