A retired FBI official told a House subcommittee that the imprisonment of a New York Chasidic Jew in Bolivia is “state-sponsored kidnapping.” Along with the ex-official, Steve Moore, the U.S. House of Representatives human rights subcommittee on Wednesday heard testimony from the family of Jacob Ostreicher, who was arrested a year ago by Bolivian police after it was alleged that he did business with “people wanted in their countries because of links with drug trafficking and...

The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, better known by its acronym "ALBA," strongly condemned the current violence in Syria on Sunday. But the ALBA group wasn't condemning the slaughter of civilians by the Assad dictatorship, but violence that it said was being committed by "irregular groups supported by foreign powers." The ALBA group, which consists of Latin America's far-left led countries Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua and a handful of Caribbean...

Iran's president on Tuesday lauded his country's newly launched Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to "dominance seekers" - remarks that were an apparent jab at the U.S. and the West. The launch is Tehran's latest effort to reach out to friendly governments in Latin America and follows Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's four-nation tour of the region earlier in January, which included stops in Cuba and visits to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador. It also comes...

“During the tour that begins the second week of January, president Ahmadinejad will first visit Caracas to meet with President Hugo Chavez and later to Nicaragua for the taking office ceremony of President Daniel Ortega, who was recently re-elected for a second term”, said Mohamad Reza Forghani, foreign affairs director from the presidential office. In Cuba and Ecuador the Iranian president will holds talks with the leaders of both countries, adds the report. Iran in recent years...

Univision, the largest TV broadcaster in Spanish of the United States, recently presented a report showing that Iran is actively preparing an attack against the US to be carried out from bases in Latin America. The documentary, "La Amenaza Irani" (" "), illustrated, though undercover footage, how the growing economic, political and military ties Iran has developed in South American countries are rapidly evolving into a tangible threat for the security of the US. The...

Brazil will start manufacturing unmanned aircrafts with the help from Israel, thus allowing the South American country to control drug trafficking on its border areas. However, the Brazilian authorities may not sell them neither to Bolivia nor to Venezuela, as instructed by the Israeli government. Miki Bar, a representative of state-run company IAI, which manufactures the unmanned aerial vehicles Vants, said that Tel Aviv authorized the manufacturing and export of the aircrafts to Brazil,...

Bolivian Foreign Ministry sent an apology letter to for inviting Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is accused of planning the 1994 bombing of the Jewish center, which killed 85, a Reuters report stated. Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said on Tuesday that they had taken steps to ensure that the Defense Minister, leaves Bolivia at the earliest. Bolivia's Defense Ministry said to his counterpart in that Vahidi had come to help inaugurate a defense academy for members of...

Reporters and photographers working for several news media were attacked by police at Apacheta (20 km outside La Paz) on 15 April while covering clashes between police and members of the Bolivian Workers Federation (COB), which is demanding a wage increase. Red Uno cameraman Israel Gutiérrez, Bolivisión cameraman Carlos Saavedra and Página Siete photographer Henry Ponce were attacked by police officers. The cameras of Gutiérrez and Saavedra were broken, while the...

Spain expects to "maintain a cooperation" with Venezuela "in the fight against terrorism," at a time when the Spanish justice requested the extradition of the Spanish-Venezuelan citizen Arturo Cubillas, who has been accused of training members of the Basque armed group ETA in Venezuela. "We, as Spanish authorities, expect to keep cooperation in the fight against terrorism with Venezuelan authorities," Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez said in a...

Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Teheran to continue talks with Iranian leaders on cooperation between the two countries, particularly regarding energy and mining projects. Morales is scheduled to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday. Morales visit follows on the visit to Iran last week of his fellow Latin American President and political ally, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Like Chávez, Morales has deepened ties between his country and Iran, much to...