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TWO CANDIDATES KILLED DAYS BEFORE ELECTION IN GUATEMALA
The Miami Herald
Sep. 05, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
Two candidates from Nobel Laureate and presidential hopeful Rigoberta Menchú's party were shot dead Wednesday amid a wave of campaign-related violence that has claimed about 50 victims.
Wenceslao Ayapán, 35, and Esmeralda Uyún, 26, of the Encuentro Por Guatemala Party were killed by assailants with automatic weapons, party officials said. The two were running for seats in the municipality of San Raymundo, 20 miles north of Guatemala City.
About 50 politicians, activists and their relatives have been killed during the past four months of campaigning to replace the president, federal lawmakers and local officials in the election Sunday.
JAMAICA'S NEW LEADER VOWS TO IMPROVE LIVES
The Miami Herald
Sep. 05, 2007
KINGSTON, Jamaica --
A veteran lawmaker who wants to provide free education and health care readied himself Wednesday to take over leadership of this Caribbean nation, returning his party in power after 18 years in opposition.
Bruce Golding, head of the Jamaica Labor Party, said he will also seek to heal political divisions underscored by a fiercely contested election Monday that spelled the ouster of the country's first female prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller.
A final vote count is expected by Friday, but preliminary results give Golding's party a 32-28 lead in seats in the House of Representatives. Golding says the a razor-thin margin means he must seek consensus with his political opponents.
JAMAICA ELECTORAL OFFICE CERTIFIES LABOR PARTY WIN
The Miami Herald
Sep. 07, 2007
KINGSTON, Jamaica --
Jamaica's electoral office on Thursday confirmed the Labor Party's victory in a close election, sealing its return to power after 18 years in opposition.
Final certified results showed that the party of Bruce Golding, the Caribbean island's next prime minister, won by a slim majority in Monday's vote.
Outgoing Prime Minster Portia Simpson Miller and her People's National Party lost by 2,940 votes.
The final vote tally gave Labor 33 of the 60 parliamentary seats. The People's National Party will now control 27 seats, down from 34, according to an electoral office statement.
BODIES OF COLOMBIAN HOSTAGES MAYBE FOUND
The Miami Herald
Sep. 07, 2007
CALI, Colombia --
The bodies of five of the 11 lawmakers killed in a shootout while held hostage by leftist rebels may have been recovered during a difficult search in bad weather, the Red Cross said Friday.
The corpses found so far remained unidentified, and efforts to recover all 11 were being complicated by the government's decision to resume military operations in the region.
"We already have five bodies, four today and one Thursday," said Carlos Rios, a spokesman for International Committee of the Red Cross. "Everything is going well."
The Red Cross is searching in an unspecified area, widely believed to be in southwestern Colombia, designated by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.
GUATEMALANS PREPARE FOR LIKELY VIOLENT VOTE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 07, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
Their supporters were still planting flags in green areas and pasting fliers on any standing wall on Friday -- the last day of campaigning for 14 presidential contenders vying for the hottest seat in this volatile nation.
The heated campaign already has claimed more than 50 lives, and more violence and bloodshed is likely before polls open Sunday.
Anticipating massive protests that could derail the elections in the countryside, Interior Minister Adela de Torrebiarte launched a national security operation last week.
About 12,300 police officers will be on duty Sunday, particularly in 13 areas identified as violence-prone. Another 11,000 soldiers will join the police through Monday, according to Defense Minister Cecilio Leiva.
GUATEMALA CHOOSES LEADER AMID VIOLENCE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 07, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
Guatemalans rattled by soaring crime and a wave of campaign-related violence will decide in elections Sunday between a former general who promises law and order and a three-time presidential contender who says he will focus on reducing poverty.
Polls show Otto Perez Molina, a retired general and former military intelligence director with the right-wing Patriotic Party, in a dead heat against Alvaro Colom, a businessman from the center-left National Unity of Hope Party.
Nobel Laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu is among 12 other presidential candidates on Sunday's ballot. If none wins more than 50 percent, the top two will face a Nov. 4 runoff.
