Latin America

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June 2009
- Mexico Kidnappers Snatched 10K US-Bound Migrants
  
  Associated Press | Jun 16, 09 7:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mexican gangs preying on Central American migrants headed for the US kidnapped almost 10,000 people between September 2008 and February 2009, according to a new report from Mexico's national human rights commission. The average ransom paid was $2,500, according to the report, which said Mexican authorities participated in some of the abductions. The organization blasted the justice system's inefficiency in tackling the problem. More »
- Clinton Named UN Special Envoy to Haiti
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Jun 15, 09 9:23 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Bill Clinton has officially been named UN special envoy to Haiti, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon awarded Clinton the $1-per-year post today, noting that “No one is better placed for this mission. He knows the country, he loves the people, and they love him.” Clinton will head a $350 million effort to help the impoverished island nation recover from last year’s devastating storms. More »
- 'Ecobarriers' Wall In Rio's Poor
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jun 15, 09 12:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - They’re called “ecobarriers,” but critics say the walls being erected in Rio de Janeiro aren’t there to protect trees. The 10-foot cinderblock walls are supposed to prevent Rio’s favelas, or shantytowns, from expanding into the rainforest, but critics say they’re really a means of segregating the poor people who live there, buffing the city’s image and Olympic hopes. “They want to cage us like animals,” says one favela-dweller. More »
- Nervous Peace Prevails After Peru Cops Quell Unrest
  
  CNN | Jun 9, 09 7:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An uneasy peace has returned to northeast Peru after 3 days of clashes between indigenous people and security forces that left dozens dead, CNN reports. A curfew is holding, and both police and protesters say they want to settle their dispute through nonviolent means. The leader of the indigenous rights group that began the protest has fled to the Nicaraguan embassy in Lima. More »
- Air France Tail Found
  
  Associated Press | Jun 8, 09 1:33 PM CDT
  
  (AP) - Brazilian searchers found a large tail section from an Air France jet today, one of the biggest pieces yet recovered from wreckage that could help narrow the search for Flight 447's black boxes. A US Navy team is bringing in high-tech underwater listening devices to detect pings from the data and voice recorders. Brazilian and French military ships had so far recovered 16 bodies and large amounts of plane wreckage—reduced from the 17 reported yesterday. More »
- Mexico Day Care Fire Kills 29
  
  Associated Press | Jun 6, 09 5:03 AM CDT
  
  (AP) - A fast-moving fire killed 29 children in a day care center in northern Mexico yesterday despite the desperate attempts of firefighters who punched through walls to rescue babies, toddlers and others trapped inside. At least 25 children and five employees were hospitalized after the fire at ABC day care in Hermosillo, the cause of which is still unknown. More »
- Cuba Rejects OAS Membership
  
  Voice of America | Jun 5, 09 6:08 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Cuba has decided not to rejoin the Organization of American States despite the group lifting the country's 47-year suspension, the Voice of America reports. Cuba's parliament leader called the decision to lift the ban "a major victory," but said Cuba hasn't changed its thinking on the group and still considers it to be working for US interests at the expense of Latin American and Caribbean states. More »
- 11 Mutilated Bodies Found in Arizona Van in Mexico
  
  Reuters | Jun 5, 09 3:18 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mexican police have found the shot and mutilated bodies of 11 men in a stolen van with Arizona plates near the US border, Reuters reports. The arms and legs of most of the bodies had been hacked off. Threatening messages believed to be from a drug cartel were left with the corpses. Police believe the same drug gang shot at a police station with heavy-caliber weapons the previous day. More »
- US Fears al-Qaeda Bioattack From Mexico
  
  Washington Times | Jun 3, 09 1:52 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - US counterterrorism officials are worried that al-Qaeda may mount a biological attack from Mexico and could even seek to collaborate with domestic terrorists, the Washington Times reports. The fears are bolstered by a February video from Kuwait al-Qaeda recruiter Abdullah al-Nafisi. In the video, Nafisi boasted that anthrax “carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the US” would “kill 330,000 Americans.” More »
- Chavez: CIA Tried to Kill Me
  
  Associated Press | Jun 2, 09 9:35 PM CDT
  
  (AP) - Hugo Chavez today alleged that US intelligence agencies were behind a purported assassination plot that prevented him from visiting El Salvador. The Venezuelan president had planned to attend the inauguration of President Mauricio Funes in the Central American nation yesterday, but canceled his trip because of the alleged plot. "I don't doubt that the intelligence organizations of the United States are behind this," Chavez said. More »
- El Salvador's 1st Leftist President Sworn In
  
