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Last week, the Honduran National Congress passed a law allowing the military to perform police functions, and Assistant Secretary of State Maria Otero visited Honduras with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Todd Robinson, to promote security initiatives. The United States is advancing a regional security strategy which apparently is oriented toward the militarization of Central America and the participation of private security contractors in policing, a strategy also being promoted for the region by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The murder of a Honduran national university...

First it was Venezuela, then Bolivia, then Ecuador, then Nicaragua. Now it’s my native Peru. One by one, largely unremarked here, Latin America’s nations are turning to the authoritarian Left. Ollanta Humala, who won yesterday’s presidential run-off, is typical of the breed of modern caudillo. A cashiered former army officer, he had concocted an angry and aggrieved programme which mingled ethnic nationalism, hostility to private enterprise, nostalgia for pre-Columbian times and anti-Chilean revanchism..... Humala’s opponent in the run-off was Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the man who, as president in the 1990s, closed down Congress and gave himself autocratic powers, and...

Now overgrown by jungle, the ancient site was once the thriving capital of the Maya civilization Had we been traveling overland, it would have taken two or three days to get from the end of the road at Carmelita to El Mirador: long hours of punishing heat and drenching rain, of mud and mosquitoes, and the possibility that the jungle novice in our party (that would be me, not the biologists turned photographers Christian Ziegler and Claudio Contreras) might step on a lethal fer-de-lance or do some witless city thing to provoke a jaguar or arouse the ire of the...

MEXICO CITY – The most fearsome weapons wielded by Mexico’s drug cartels enter the country from Central America, not the United States, according to U.S. diplomatic cables disseminated by WikiLeaks and published on Tuesday by La Jornada newspaper. Items such as grenades and rocket-launchers are stolen from Central American armies and smuggled into Mexico via neighboring Guatemala, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City reported to Washington. The assertions appear in embassy cables written after three bilateral conferences on arms trafficking that took place between March 2009 and January 2010 in Cuernavaca, Mexico; Phoenix; and Tapachula, Mexico, respectively. The cables’ authors...

Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi is well known now for the abuses he has inflicted on his own people during more than four decades of brutal rule in Libya, but few remember the vast campaign of carnage and terrorism he orchestrated across West Africa and Europe when he was at the height of his powers. Nor are his more recent alliance with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and his long-standing relationship with Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua -- both of whom are busy trampling their constitutions and moving toward dictatorship -- well understood. And the fact that all three governments support the Revolutionary Armed...

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA CASAS, Mexico – Mexican authorities have discovered 219 migrants squeezed into a trailer truck in the southern state of Chiapas. The Chiapas state government says in a statement that the driver and another person tried to bribe police who stopped the truck. The statement Thursday said most of the migrants are from Central America but six are from Sri Lanka and four are Nepalese. Thirty-three are women and nine are minors. The statement said police chased down the truck Wednesday when the driver refused to stop for inspection at a checkpoint. The migrants were being deported...

"An error on Google Maps has caused an international conflict in Central America. A Nicaraguan military commander, relying on Google Maps, moved troops into an area near San Juan Lake along the border between his country and Costa Rica. The troops are accused of setting up camp there, taking down a Costa Rican flag and raising the Nicaraguan flag, doing work to clean up a nearby river, and dumping the sediment in Costa Rican territory. La Nacion, says the Nicaraguan commander, Eden Pastora, used Google Maps to “justify” the incursion even though the official maps used by both countries indicate...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Extradited Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Masterminding First-Ever Hack Into Internet Phone Networks Defendant Also Ordered to Pay Over $1 Million in Restitution NEWARK, NJ—The first individual ever charged with hacking into the networks of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and reselling hacked VoIP services for a profit was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Edwin Andres Pena, 27, transmitted over 10 million minutes of unauthorized telephone calls over the victims' networks. Pena, a Venezuelan citizen, fled the United States...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Dozens of undocumented immigrants were taken into custody Friday morning, and two men were arrested for holding them against their will. Authorities said 35 immigrants, including a 12-year-old boy, were discovered in a home on La Rica Avenue in Baldwin Park. Officials arrested the two alleged captors Thursday night. Both men are from Guatemala and were taken into federal custody. When officials arrived, they found 30 juvenile males and five adult females inside an 800-square-foot home. Officials said the hostages were being held at the house until family members paid a ransom for their release. According...