GUATEMALA RATTLED BY CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 07, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
Guatemalans, rattled by soaring crime and a wave of campaign-related violence that has claimed about 50 lives, will decide Sunday between a former general who promises law and order and a three-time presidential contender who says he will focus on reducing poverty.
Polls show Otto Perez Molina, a retired general and former military intelligence director with the right-wing Patriotic Party, in a dead heat against businessman Alvaro Colom of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party.
Nobel Laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu is among 12 other presidential candidates on Sunday's ballot. If none wins more than 50 percent, the top two will face a Nov. 4 runoff.
But Menchu, awarded the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights work following Guatemala's brutal civil war, has gained little support. She's running a distant sixth with 3.1 percent of the vote, according to a poll published Wednesday.
GUATEMALANS TO VOTE FOR SECURITY
The Christian Science Monitor
September 7, 2007
Guatemala City - The campaign slogans and portraits of political candidates that hang over Guatemala's capital offer a glimpse of hopes and expectations ahead of Sunday's elections, in which a president, legislature, and local authorities in over 300 municipalities will be selected.
But the front-page headlines offer a grimmer view: nearly 50 political candidates, leaders, and activists have been killed as of Sept. 3 – turning it into the deadliest election season in recent memory. Two campaign workers in Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu's flagging election effort were murdered Wednesday, a party official said.
The political violence mirrors the insecurity spreading across the country. More than a decade after peace accords brought 36 years of civil war to an end here, Guatemala remains one of the most dangerous countries in the region. The numbers of those murdered has continued to grow since 2000, according to statistics from the National Civil Police, rising to almost 6,000 last year. That is over 10 percent more than the year before.
MISKITO INDIANS VENT ANGER OVER FELIX
The Miami Herald
Sep. 08, 2007
PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua --
Hundreds gathered Friday on a beach in a remote jungle region of Nicaragua to mourn the victims of Hurricane Felix and condemn the government for doing too little to search for anyone who might have survived.
Tensions are rising between residents of the autonomous region hit by the storm and the central government as villagers complain they weren't given enough advance warning about the monster storm and are getting little aid in its aftermath.
A government official refused to give scarce gasoline Friday to 48-year-old Zacarias Loren, whose 19-year-old son was with a group of 18 people diving for lobster off a distant cay when the storm hit.
CARIBBEAN VOTERS TOSSING LEADERS OUT
The Miami Herald
Sep. 08, 2007
First St. Lucia. Then the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands and Jamaica.
The results in four of the past five parliamentary elections in the English-speaking Caribbean -- one ruling government after another toppled -- have shocked the region.
The dramatic change is not an ideological shift, political analysts and observers say: It's part of a growing wave of voter discontent.
Leading the list: disgust over government scandals, rising crime, the economy and what some voters see as a profound disconnect between the public and incumbent leaders.
''What you have now is a level of political fatigue setting in with parties that serve more than two terms -- as we saw in St. Lucia and Jamaica.
People want a choice,'' said Derek Ramsamooj, a Trinidad-based political analyst.
RED CROSS FINDS 11 BODIES IN COLOMBIA
The Miami Herald
Sep. 08, 2007
CALI, Colombia --
The Red Cross said Saturday it has recovered all 11 bodies presumed to be lawmakers who were killed in a shootout while held hostage by leftist rebels.
The still-unidentified cadavers were found in an undisclosed area whose coordinates were provided by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.
The corpses were to be transported Sunday by helicopter to the southern city of Cali, where forensic experts supervised by the Organization of American States will try to untangle the confused events surrounding the hostages' deaths.
GUATEMALAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
The Washington Post
September 8, 2007
On Sept. 9, 2007, voters in Guatemala elected local leaders, legislators and a president to succeed Oscar Berger of the center-right Grand National Alliance (GANA) party. Guatemalan voters have not returned an incumbent party to power since 1986. More than half of the country's 6 million registered voters cast ballots in Sunday's election.
