Thousands protest violence in Mexico
11 dead in Haiti ferry capsizing
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Dominican Republic ups food subsidies
Panama tracking down poison victims
Official Son of Mexico drug lord killed
Behind the food riots a debate on how best to farm
Judge removes legal adviser from Guantanamo case
Dominica rejects legislating intermarriage to save tribe
Colombia shows new rebel documents

By (AP)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lashed out at Germany's chancellor on Sunday, suggesting that her party shares the political ideals of Adolf Hitler.

The Venezuelan leader criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for belonging to the conservative Christian Democratic Union, calling the movement "the same right wing that supported Hitler and fascism."

Chavez was on the verge of launching more insults at Merkel, but suddenly stopped short.

"Ms. Chancellor, you can go to ..." he said during his weekly television and radio program, before pausing. Then he added: "Because you ...

By (AP)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lashed out at Germany's chancellor on Sunday, suggesting that her party shares the political ideals of Adolf Hitler.

The Venezuelan leader criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for belonging to the conservative Christian Democratic Union, calling the movement "the same right wing that supported Hitler and fascism."

Chavez was on the verge of launching more insults at Merkel, but suddenly stopped short.

"Ms. Chancellor, you can go to ..." he said during his weekly television and radio program, before pausing. Then he added: "Because you ...

By Diego Norona (AP)

Documents that Colombia says it recovered from a slain guerrilla leader give the clearest indication yet that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sought to arm and finance insurgents across the border.

The documents _ more than a dozen internal rebel messages _ detail several years of close cooperation between top officials in Venezuela's government and military and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, including the construction of rebel training facilities on Venezuelan soil.

They also suggest Venezuela was preparing to loan the rebels at least US$250 million...

By Jorge Rios (AP)

A senior Mexican police officer whose name appeared at the top of a hit list has been shot dead in a border city across from Texas.

City officials say gunmen sprayed Juan Antonio Roman Garcia's car with bullets early Saturday outside his home in Ciudad Juarez. He was the city's No. 2 police officer and at least the fourth high-ranking officer to be killed in Mexico in a week.

Roman Garcia's name appeared at the top of a hit list found several months ago at a monument to slain police officers. Several people on it have been killed, and none of the perpetrators have been caught...

By La Tercera, Jorge Cadenas (AP)

Help is on the way for hundreds of household pets left behind in the wake of a volcano eruption in southern Chile, an animal welfare group said Saturday.

The Coalition for Ethical Control of Urban Fauna, which has been critical of the government's attention to stranded animals, said the Emergency Bureau offered to carry food to pets in Chaiten, a town 6 miles from the volcano of the same name. Contacted on Saturday, the bureau had no information.

An estimated 450 dogs and 350 cats were left when the town's residents were evacuated after the initial May 2 eruption, the volcano...

By Diego Norona (AP)

A newly disclosed set of documents that Colombia's government says were recovered from a slain rebel's computers indicate senior Venezuelan officials tried to help arm Colombia's main guerrilla army.

The electronic documents _ more than a dozen _ were shown to The Associated Press on Friday.

They detail alleged meetings between senior Venezuelan officials _ including that country's chief of military intelligence and interior minister _ and top leaders of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Some discuss the procurement of weapons, others rebel trainin...

By Ariana Cubillos (AP)

An international banker nominated to be Haiti's next prime minister said Friday that Haiti must concentrate on long-term strategies to help the millions pushed deeper into misery by higher food prices.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Ericq Pierre promised to back President Rene Preval's far-reaching plans to address soaring prices, increase national food production and create jobs.

Pierre, a senior official with the Inter-American Development Bank, said it will take decades for the country to build up the revenues and resources needed to address the poverty and...

By Gregory Bull (AP)

Mexico's top security official blamed organized crime for the brazen killing of an acting federal police chief, saying Friday his death shows a nationwide crackdown is hurting gangs.