Colombian patriot and brave national hero Alvaro Uribe has now retired from the presidential office he first took in 2002... when Colombia was nothing short of a failed state. How did he do? Besides the fact that he all but defeated the FARC rebels and numerous drug cartels over his eight years, Uribe's presidential approval rating has hovered between 60-70%... as recently as 2008 hitting an astounding 91%... George W Bush honored his accomplishment, principles, and valor with a Presidential Medal of Freedom... while today's radical Democrats refuse to support Colombia's great strides with even a free-trade pact. But as...

Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times' often heroic international journalist, has stuck his inquisitive snout into dangerous situations throughout his career. But admitting that there's a white reporter's burden in writing about Africa is among the braver things he's done. It's the bold revelation of a messy little secret not so mysterious to those of us in the profession. In a YouTube post answering reader's questions - good, interactive idea - Kristof picked this one: "Your columns about Africa almost always feature black Africans as victims, and white foreigners as their saviors." After naming some Africans he's mentioned in...

MAP OF THE DAY: Tropical Storm Agatha Kills Over 100, And It's Heading For The Gulf Of Mexico Joe Weisenthal Jun. 1, 2010, 8:31 AM The NOAA has predicted a very active hurricane season this year, and the oil disaster in the Gulf only heightens the concern. Things are getting off to a bad start. This weekend, Tropical Depression Agatha killed over 100 in Central America. And look, it's heading through the Gulf of Mexico. Map via MonkeyFister.[snip]

'Rogue' internet firm 3FN shut down An internet firm linked to many of the internet's criminal gangs has been shut down. The US Federal Trade Commission said Belize-based 3FN aided gangs that ran botnets, carried out phishing attacks and traded in images of child abuse. The servers and net hardware of 3FN have been seized and are due to be sold off as the firm is dismantled. The operators of 3FN must also pay back $1.08m (£750,000 ) they are reputed to have made by hosting criminal sites. Servers seized The FTC began its legal action against 3FN in...

Note: The following text is a quote: Heads of Canadian alien smuggling organization sentenced BURLINGTON, Vt. - On May 3, Jose Manuel Galdamez-Serrano, 56, Norvin Gonzalez-Morales, 29, Ruben Damas-Hernandez, 31, and Emmanuel Antonio Galdamez, 27, of Montreal, Quebec, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Burlington following their guilty pleas to alien smuggling offenses. The defendants were extradited to the United States from Canada to face the charges contained in the indictment. Chief U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced Jose Manual Galdamez-Serrano to 60 months imprisonment and three years of probation following his guilty plea to one count...

War arsenal seized in Boquete   la prensa This massive confiscation of weapons shows that the region continues to be a bridge for the transfer of weapons.   A ton and a half of military weapons was confiscated yesterday morning in what is being considered the largest seizure executed in the country.  The bust took place in the El Francés sector of the district of Boquete, where police uncovered the weapons in a private residence, whose occupant is a sociology professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí.  Experts estimate that the arsenal, which may have originated from Central America, is...

SNIPPET: "President Chávez also announced during the visit that Venezuela is working on a preliminary plan for the construction of a “nuclear village” in Venezuela with Iranian assistance so that “the Venezuelan people can count in the future on this marvelous resource for peaceful purposes.” The transfer of Iranian nuclear technology from Iran would be a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions - 1737 (2006), 1747 ( 2007), and 1803 (2008) - that imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear technology transfers. In late September 2009, comments by Venezuelan officials offered conflicting information about Iran’s support for Venezuela’s search for uranium deposits....

Note: The following text is a quote: March 30, 2010 Eritrean man pleads guilty to alien smuggling WASHINGTON - Samuel Abrahaley Fessahazion, 23, an Eritrean national, has pleaded guilty to helping smuggle illegal aliens to the United States for private financial gain, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP). Fessahazion, aka "Sami," aka "Sammy," aka "Alex" and aka "Alex Williams" pleaded guilty on March 29, 2010, in Houston to one count of conspiracy and two counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to come to, enter or reside in the United...

The Colombian constitutional court has rejected a referendum which could have led to President Alvaro Uribe running for a third term in office.The court voted 7-2 against a proposal backed by parliament to hold a vote on amending the constitution to allow for three terms. Mr Uribe won an amendment in 2005 that let him run for a second term in 2006. Following the ruling, former Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos confirmed he would run for the presidency. Mr Santos, credited with helping Mr Uribe's government's efforts against left-wing Farc rebels, said: "What we need to do now is work...