Results of Sunday's voting showed the election would go to a runoff on Nov. 4, as no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. The new president is expected to be sworn in to a four-year term on Jan. 14, 2008.
Violence has dominated the elections, affecting all political parties and making crime and corruption main campaign issues. At least 50 candidates, party workers or political activists have been killed in the last year, making the 2007 race the most violent since the end of the civil war in 1996.
Presidential and congressional candidates have taken extra security measures as family members have also become targets of attacks. Guatemala has seen a rise in its murder rate in recent years, pressuring the candidates to address organized crime and reformation of the police and justice systems.
HURRICANE SURVIVORS RECOUNT DAYS AT SEA
The Miami Herald
Sep. 08, 2007
PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua --
Cecil Clark and Manuel Vendless could see the lights from land, could see safety, when Hurricane Felix's waves picked up their boat, slammed it deep into the ocean and spit it out into the darkness again.
Still alive, Vendless clung to a rope and Clark somehow crawled onto what remained of their simple fishing vessel. But it wasn't long before Vendless looked up at his friend, his face flashing before Clark in the lightning that crashed overhead, and said simply: "I'm not going to make it."
PROTESTS MAR BOLIVIAN REFORM EFFORTS
The Miami Herald
Sep. 08, 2007
LA PAZ, Bolivia --
Violent protests have prompted an assembly rewriting Bolivia's constitution to call a monthlong recess in hopes of rescuing the new charter, one of President Evo Morales' central reforms.
Constituent Assembly President Sylvia Lazarte announced the break Friday night from the capital La Paz, saying it was no longer safe for delegates to walk the streets of Sucre, the southern city where the assembly meets.
Protesters demanding the relocation of Bolivia's capital have threatened to shutter the assembly, convened by President Evo Morales to draw up a new framework granting greater voice to the country's indigenous majority.
Over the last week a small group of university students have repeatedly clashed with police, burning tires and trying to seize the historic theater housing the assembly.
QUAKE HITS COLOMBIA'S WESTERN COAST
The Miami Herald
Sep. 10, 2007
BOGOTA, Colombia --
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific Coast of Colombia on Sunday night, collapsing homes and injuring at least four people in the country's rural southwest, but causing no reported deaths, officials said.
The quake hit at 8:49 p.m. local time and was centered about six miles beneath the ocean floor just off the coast, some 295 miles southwest of Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. No tsunami warning was issued.
ANTI-POVERTY, ANTI-CRIME CANDIDATES FACE RUNOFF IN GUATEMALA
The Miami Herald
Sep. 10, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
A tough-on-crime former general and a businessman who wants to solve Guatemala's problems by fighting poverty will meet in a Nov. 4 presidential runoff, according to results Monday from a first round of elections.
Alvaro Colom, a businessman making his third run for the presidency, had a 28 percent to 24 percent lead over Otto Perez of the conservative Patriot Party, with 96 percent of the votes counted.
Sunday's vote sheared away 10 other less-popular candidates, among them Nobel Laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu, who got 3 percent.
Perez has stressed the need to crackdown on crime as a way to create growth, while Colom says the fight against crime should start with job creation in a country where 51 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
COLOMBIA GRABS ALLEGED COCAINE KINGPIN
The Miami Herald
Sep. 10, 2007
BOGOTA, Colombia --
Soldiers swarmed onto a farm Monday and captured one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers hiding in bushes in his underwear. Colombian officials called it their biggest drug war victory since the 1993 slaying of Medellin cartel leader Pablo Escobar.
Diego Montoya, who sits with Osama bin Laden on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list and has a $5 million bounty on his head, allegedly leads the Norte del Valle cartel. It is deemed Colombia's most dangerous drug gang and is accused of shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine to the U.S.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference at Bogota's airport that Montoya was responsible for 1,500 killings in his career.
FOR GUATEMALAN VILLAGERS, ABILITY TO VOTE IS A VICTORY
The Washington Post
September 10, 2007
SAN JUAN DE OBISPO, Guatemala, Sept. 9 -- Marta Aquino carefully folded four sheets of paper -- pink, green, blue and white -- then dropped them into long, clear plastic pouches Sunday in this village at the foot of the majestic Water Volcano.