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said authorities would not be deterred by an onslaught of attacks against police as he presided over the funeral of Edgar Gomez Millan and two other federal officers killed this week.

Millan, 41, was shot 10 times early Thursday by gunmen who waited for him inside the courtyard of his Mexico City apartment complex. His two bodyguards were...

By Renato Chalu (AP)

A rancher fighting allegations he ordered the killing of an American nun says he actually admired the slain activist and accused authorities of trying to frame him.

Vitalmiro Moura was acquitted this week of ordering the killing of Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old nun and rain forest defender born in Dayton, Ohio. The decision in a retrial overturned a conviction and 30-year prison sentence handed down last year.

He could face a third trial though: State prosecutor Edson Souza says he is appealing Moura's acquittal.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Moura insisted...

By Renato Chalu (AP)

A rancher acquitted of ordering the killing of American nun Dorothy Stang professed admiration for the dead activist and said a key prosecution witness changed his testimony after finding God.

Vitalmiro Moura was acquitted Tuesday in retrial after being convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 30 years in prison for ordering the 2005 killing of the 73-year-old nun and rain forest defender.

A conviction was upheld against the gunman in the killing at the same trial, but Moura's acquittal has sparked an outcry over the government's failure to get to bottom of Stang's and other killin...

By Arnulfo Franco (AP)

President Evo Morales agreed Thursday to stand for election in a nationwide recall vote, gambling that Bolivians will re-elect him after just two years in office.

"If we politicians can't agree, it's best that the population decide our destiny," Morales said in a nationally televised address.

Congress on Thursday passed a bill ordering the recall be held within 90 days. Morales said he will sign the measure.

The bill would require Morales and Bolivia's nine state governors to win both more votes and a greater percentage of support than they did on a 2005 ballot. If th...

By Alexandre Meneghini (AP)

Mexico's acting federal police chief was shot dead early Thursday outside his home _ a brazen attack as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.

Edgar Millan Gomez was shot 10 times after opening the door to his Mexico City apartment complex, where at least one gunman was waiting for him before dawn, the Public Safety Department said. Two bodyguards were also wounded. Millan died hours later at a hospital.

President Felipe Calderon's government said Millan had played a vital role in the country's fight against organized crime and d...

By Mario Nixon (AP)

A 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) manta ray was returned to the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after three years as a research subject and tourist attraction at a Bahamian resort.

The massive black ray, known as "Zeus" and with a mouth spanning more than 3 feet (nearly 1 meter), was lowered from a helicopter on a hydraulically welded frame to ensure its safe entry into the water.

Marine biologists had studied the creature and will now use a satellite tracking tag to monitor its movements in the open sea.

Relocating the ray from its 2.7 million-gallon (10.2 million-liter)...

By La Tercera, Jorge Cadenas (AP)

Police and soldiers cleared the last remaining people from the shadow of a Chilean volcano on Thursday after a strong, overnight explosion spewed glowing-hot rocks from its crater.

The week-old eruption at the Chaiten volcano has scattered ash across a wide swath of South America, closing regional airports and driving more than 7,000 people from their homes. Volcanologist Luis Lara warned things could get worse.

"The worst that could happen is that the seismic activity begins to increase, the explosions become greater and large domes form that could collapse and produce...

By Alexandre Meneghini (AP)

Mexico's acting federal police chief was shot dead Thursday outside his home _ a brazen attack that comes as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.

Edgar Millan Gomez was shot 10 times after he opened the door to his Mexico City apartment complex, where at least one gunman was waiting for him before dawn, the Public Safety Department said. Two bodyguards were also wounded. Millan died hours later in a hospital.

President Felipe Calderon's government said Millan played a vital role in the country's battle against organized crime a...

By La Tercera, Jorge Cadenas (AP)

Police and soldiers were clearing the last remaining people from the shadow of a Chilean volcano on Thursday after a strong explosion spewed glowing-hot rocks.