Honduras' anti-corruption prosecutor is pressing for more charges against former President Manuel Zelaya, who was overthrown in a coup last year. Leonardo Orellana told reporters Wednesday he has asked a criminal court to charge Zelaya for allegedly diverting $1.5 million in government welfare funds to his campaign for a referendum on reforming the constitution. Soldiers escorted the left-leaning president out of Honduras at gunpoint after he defied a Supreme Court order to drop plans for the vote. Critics say he was trying to extend his rule by lifting a ban on presidential re-election, as his ally Hugo Chavez has done...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ringleader of International Truck Theft Conspiracy Sentenced to Prison HOUSTON—A Houston man who recruited others to steal and transport millions of dollars of truck tractors, trailers and other heavy equipment to Central America has been sentenced to prison, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. United States District Judge David Hittner sentenced Yuri David Melendez, 43, to a total of nine years in federal prison for his leadership role in the truck theft scheme and in an unrelated narcotics charge during a hearing today. Melendez, who was convicted of conspiracy to export and...

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, December 17, 2009 Guyanese National Charged with Smuggling Indian Nationals to the United States A Guyanese national has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with her role in the smuggling or attempted smuggling of four Indian nationals to the United States. Annita Devi Gerald, aka Annita Rampersad, 52, was charged in a nine-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas. Gerald was arrested by ICE special agents in Houston on Nov. 17, 2009, and has been held without...

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald wrote an intriguing piece recently on the splash effect of the coup, or crisis, or whatever term least offends someone of Honduras’ new leadership and recent election, and how the major powers in Latin America have tried unsuccessfully to remedy the situation. Oppenheimer argues that the US, Brazil and the OAS have all succeeded in failure in their own unique ways. Failure for the three comes as follows. For Brazil, its “hypocrisy” of recognizing Iran’s and Cuba’s undemocratic leadership, while criticizing Honduras’ recent elections. For the US, the “flip-flopping” that comes with a constant...

Honduras' deposed President Manuel Zelaya said on Sunday that he would stay in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital for as long as Brasilia allowed him to and that he would be willing to talk to the new president-elect. Leftist Zelaya, who was ousted by the army in a coup on June 28, slipped back into Honduras in September and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, from where he has been demanding his reinstatement. The United States and Brazil have been pushing for Zelaya's return to power but his fate remains uncertain after the Honduran Congress voted...

STERLING, Va. - A close inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers at Dulles International Airport turned up something unexpected. Inside a fully-cooked chicken they found cocaine with an estimated street value of $4,300. The 60.4 grams (2.3 ounces) of coke was found inside two small, clear plastic bags inside the chicken's cavity. Officers discovered the white powdery substance during a secondary inspection after a flight from El Salvador arrived shortly after midnight Saturday. It tested positive for cocaine. "CBP officers have seen many unique narcotics concealment methods, and they all present the same challenges to discover them. Our officers'...

The State Department recognized Porfirio Lobo's victory in Sunday's election but said the Honduran Congress still needed to vote on the restoration of deposed President Manuel Zelaya and form a government of national unity. "While the election is a significant step in Honduras' return to the democratic and constitutional order ... it's only a step and it's not the last step," said Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela. Before the election, the United States tried and failed to have Zelaya reinstated. Its support of the election upset many Latin American nations, including powerful Brazil, which called...

Honduras' disputed presidential election is likely to set Washington against emerging Latin American power Brazil over whether to recognize the winner of a vote promoted by the leaders of a June coup. Conservative opposition leader Porfirio Lobo easily won the election on Sunday, but he will struggle to get recognition in Latin America where many leftist governments see the election as a nail in the coffin of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The United States has tried and failed to have Zelaya, a leftist, reinstated and now looks resigned to backing the election as the best way for Honduras' to get...

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras' Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that ousted President Manuel Zelaya cannot legally return to office, dimming the possibility of his reinstatement after a June coup, court sources said. The Court did not release the full text of its non-binding ruling, but a court source and a lawyer close to the proceedings said it closely follows earlier decisions upholding Zelaya's ouster after he moved to change the constitution.

