Caribbean, Cuba, Latin America: Week in Review
Judge Rejects Declassification Of CIA Volume On Bay of Pigs
May 15, 2012 By Staff
Top Story — A U.S. federal judge rejected an effort by the National Security Archive to declassify the CIA’s fifth and final volume on the history of the U.S. Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. The volume, the last in the CIA’s Official History of the Bay of Pigs, was written over three decades ago and details the CIA’s internal investigation of the failed Bay of Pigs operation in April 1961, in which the U.S. unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba. Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the volume was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act under “deliberative process privilege”. According to the CIA, the volume is a draft that was rejected by the CIA’s chief historian for inaccuracies, and could have a “chilling effect” on current CIA historians. The National Security Archive, an independent organization that seeks to declassify government documents, said that the CIA had already declassified the previous volumes on the Bay of Pigs.
Read more from the Miami Herald.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- René Orta Salgado, a Mexican journalist reported missing by his family on Saturday, was found dead in the trunk of a car in the state of Morelos.
- Mexican presidential candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota on Sunday blamed the rising violence in Mexico on the policies of the governing PRI party.
Caribbean
- The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Puerto Rico to have a voting representative in Congress.
- An eight year-old boy died when heavy rains washed him down a river in the Dominican Republic.
Central America
- The 18 year-old Panamanian hotel worker whose two friends died at sea while he survived a 28-day ordeal will sue Princess Cruise Line for failing to assist him and his friends while they were adrift.
- Guatemalan officials said the U.S. government is refusing to return a girl who was stolen at age two and given up for U.S. adoption because the two countries had not signed the Hague Abduction Convention when the abduction occurred.
- Mexican authorities seized 136 tons of chemicals used for synthetic drugs in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas that was bound for Honduras.
Andes
- The Colombian army reported that 7 FARC guerrillas surrendered on the Colombia-Ecuador border with 1.25 tons of explosives and other material.
- Venezuela demanded that the U.S. extradite former Venezuelan judge Eladio Aponte, who may be helping the U.S. build a drug case against the Venezuelan government.
- The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals that silver coins awarded to the Spanish government and discovered in a sunken Spanish galleon could be claimed by Peru, where the ore reportedly originated.
- Two men and a dog were found dead in an airplane filled with cash that crashed in Ecuador.
Southern Cone
- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced that she will expand her predecessor Lula da Silva’s cash transfer program, Bolsa Familia, by extending additional benefits to poor families with children six and under.
- An Argentine prosecutor said that Argentine Vice President Amadou Bodou should be investigated for illegal enrichment in addition to other corruption allegations.
- Chilean police arrested a woman who allegedly stole a baby from a Santiago hospital on Mother’s Day.
Image: Adam Jones, Ph.D. @ Flickr.
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