The week-old eruption at the Chaiten volcano has scattered ash across a wide swath of South America, forced regional airports to close and drove more than 7,000 people from their homes. Volcanologist Luis Lara warned it could grow worse.

"The worst that could happen is that the seismic activity begins to increase, the explosions become greater and large domes form that could collapse and produce pyroclastic flows,"...

By Kent Gilbert (AP)

Endangered scarlet macaws born in captivity are reproducing in the wild for the first time on Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast.

The ZooAve Center for the Rescue of Endangered Species has released 100 of the birds into the wild in the last decade. But biologists didn't spot offspring until last year, said biologist Laura Fournier.

Since then, they have recorded 22 chicks born in the wild, and four more scarlet macaw couples have laid eggs, Fournier said.

The parrots once occupied all of Costa Rica. But hunting and poaching dramatically cut their population, and they...

By Eduardo Verdugo (AP)

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that he has seen an improvement in security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Problems remain, but increased policing by state and federal authorities has significantly helped, said Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and former Democratic presidential candidate.

"In my opinion, there has been a dramatic improvement in the last two months," Richardson told reporters in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua, across from New Mexico, where he met with Chihuahua Gov. Jesus Reyes Baeza.

Richardson said he would ask U.S. Ambassador...

By (AP)

Colombia extradited a paramilitary warlord to the United States on Wednesday for trial on drug charges, accusing him of violating a peace pact by selling drugs and commanding illegal militia fighters from prison.

A grim-faced Carlos Mario Jimenez, handcuffed and wearing a black bulletproof vest, was escorted onto a Super King 350 plane in a Bogota airport hangar shortly after midnight _ a scene shown in a video released by police.

Authorities said he was flown to Washington via Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Later Wednesday, officials announced the seizure of 25 homes, 23...

By Luis Benavides (AP)

Colombia extradited one of the country's most feared paramilitary warlords to the United States early Wednesday to face drug trafficking charges, the government said.

Carlos Mario Jimenez was flown to Washington, D.C., via Miami on a Drug Enforcement Administration plane, according to President Alvaro Uribe's office. The announcement came just hours after Colombia's top judicial panel overturned a Supreme Court decision that had temporarily blocked the extradition.

The Supreme Court had ruled last month that Jimenez should not leave the country until he has confessed to crime...

By Fred Burton (AP)

Cayman Island authorities are investigating the violent deaths of a half-dozen giant blue iguanas that are among the most imperiled creatures on the planet.

Five captive Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas, critically endangered lizards that resemble miniature turquoise dragons, were found scattered across a breeding park in the British dependency after they apparently were stomped and gouged, scientists said.

The sixth dead iguana's entrails were found strewn outside its pen in the fenced-in facility in Grand Cayman, according to Fred Burton, director of a program that has brought the...

By Silvia Izquierdo (AP)

An Amazon rancher convicted of ordering the killing of American nun Dorothy Stang has been acquitted in a retrial, a court official said Tuesday.

A jury voted to acquit Vitalmiro Moura, one of two ranchers who allegedly ordered the killing of the 73-year-old rain forest defender three years ago, court spokeswoman Gloria Lima said.

Moura had been convicted and sentenced to 30 years, but Brazil requires retrials for first offenders who are sentenced to more than 20 years.

He was one of just four prominent ranchers convicted for ordering one of the approximately 800...

By (AP)

The long-dormant Chaiten volcano blasted ash some 20 miles (30 kilometers) into the Andean sky on Tuesday, forcing thousands to evacuate and fouling a huge stretch of the South American continent.

The thick column of ash climbed into the stratosphere and blew eastward for hundreds of miles (kilometers) over Patagonia to the Atlantic Ocean, forcing schools and a regional airport to close. Citizens of both countries were advised to wear masks to avoid breathing the dangerous fallout.

The five-day-old eruption is the first in at least 9,000 years for the volcano in southern...

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