The marks Aquino placed on her multicolored ballots, which were cast in a village hosting a voting center for the first time, propelled her into a new class of Guatemalans: 1 million first-time registered voters in a country where discriminatory practices often made it difficult for villagers to vote. Even as the echoes of a violent campaign season were still being felt and voters awaited results, election day was unspooling as a kind of triumph for the Marta Aquinos of this country.
"I feel like I'm completing my civic duty," she said, smiling broadly.
Pre-election polls predicted a Nov. 4 runoff for the presidential contest. The leading candidates among 14 are Álvaro Colom, a two-time failed presidential candidate who promised improved education and health care, and Otto Pérez Molina, a retired general who vowed to use troops to combat drug violence and ran under the slogan "mano dura," which translates as "iron fist."
CUBA
GUATEMALA: 2 CANDIDATES HEAD TO RUNOFF
The Miami Herald
Sep. 10, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
A former general vowing to crack down on crime in Central America's most violent country and a businessman who promises to alleviate desperate poverty were in a near-tie in Guatemala's presidential vote, according to preliminary votes released Monday.
With 75 percent of voting stations reporting, Alvaro Colom, a businessman and three-time presidential contender of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party, had 28 percent of the vote compared with 25 percent for Otto Perez, a former general from the conservative Patriot Party. Nobel Laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu trailed with 3 percent, according to results published on Guatemala's Electoral Tribunal Web site.
A second-round vote between Colom and Perez on Nov. 4 is almost certain, as a candidate has to win a simple majority of the votes to take the election in the first round.
NEW PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA PLEDGES TO CUT POVERTY, JOBLESSNESS
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
KINGSTON, Jamaica --
Jamaica's new prime minister Bruce Golding, who brought his party back to power after 18 years in opposition, takes office Tuesday with pledges to streamline bureaucracy and attract foreign investment.
Golding, who also promises to improve the lives of the Caribbean island's huge underclass, led his Jamaica Labor Party to a narrow victory in Sept. 3 elections that ousted the country's first female prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller.
Golding called for reconciliation and united efforts to address challenges including rising crime in the days following the vote, which gave his party a 33-27 majority in parliament -- the closest margin of victory in decades.
JAMAICAN PREMIER GOLDING STRESSES UNITY
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
Veteran politician Bruce Golding was sworn in Tuesday as Jamaica's eighth prime minister, calling for a unified nation as he attempts to end the divisive political climate that has hampered the Caribbean nation for decades.
Golding, 59, replaces Portia Simpson-Miller, who led the country for 18 months after replacing the retired P.J. Patterson. Golding called on the now-opposition leader Simpson-Miller to assist him in rebuilding a nation blighted by poverty, crime and corruption.
''In our two pairs of hands rest so much of the hopes of the people of Jamaica,'' Golding said of him and Simpson-Miller, who looked on from the audience. ``We have a choice. Those hands can engage in hand-to-hand combat or we can join those hands together to build a nation that is strong, just, peaceful and prosperous.''
RUNOFF SET FOR GUATEMALA PRESIDENCY
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY --
A tough-on-crime former general and a businessman who wants to solve Guatemala's problems by fighting poverty will meet in a Nov. 4 presidential runoff, according to results Monday from a first round of elections.
Alvaro Colom, a businessman making his third run for the presidency, had a 28.4 percent to 23.6 percent lead over Otto Perez of the conservative Patriot Party, with about 98 percent of the votes counted Monday.
Sunday's vote sheared away 10 other less-popular candidates, among them Nobel laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu, who got 3 percent.
GUATEMALAN BUSINESSMAN, EX-GENERAL HEAD TO RUNOFF
The Washington Post
September 11, 2007
ANTIGUA, Guatemala, Sept. 10 -- Three-time presidential candidate Álvaro Colom and former army general Otto Pérez Molina easily outdistanced 12 opponents in Sunday's presidential election and will face each other in a Nov. 4 runoff, according to results announced Monday.