  Reuters | Jun 2, 09 7:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A former TV journalist representing a party founded by Marxist guerrillas has been sworn in as El Salvador's first leftist president. Mauricio Funes, who ran on a center-left, pro-America platform, called Barack Obama an inspiration in his inauguration speech and singled out Hillary Clinton, who attended the ceremony, as "brilliant." "It's time to take a new road together in democracy," Funes said. More »
May 2009
- Cuba Open to US Talks on Migration, Mail
  
  New York Times | May 31, 09 1:31 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Cuba today said it's ready to restart talks with the US on migration and postal services, the New York Times reports. An American official confirms, meanwhile, that the island nation will also work with the United States on issues including terrorism, drugs, and disaster relief. The development marks another step toward improved relations between the two countries as part of President Obama’s heightened emphasis on diplomacy. More »
- Hugo Chavez Stoked for 4-Day TV Talkshow
  
  Guardian (UK) | May 28, 09 5:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - That wacky Hugo Chavez is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his weekly talkshow, Alo Presidente, by taking to the airwaves—for four solid days, the Guardian reports. Starting today, the unscripted show will be in segments "like a soap opera," Chavez promises. Viewers expect the Venezuelan president's usual mix of singing, salty jokes, ramblings about Latin American history, and hiring and firing of government officials. Not everyone's warming up their remote—"Four days of circus," bemoans a major newspaper. More »
- 7.1 Quake Strikes Off Honduras
  
  Reuters | May 28, 09 5:15 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A powerful earthquake struck early this morning about 40 miles northeast of an island off the coast of Honduras, Reuters reports. No injuries have been reported, but the 7.1 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami watch for Honduras, Belize and Guatemala. The quake's epicenter is nearest to Roatan, an island popular with tourists that is surrounded by the world's second largest coral reef. More »
- Chile's Thrift Pays Off as Downturn Bites Elsewhere
  
  Wall Street Journal | May 27, 09 8:59 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Chile's thrifty finance minister is starting to look like a prophet as spendthrift, "grasshopper" economies founder around him, the Wall Street Journal reports. Andres Velasco's tight grip on the country's copper revenue during the commodities boom made him and his party deeply unpopular at the time, but the country now finds itself one of the only emerging economies with enough cash to kick-start its own recovery. More »
- Chavez Hints at Ditching OAS to Form Cuba Partnership
  
  Associated Press | May 26, 09 5:58 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Venezuela would jump at the chance to join Cuba as an Organization of American States outcast, reports the AP. The never-shy Hugo Chavez claims the OAS, which suspended Cuba in 1962, serves US interests and says the two countries could form an alternative regional group. Cuba's foreign minister agreed, calling for Latin America and Caribbean states to form a body that "serves our people rather than the Empire." More »
- 5.7 Quake Shakes Tall Buildings in Mexico City
  
  Associated Press | May 22, 09 4:54 PM CDT
  
  (AP) - A strong earthquake swayed skyscrapers in Mexico City and rattled colonial buildings in neighboring Puebla state today, sending frightened people into the streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. "There is absolute calm, zero damage,” a Puebla official said. The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.7 and was centered 90 miles southeast of the capital. More »
- Chavez Takes Control of Iron, Steel Firms
  
  AFP | May 22, 09 6:38 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalization of several large iron and steel companies in Venezuela, AFP reports. The president said the takeovers marked the start of a "process of nationalization to create an industrial complex." The move, which follows the nationalization of 39 oil service providers, would help build a "solid platform of socialism," Chavez said. More »
- Jews Rattled by Anti-Semitic Riot in Argentina
  
  CNN | May 19, 09 5:16 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A violent attack on an Israel Day celebration in Buenos Aires has shaken Argentina's Jewish community, CNN reports. Community leaders—who warn there has been a surge in anti-Semitic incidents—say the event was attacked by an armed group of youths shouting pro-Palestinian slogans. Three Jews were injured and five attackers were arrested. More »
- Guatemalan Jailed for Tweeting Dissent
  
  Guardian (UK) | May 16, 09 1:23 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Guatemalan authorities have arrested an IT worker who urged others on Twitter to withdraw their money from a state-run bank at the center of a murder controversy, the Guardian reports. “First concrete action should be (to) remove cash from Banrural and bankrupt the bank of the corrupt,” read the offending Tweet. The man is being held on $6,500 bail on charges of "inciting financial panic." More »