Blog, Latin America: Week in Review
Mexican Authorities Find Bodies in Durango, Coahuila States
November 22, 2011 By Staff
Today in Latin America
Top Story — Three police officers were found dead in the U.S.-Mexico border city of Acuña on Monday after they were kidnapped by gunmen earlier in the day. The police department in Acuña said that the mens’ bodies were found in a residential area only an hour after they were seized during their patrol in the early hours of the morning. The men had been handcuffed and shot. The state of Coahuila, where the policemen were killed, is the site of drug violence between the Sinaloa cartel and rival gang Los Zetas, who are both fighting to control the region. Also on Monday, soldiers unearthed the remains of at least seven people in the state of Durango, another zone of extreme violence in northern Mexico where hundreds of clandestine graves have been discovered in the past year.
Read more from the AP.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- A German Mercedes-Benz executive was taken into custody by Alabama police after failing to provide adequate personal identification last Wednesday, as required by the state’s new immigration law.
- U.S. citizen José Pimental, originally from the Dominican Republic, is in police custody after his Sunday arraignment for planning to blow up post offices and police stations in the U.S.
- A New Jersey police officer has been accused of extorting undocumented immigrants by telling them he would not turn them in to authorities in exchange for payments.
Caribbean
- One of thirteen police officers on trial for the murder of at least ten prisoners after the Haitian earthquake said he didn’t know who was responsible for the inmates’ deaths.
- Economic reforms in Cuba will include allowing farmers to sell to the tourist sector without going through the government and will permit them to set their own prices.
- Haiti inaugurated a new and temporary $1.9 million Parliament building to replace the original building, which was damaged in the 2010 earthquake.
Central America
- Guatemala’s National Civilian Police arrested two suspected members of the Zetas drug cartel in northeastern Guatemala.
- At least 90 Salvadoran police officers have been ejected from the force since an internal investigation into El Salvador’s police forces began under the government of Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes.
- The IMF said Monday that Panama would be one of the fastest-growing countries in Latin America this year, thanks to growth spurred by expansion of the Panama Canal.
- The European Union added Rollins Air of Honduras to its list of unsafe carriers, banning the airline from flying anywhere within the 27 nations of the EU.
Andes
- Peruvian authorities said that narcoterrorists attacked an army base in the Andes on Monday, killing one soldier and injuring two others.
- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos met with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on Monday, where the two discussed human rights and Colombia’s economic growth.
- An editor for Venezuelan broadcaster Globovisión has been released by a judge pending trial for insulting public officials.
- Colombian officials said that they have captured 14 alleged drug traffickers for drug lord Daniel Barrera that the U.S. hopes to extradite to face charges.
Southern Cone
- Brazil’s environmental minister said Monday that Chevron must pay a $28 million fine for an oil spill off the southeast coast of Brazil, and may face additional fines.
- An Argentine Air Force plane crashed with a civilian plane in Mercedes, Argentina on Monday, killing two.
- Argentines who emigrated to Spain during their country’s 2001 economic crisis are now returning home due to Spain’s struggling economy.
Image: DSegovia @ Flickr.
Subscribe to Today in Latin America by Email
