CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan cities cleaned up from a night of looting and fiery protests Wednesday as government offices closed their doors for the rest of the week in the face of a worsening energy crisis that is causing daily blackouts. Amid complaints about the electricity crisis, opposition members began a previously planned signature … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that it is troubled by a group of international experts’ complaints of obstacles to their investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement that … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — One of Cuba’s most renowned advocates of economic reform has been fired from his University of Havana think tank for sharing information with Americans without authorization, among other alleged violations. The dismissal of Omar Everleny Perez adds to a chillier mood that has settled over much of Cuba as the country’s leaders … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — An explosion killed 13 people and injured scores at a petrochemical plant on Mexico’s southern Gulf coast, forcing evacuations as a fire billowed a huge toxin-filled cloud into the air. The head of Mexico’s civil defense agency, Luis Felipe Puente, wrote in his Twitter account Thursday that emergency personnel had been … Continue reading
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Rafael Correa announced Wednesday night that he is raising sales taxes and will charge a one-time levy on millionaires to rebuild cities devastated by Ecuador’s worst earthquake in decades. In a televised address, Correa said damages from the 7.8-magnitude quake will likely run into the billions of dollars, adding to … Continue reading
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The lower chamber of Brazil’s Congress on Friday began a raucous debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, a question that underscores the deep polarization in Latin America’s largest country and most-powerful economy. If lawmakers approved the measure in a vote slated for Sunday, it gets sent to the Senate, … Continue reading
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A judge in Guatemala has sentenced a Costa Rican man and four Guatemalans to 30 years in prison for the 2011 killing of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral. The five also got 20-year sentences for the attempted murder of businessman and concert promoter Henry Farinas, who was driving with Cabral in … Continue reading
PANAMA CITY (AP) — The lawyers at the center of an uproar over the hidden financial dealings of the world’s wealthy are an odd pairing of a German-born immigrant and a prize-winning Panamanian novelist whose books sometimes mirror the seedy world of politics he’s come across in his work. In a nation that for decades … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Latin Jazz saxophonist Leandro “Gato” Barbieri, who composed the Grammy-winning music for the steamy Marlon Brando film “Last Tango in Paris” and recorded dozens of albums over a career spanning more than seven decades, has died at age 83. Laura Barbieri, his wife of nearly 20 years, said her husband died … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The Rolling Stones arrived in Cuba’s capital Thursday, on the eve of the rock band’s historic free concert in a country where its music was once silenced. Mick Jagger offered a brief greeting in Spanish and said he was happy to be on the island. Friday night’s concert will come three days … Continue reading
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is facing possible impeachment by Congress. The effort comes amid an angry public mood over the South American nation’s worst recession in decades and a big bribery scandal at the state oil company Petrobras, yet it is not tied to either of those. AP explains what’s behind … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia and the country’s second-largest rebel group announced Wednesday that they will hold peace talks, heightening expectations for a definitive end to a half-century of political violence in the Andean nation. The government has been in exploratory talks in Ecuador with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, for more than a … Continue reading
ANSE-A-PITRES, Haiti (AP) — Forced out of the Dominican Republic, Anise Germain and her family pitched a flimsy tent of blankets and cardboard on a patch of rocky ground just across the border in Haiti. She feared they might never leave the camp. Ten months later, things are looking up. Germain, her husband and three … Continue reading
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s largest party abandoned President Dilma Rousseff’s governing coalition Tuesday, making it tougher for her to survive mounting pressure in Congress for her impeachment. The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, known as the PMDB, said after a meeting that six Cabinet ministers belonging to the party as well as some 600 federal … Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — After years of anti-American posturing by its leader, Argentina has a new president whose outstretched hand has been eagerly accepted by the United States. President Barack Obama on Wednesday rewarded the South American nation with a state visit aimed at keeping that promising trajectory on track. Obama has made no … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 