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Convicted in International Truck Theft Conspiracy Sentenced to Prison HOUSTON—Three men who conspired to steal and transport millions of dollars of truck tractors, trailers and other heavy equipment to Central America have been sentenced to prison, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Rito Jasso-Zorilla, 32, Victor Antonio Garcia, 27, and Orlando Gonzalez Huerta, 29, all citizens of Mexico, were sentenced by United States District Judge David Hittner this morning for their respective roles in assisting Yuri David Melendez, 42, of Houston, with the far-reaching scheme. Beginning in 2001, Melendez received requests...

Church members from Utah and abroad gathered on Friday to hear some Book of Mormon stories their teachers have never told them. The lessons centered around Mesoamerica, including Mexico and Guatemala, as the most likely setting for Book of Mormon peoples and events at the 7th annual Book of Mormon Lands Conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City. The conference drew 280 attendees — the conference’s biggest crowd ever — as a result of key speakers such as Dr. John L. Lund, Joseph Allen and Jerry L. Ainsworth, said Stephen L. Carr, senior vice president of the...

(English-language translation) Sao Paulo - High-level officials with the Brazilian government are accusing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez of "orchestrating" the plan for the return of deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya, who is sheltered at the Brazilian Embassy, the local press reports. Advisors to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Foreign Ministry interviewed by Sao Paulo newspaper O Estado pointed out that the "infrastructure, the logistics, and the advice to specifically seek the Brazilian Embassy" for Zelaya's clandestine return were prepared by Chávez. Zelaya's unexpected bursting into Brazil's diplomatic legation has caused an unprecedented and hard-to-resolve conflict, since...

EGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras' de facto leader vowed on Friday that no country will push the small Central American nation around Roberto Micheletti, said Honduras had enough basic foodstuffs to endure economic sanctions if it were further isolated over the coup. "We don't accept anyone imposing anything on us.

Honduras was on a collision course with one of the region’s most powerful leaders last night after its government tried to expel Venezuelan diplomats for meddling in the country’s affairs. The diplomats, backed by Venezuela’s leftist President, Hugo Chávez, vow to stay on in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, defying a government that they regard as illegal. “It is a de facto government, led by a coup and supported with bayonets,” Ariel Vargas, the Venezuelan chargé d’affaires, said after the interim administration of Roberto Micheletti, who came to power in a military coup last month, ordered the Venezuelan envoys to leave...

Honduran officials are investigating allegations that President Manuel Zelaya and his chief of staff stole millions of dollars from the central bank before the military ousted Mr. Zelaya last month, according to a senior Honduran official, government documents and other evidence.

Nicaraguan Congress members and opposition party members asked Zelaya to either refrain from calling for civil war and unrest in Honduras or to leave their country...and to stop telling people that he was going to lead the insurrection with Nicaraguans...because it isn´t going to happen...they also reminded him he is a guest and he needed to respect them a bit more...and to kindly go to Venezuela where they might take to his war yelps a little better...looks like Nicaragua woke up finally.

In a high-stakes move to reclaim his post, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya tried to fly to this Central American nation on Sunday. The provisional government said it would turn the aircraft away, even as it signaled a new willingness to negotiate a solution to the region's biggest political crisis in years. Honduras' civil aviation director said Mr. Zelaya's plane was being redirected to El Salvador. Mr. Zelaya, a leftist kicked out by Honduras' army last week in his nightshirt, departed from Washington to Tegucigalpa on an aircraft believed to belong to Venezuela's government. He was accompanies by the U.N....

Honduras says Nicaragua has troops moving on border 05 Jul 2009 20:20:26 GMT Source: Reuters TEGUCIGALPA, July 5 (Reuters) - Honduras' interim President Roberto Micheletti said on Sunday Nicaraguan troops were moving to the mutual frontier and urged Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to respect Honduran sovereignty. He gave no further details about troop movements in Nicaragua which shares a border with Honduras to the southeast of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.