With more than 96 percent of the votes counted, Colom, a businessman, had 28 percent, winning majorities in 16 of Guatemala's 22 states, known here as departments. But Pérez Molina, who got 24 percent of the votes, was able to force a runoff with a strong showing in heavily populated Guatemala City. Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchú, the first indigenous woman to run for president of Guatemala, finished a distant sixth with 3 percent after drawing much international atention in the early days of the campaign.
"She built her reputation internationally, but did not do enough to earn the trust of indigenous people here in Guatemala," analyst Álvaro Pop said in an interview.
COMPLEX DEFEAT FOR NOBEL WINNER IN GUATEMALA
The New York Times
September 11, 2007
SANTIAGO ATITLÁN, Guatemala, Sept. 10 — There are two ways to win political office in this traditional Mayan town nestled on the southern shore of Lake Atitlán, and campaigning is but one of them.
The other is to call on Maximón, a quasi deity carved from wood that is stashed away in a darkened room near the town center. Ringed by candles and doused with rum, the figure is said to have magical powers, including the ability to sway an election.
Before the nationwide elections here on Sunday, representatives of several political parties secretly called on Maximón, although the keepers of the statue declined to specify who they were.
ARMY CAPTURES CARTEL LEADER IN COLOMBIA
The New York Times
September 11, 2007
BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Sept. 10 (AP) — Soldiers swarmed onto a farm on Monday and captured one of the world’s most wanted drug lords hiding in bushes in his underwear. Colombian officials called it their biggest drug war victory since the killing of the Medellín cartel leader Pablo Escobar in 1993.
Diego Montoya, who sits with Osama bin Laden on the F.B.I.’s 10 most wanted list and has a $5 million bounty on his head, is accused of leading the Norte del Valle cartel. It is deemed Colombia’s most dangerous drug gang and is accused of shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States since the 1990s.
COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD CAPTURED
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
BOGOTA --
One of the world's most-wanted drug lords was captured hiding under a pile of leaves Monday in a major strike against a powerful and violent cocaine cartel that had managed to infiltrate the top ranks of Colombia's security forces.
Diego León Montoya Sánchez, who goes by the name ''Don Diego,'' was the leader of the Norte del Valle cartel, believed to be responsible for nearly two-thirds of the 500 tons of cocaine exported from Colombia every year and at least 1,500 murders. Among the FBI's top 10 most wanted criminals, he has been indicted in the United States, including in South Florida.
''This is the toughest blow to drug trafficking in 12 years,'' said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos in a televised press conference. In 1995, Colombian police seized Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela of the Cali cartel, then the world's largest.
GUATEMALANS FACE A STARK CHOICE
Los Angeles Times
September 11, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY — Two men from opposite sides of the political spectrum began an eight-week sprint Monday to persuade Guatemalans that the ballot box can rescue their troubled country.
Alvaro Colom, a former businessman with center-left leanings, finished first in Sunday's first round of presidential voting, about 5 percentage points ahead of Otto Perez Molina, a former army general, according to nearly complete official results Monday.
Guatemala is a nation threatened by multiple crises, including crime, unemployment and a long-standing exodus of workers to the United States. Sunday's first round of voting suggested that Guatemala's 12.7 million citizens are sharply divided about how to make things right here. They have until Nov. 4 to decide whether the country needs a strongman who will crack down on organized crime or a man of compassion who will lead a regime of tolerance and social justice.
REBELS BLOW UP PIPELINES IN MEXICO, DISRUPTING SERVICE
The New York Times
September 11, 2007
MEXICO CITY, Sept. 10 — For the third time in three months, saboteurs blew up several pipelines belonging to Mexico’s state oil monopoly, disrupting service to dozens of factories and briefly rattling financial markets, officials said, but not killing anyone.
Six explosions along pipelines in the state of Veracruz Monday sent flames and plumes of smoke into the sky just before dawn.
The oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, issued a statement saying that someone had deliberately detonated bombs at six points along four natural gas pipelines and one oil pipeline in the eastern state of Veracruz early Monday morning.
MEXICO GAS LINE BLASTS FORCE MAJOR FACTORIES TO CLOSE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
MEXICO CITY --
Two major auto plants, including Volkswagen's only manufacturing facility in North America, and hundreds of other factories were shut down Tuesday after explosions claimed by a shadowy leftist group cut natural gas supplies.
Petróleos Mexicanos said the attacks on its oil and natural gas pipelines would cause hundreds of millions of dollars in production losses for the state-owned oil company and affect 10 states. Private-sector groups told Mexican news media that the attacks and subsequent precautionary shutdowns would cost businesses close to $90 million.
The six explosions Monday caused no direct injuries, but both industry and national-security experts say the small leftist group claiming responsibility has proved it is a force to be reckoned with.
MEXICAN REBELS CLAIM PIPELINE ATTACKS
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
VERACRUZ, Mexico --
A shadowy leftist guerrilla group took credit for a string of explosions that ripped apart at least six Mexican oil and gas pipelines Monday, rattling financial markets and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production.
The six explosions could be seen miles away, and set off fires that sent flames and black smoke shooting high above the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
At least a dozen pipelines, most carrying natural gas, were affected, said Jesus Reyes Heroles, the head of Mexico's oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, without providing specifics. The explosions occurred in valve stations where different pipelines intersect
BOMBERS STRIKE GAS PIPELINES
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
WASHINGTON --
Bombers attacked at least six oil and natural gas pipelines in Mexico's southeastern state of Veracrúz overnight on Monday, sparking concern that the energy sector of the second largest supplier of oil to the United States may be increasingly vulnerable to attacks from a fledgling Marxist rebel movement.
The bombings, the second such series in as many months, happened at opposite ends of the oil-rich state, suggesting that the assailants had the capability to strike multiple targets at will.
MINE EXPLOSIVES BLOW UP, 28 DEAD IN MEX
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico --
A truck carrying ammonium nitrate to a mine caught fire after a highway crash and blew up, killing at least 28 people and injuring some 150, state and federal officials reported Monday.
Authorities said two trucks smashed into each other Sunday night on a busy highway in northern Mexico, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers as well as a small army of police, soldiers, emergency officials and journalists.
Shortly after the crowd arrived, the wreckage caught fire, and the ammonium nitrate exploded, sending a ball of fire into the sky that consumed nearby cars and left a 10-by 40-foot crater in the road.
ON COUP ANNIVERSARY, BACHELET URGES CHILEANS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY
The Miami Herald
Sep. 11, 2007
SANTIAGO, Chile --
(AP) -- Chile's president marked Tuesday's anniversary of a bloody military coup with a call for her nation to strengthen democracy.
It was the first anniversary of the 1973 coup since the death in December of the man who led it, Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
President Michelle Bachelet placed a wreath at a memorial to Salvador Allende, the elected Marxist president who committed suicide rather than surrender to the rebellious military.
''Let's think about how we can contribute to make sure nobody will again have to suffer what so many suffered'', added Bachelet, who was herself jailed and tortured under Pinochet.
She urged citizens ``to work for the more democratic, more just, more human, freer Chile.''
An official report concluded that 3,197 people were killed for political reasons during Pinochet's 16 years in power. Thousands more were jailed and tortured or forced into exile.
BRAZIL'S SENATE PRESIDENT FACES EXPULSION VOTE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 12, 2007
BRASILIA --
Brazil's Senate chief, an ally of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, faced possible expulsion from his post on Wednesday as his colleagues decide whether to oust him over allegations he accepted bribes.
Renan Calheiros, who has denied the accusations and refused to resign, successfully fought for the vote to be held behind closed doors in hopes that he could more easily win support from fellow senators if their votes were not made public.
But Brazil's Supreme Court Tuesday night granted 13 congressmen to attend the Senate session, raising questions about whether the votes could be kept secret.
