Cuban authorities should cease all attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and civic activists, Human Rights Watch said today. The international community should condemn attacks on those who peacefully exercise their basic rights to freedom of expression, opinion, and assembly in the strongest terms. On November 6, Cuba’s most prominent blogger, Yoani Sánchez, together with blogger Orlando Luís Pardo Lazo, were abducted by three men. Sánchez and...

Terrorist-sponsoring nation Iran is increasing its presence in Latin America, and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization it sponsors, is making inroads in drug trafficking in Colombia, according to Pentagon spokesperson Donna Miles in a press statement to the National Association of Chiefs of Police. During a recent congressional hearing, Navy Admiral James G. Stavridis told the House Armed Services Committee that he shares the concerns of Defense Secretary Robert Gates about Iranian activity...

Police from seven countries arrested 17 people in the island of Curacao Tuesday suspected of involvement in an international drug ring with links to Hizbullah, Dutch authorities said. The group is suspected of having traded in some 2,000 kilograms of cocaine per year, the Dutch prosecution service said in a statement. "The group shipped containers with cocaine from Curacao to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Jordan," it said. "From Venezuela, containers with drugs went to...

WASHINGTON - Iran is increasing its presence in Latin America, and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization it sponsors, is making inroads in drug trafficking in Colombia, the commander of U.S. Southern Command told Congress today. Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis told the House Armed Services Committee he shares concerns expressed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates about Iranian activity in Central and South America. Iran has opened six embassies in the region during the past five years and is...

The commander of U.S. forces in Latin America says the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is involved in drug trafficking in Colombia. The admiral is worried about increased Iranian and Hezbollah activities throughout the region. At Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday Admiral James Stavridis accused Hezbollah of involvement in the drug trade. "We have seen in Colombia a direct connection between Hezbollah activity and the narco-trafficking activity," he...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Senators Tuesday that although much attention was given to Russia's recent courting of some Latin American countries, he is more concerned about new activities of Iran in the region. Secretary Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee he is worried about efforts by the Iranian government to gain influence in Latin America. "I'm concerned about the level of, frankly, subversive activity the Iranians are carrying on in a number of...

In a further show of naval muscle-flexing, Russian warships will visit United States foe Cuba for the first time since the Soviet era. The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two support ships from a squadron that has been on a lengthy visit to Latin America will put in at Havana on Saturday for a five-day stay, Navy spokesman Captain Igor Dygalo said. It will be the first visit by Russian warships to the communist island just 145km from the US since the 1991 Soviet collapse. The Admiral...

HAVANA -- Fidel Castro offers both praise and criticism for late Colombian rebel leader Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda in a new book published Thursday. "La paz en Colombia" (Peace in Colombia) represents "more than 400 hours of intense work," Cuba's former president said. The book appears nearly eight months after the founder of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, died of a heart attack at the age of 77. Marulanda, Castro said, "did...

U.S. officials have warned of a real danger Islamist extremists could form alliances with wealthy and powerful Latin American drug lords to launch new terrorist attacks against the United States. According to recent remarks made by Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Charles Allen, at a two-day conference hosted by SOUTHCOM and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA); “The threat of ties between criminal...

The German newspaper "Die Welt" reported last month that Venezuela is becoming a safehaven for Islamic terrorists. The close friendship between the leftist Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his Iranian colleague Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardline Muslim radical, resulted into ever closer cooperation between the two countries. Western intelligence services have reason to believe that Iran's fundamentalist regime is sending terrorists and Muslim radicals to an increasing number...