Military ordered to turn back Zelaya's jetBy WILL WEISSERT and NESTOR IKEDA – 1 hour ago TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras' ousted President Manuel said he was getting on a flight home to reclaim his post on Sunday, accompanied by the U.N. General Assembly president and a group of journalists. The interim government said it ordered the military to prevent the landing of Zelaya's plane. If turned away, it will likely land in El Salvador, where a separate flight was headed with Latin American leaders who support Zelaya's reinstatement. Thousands of protesters were gathering in the capital of Honduras in...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 4 -- Although the U.S. government knew for months that Honduras was on the brink of political chaos, officials say they underestimated how fearful the Honduran elite and the military were of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and his ally President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Rumors were buzzing in the capital that the fight between Zelaya and his conservative opponents had reached the boiling point, but diplomatic officials said the Obama administration and its embassy were surprised when Honduran soldiers burst into the presidential palace last Sunday and removed Zelaya from power... The overthrow, and the new Honduran...

BOGOTA – The regime that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras claimed Tuesday that the deposed president allowed tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the United States. "Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds ... and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking," its foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, told CNN en Espanol. "We have proof of all of this. Neighboring governments have it. The DEA has it," he added. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne in...

Those promises remain largely unfulfilled. Corruption has dogged his government with several officials accused of taking kickbacks. He doubled the minimum wage but most businesses have refused to pay it, saying they can't afford it amid a global financial crisis. And violence has surged, rising 25 percent from 2007 to 2008 to make Honduras one of Latin America's deadliest countries. [snip] His government declared it had the right to monitor phone conversations, though officials say they stopped tapping after a month because of the public outcry. Zelaya has been embroiled in disputes with media outlets, accusing them of criticizing his...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers stormed the house of leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a predawn raid Sunday, arresting him and removing him from power amid a growing crisis over Mr. Zelaya's plans to try to get re-elected. Mr. Zelaya called the action a kidnapping, and said he was still president of Honduras... The Honduran Congress named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya following his military ouster and forced exile in Costa Rica. A resolution read on the floor of Congress accuses Mr. Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law," a reference to...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put his troops on alert over a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was killed or kidnapped. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks at the ALBA summit in Maracay, some 100 km west from Caracas June 24, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Files) Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him on Sunday in...

Senior U.S. official says the Obama administration sees Zelaya as the only constitutional president of Honduras after coup.

The Honduran Army has ousted and arrested Chavez pal, and Obama supporter, President Manuel Zelaya. According to the Reuter's report: The Honduran army ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya and exiled him on Sunday in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to seek another term in office. ~~~ Speaking on Venezuelan state television, Chavez -- who has long championed the left in Latin America -- said he would do everything necessary to abort the coup against his close ally. A military plane flew Zelaya to Costa Rica and CNN's Spanish-language channel...

Soldiers seized the national palace and sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile in Costa Rica on Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was victim of a coup. The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy, and the Honduran ambassador to the Organization of American States said the military was planning to swear in Congressional President Roberto Micheletti to replace Zelaya. Zelaya was arrested shortly before polls were to open in a referendum on whether to change the constitution. The...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - More than a dozen soldiers arrested President Manuel Zelaya and disarmed his security guards after surrounding his residence before dawn Sunday, his private secretary said. Protesters called it a coup and flocked to the presidential palace as local news media reported that Zelaya was sent into exile. The chief executive was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a constitutional referendum the president had insisted on holding even though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it. Zelaya was taken into military...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- The military arrested Honduras President Jose Manuel Zelaya on Sunday morning, the same day he vowed to follow through with a referendum that the country's Supreme Court had ruled illegal, local media reported. The president was arrested at his residence and transported aboard a military plane to an unknown destination, the newspaper La Prensa reported. -snip-

**BREAKING NEWS** Honduran president arrested (UPDATED) 11:00 AM - According to the newspaper La Prensa, Zelaya was put on a plane with his family and may be on his way to Venezuela, but this was denied by Zelaya's wife who said that she and her children are not with him. Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, told journalists that she doesn't know where her husband is being held. June 28 - Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya, an ally of Hugo Chávez and the Castro brothers, was arrested on Sunday morning by soldiers. Zelaya had pledged to go forward with a referendum on...

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed deep concern on Sunday at the Honduran military's arrest and expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya from the country. "As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said in a statement. "Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," he said. (Editing by Patrick Rucker)

URGENT -- Venezuela's Chavez says he will act militarily if the country's ambassador to Honduras is attacked or kidnapped during coup. BULLETIN -- VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT CHAVEZ WARNS OF MILITARY ACTION AGAINST HONDURAS. Venezuelan president Chavez says he will do "everything necessary" to abort the military coup in Honduras.