GROUP: MEXICAN CARDINAL KNEW OF ABUSE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 12, 2007
MEXICO CITY --
A victims' group said Tuesday that newly released documents support its claim that Mexico's most prominent cardinal knew a Mexican priest was suspected of molesting children but transferred him to the United States anyway.
The group, Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, made public written correspondence between Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. It also released a 1986 Mexican police report in which witnesses alleged the suspect spent the night with young boys while working as a priest in the central state of Puebla.
The documents were filed as part of Rivera's defense in a lawsuit against him in Los Angeles Superior Court that alleges he and Mahony conspired to protect the suspect, the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar. It wasn't immediately known why the documents were filed by the defense, but it could be because they suggest Rivera warned Mahony.
JAMAICA GETS NEW PM AMID CRIME SPIKE
The Miami Herald
Sep. 12, 2007
KINGSTON, Jamaica --
The 22-year-old man was only fixing a rusted steel fence - but even that was too risky on a hot afternoon in Trenchtown.
"A car just drove by and sprayed him," Detective Sgt. Derek Addison said matter-of-factly as he and another officer collected spent shell casings from the crumbling sidewalk.
The attack that sent the man to a hospital with a bullet wound in his thigh came a day after a tense Sept. 3 national election that ended the ruling party's nearly 20-year hold on power.
It was the type of seemingly random violence common in Jamaica's poorest districts, where relentless gang strife - some of it linked to the island's politics - is on the rise.
NORIEGA'S FUTURE CAPTIVATES PANAMA
The Christian Science Monitor
September 12, 2007
Panama City - The end of Manuel Noriega's US prison term – and the former Panamanian dictator's possible extradition to France on money-laundering charges – has reopened a polarizing chapter for Panamanians.
General Noriega, once one of the most hailed informants of the Central Intelligence Agency, fell from grace in the 1980s amid charges of drug-running, rigged elections, and repression. After the US-led invasion of Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, dubbed "Operation Just Cause," he served more than 15 years in a federal detention center in Miami and was due for release last Sunday.
But his fate is uncertain. France wants him extradited on money-laundering charges, which would mean up to 10 years in prison. His lawyers have asked that he be sent home to Panama as a prisoner-of-war, where he faces more severe charges of embezzlement, corruption, and murder here. He will stay in US custody until the conclusion of the appeals process over the French extradition request, which experts expect him to lose.
VIOLENCE MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF CHILEAN COUP
The Miami Herald
Sep. 12, 2007
SANTIAGO, Chile --
Police battled hundreds of protesters through the night on the anniversary of a 1973 military coup and authorities said Wednesday that one police officer was killed and 41 other people were injured.
The government reported that 216 people were arrested.
Shops were looted, a school and a gas station were badly damaged and more than 140,000 homes were temporarily left without electricity as protesters threw chains at power lines.
Minor clashes occurred during daylight Tuesday in the city of 5.5 million people, but they grew more serious after nightfall.
Masked youth erected flaming barricades to block traffic and attacked police with firearms and rocks. Officer Cristian Vera, 36, died after being shot in the head, police said, while several other officers were wounded and one had his face burned with acid.
WHY ADOPTING IN GUATEMALA IS GETTING HARDER
The Christian Science Monitor
September 12, 2007
Guatemala City - American parents cradle their new babies in cotton blankets and feed them bottles of formula. They clog the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Guatemala City with strollers. Penny Conner, from Medfield, Mass., says she cannot wait to bring her 9-month-old boy home. It's a joyous scene: Guatemala is one of the most popular places to adopt for American families – second only to China.
But across town, Angelica Lopez cries and can't stop. A year ago, three women kidnapped her 2-month-old baby daughter, she says. Her story is the underbelly of the country's multimillion-dollar adoption industry.
When it comes to red tape, Guatemala is one of the easiest places to adopt a child in the world. And depending on who you ask, the adoption program is either a godsend for thousands of needy children, or a nefarious business that has given rise to kidnappings, coercion, and mothers reproducing for compensation. In either case, 95 percent of the babies end up in the US.
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