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by Jorge Svartzman Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazil’s President Michel Temer on Friday handed the military full control of security in Rio de Janeiro in an increasingly desperate fight to tame runaway gang violence. Army patrols are already used in Rio’s gang-ruled favelas, but a decree signed by Temer will now give the military full control of security operations in Rio state, which the president said had virtually been seized by organized crime gangs. The […]
by Jennifer Gonzalez Covarrubias Agence France Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican marines have captured a kingpin in the violent Zetas drug cartel who had a $5-million reward on his head in the United States, authorities said Friday. Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, alias “Z43,” was arrested Thursday in the upscale Mexico City neighborhood of La Roma “without the use of force,” the head of the National Security Commission, Renato Sales, announced in a […]
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Vice President Mike Pence or other US officials might meet with North Koreans at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday. Washington has previously said it won’t seek to initiate contact with North Koreans attending the South Korean games, but it does want talks with Kim Jong-Un in an effort to get him to abandon his nuclear program. Asked during a visit to Peru […]
by Marco Sibaja Agence France-Presse SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AFP) — A conservative, evangelical lawmaker who fiercely opposes gay marriage emerged as the frontrunner to become Costa Rica’s next president, according to partial results from a first round election Sunday. Fabricio Alvarado of the right-wing National Restoration Party received 26 percent of the vote, according to a count of over half the ballots, according to the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal. That placed him in the […]
by Dave Clark / Joshua Howat Berger Agence France-Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted Friday the US and Mexico are bolstering cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, brushing aside concerns about the impact of his boss Donald Trump’s anti-Mexican barbs. The US-Mexican relationship has been strained by Trump’s attacks on Mexican immigrants and the North American Free Trade Agreement — and his insistence on building a border wall. Critics say […]
GUATEMALA, Guatemala (AFP) — The eruption of a volcano near the Guatemalan capital subsided Thursday after 20 hours of activity that rained ash on nearby communities and prompted an orange alert, a spokesman said. The eruption of the Volcan de Fuego (“Fire Volcano”) sent ash towering 1.7 kilometers (one mile) into the sky and raining down on at least eight communities, said David de Leon, an emergency services spokesman. Authorities announced an orange alert earlier […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Tensions between Colombia’s government and a hold-out rebel group, the ELN, rose Thursday when officials said three of the guerrillas were killed in the bombing of a camp in the northwest of the country. The offensive, part of wider crackdown ordered by President Juan Manuel Santos following a string of deadly attacks on police stations blamed on the ELN, was another blow to peace efforts with the group that have been […]
by Jordi MIRO Agence France-Presse SANTA CRUZ, Ecuador (AFP) — For millions of years, new-born hammerhead sharks have grown up in nurseries sheltered by the mangrove swamps and reefs of the Galapagos Islands, safe from all human threat. But until November, biologists had no idea the sharks had their own hideaway that could hold some of the final secrets of this remote archipelago 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off South America’s Pacific coast. “It was quite […]
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AFP) — Authorities in Paraguay’s capital Asuncion on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for a month after the Paraguay River burst its banks, leaving at least 20,000 people homeless. The unseasonal high waters have washed over many poor neighborhoods built along the banks. About a half million people are in the capital, and 2.2 million in its metro area. The South American country has seven million people in total. The capital city’s […]
by Eugenia Logiuratoo Agence France-Presse PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AFP) — A Brazilian appeals court Wednesday upheld ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s conviction for corruption, dealing a body blow to his hopes of running for re-election this year. The three-judge panel sitting in the southern city of Porto Alegre unanimously ruled that his original 9.5-year jail sentence will be extended to more than 12 years. Thousands of Lula supporters rallied in Sao Paolo to protest […]
by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ Agence France-Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – With Venezuela in economic free-fall, massively unpopular President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday launched his sudden campaign for a new term in a vote to be held by late April. The 55-year-old, who was Hugo Chavez’s handpicked successor, will be the ruling socialist party’s sole candidate. Maduro, a former union activist and bus driver assumed power in April 2013 after longtime president Hugo Chavez died in office from […]
by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ Agence France Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela will hold presidential elections by the end of April, the ruling Constituent Assembly said Tuesday, pulling forward a vote in which President Nicolas Maduro hopes to triumph over a divided opposition and win a second term. The 55-year-old Maduro, a towering mustachioed former bus driver who was Hugo Chavez’s handpicked successor, said he is ready to run if he receives the party’s nomination. […]
