Hours before Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died, his second-in-command accused enemies of giving him cancer and announced the expulsion of two U.S. diplomats for an alleged plot to destabilize the government. "There's no doubt that Commandante Chavez's health came under attack by the enemy," Vice President Nicolas Maduro said in an address to the nation from the presidential palace. The old enemies of our fatherland looked for a way to harm his health," according to...

An online journalist in northern Mexico was shot dead while he ate at a taco stand, the Associated Press reported. Jaime Guadalupe Gonzalez Dominguez was shot at least 17 times in the border town of Ojinaga in Chihuahua state on Sunday night, El Universal reported. Mexican magazine Proceso reported Dominguez was shot at least 18 times. The gunmen stole his camera. The journalist’s website, Ojinaga Noticias, described the attack as a “real shame” in what it said was...

Federal agents guarding the premises of the newspaper El Siglo de Torreón (Torreón Century), in the northern Mexican city of Torreón, Coahuila, came under attack on the afternoon of Monday, February 25, by a group of armed men. The uniformed agents were on patrol at the back of the newspaper’s offices when the attackers, who were in a passing vehicle, opened fire with AK-47s. Soon after the attack reinforcements arrived and a perimeter was set up. Several...

The National Police announced seizure of an arsenal of weapons against seven of the FARC and the logistical structure of the criminal gang known as “Pijarvey” a dissident ERPAC, known as “Libertadores del Vichada” in jungle area of Meta. In seizing two caches hidden underground, include machine guns, rifles, and rocket launchers, with which this group of ERPAC tried, officials said, in the Llanos consolidate a corridor for drug trafficking to the United States and...

Venezuelan students protested in chains outside the Cuban Embassy in Caracas on Thursday, condemning what they say is the Caribbean nation's meddling in their country's affairs while President Hugo Chavez remains on the island undergoing cancer treatment. Some students exchanged shoves with police in anti-riot gear outside the embassy. Protesters sang the Venezuelan national anthem, wearing chains and cords wrapped around their bodies and bound with locks in a representation of what they view...

Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) said late on Feb. 12 it released five employees of a Canadian mining company kidnapped last month. The ELN said in a prepared statement it freed five Geo Explorer employees - three Colombians and two Peruvians - kidnapped Jan. 18. But the terrorist group made no mention of a Canadian citizen whom the Colombian army said earlier this month was among those seized by “bandits” from the ELN in the country’s northern region. So...

Physicians caring for Hugo Chávez in Havana have notified his family, the Castro brothers, and the main chavista leaders that their patient will no longer be able to return to his functions as president of Venezuela. This is according to sources in direct contact with his medical team, who also indicate that Chávez has lost his voice completely as a result of medical treatment. His vocal cords have endured permanent damage making recuperation highly unlikely. Speechless and...

A newspaper in northern Mexico says five of its non-editorial employees were kidnapped briefly and released hours later. The Siglo de Torreon said on its Internet site that the abductions reflected the lack of security for newspaper employees in the violence-plagued region around the city of Torreon. The paper said abductors took two people who operated its online services, two employees of the advertising department and one administrative employee. It said the workers were released early...

Reporters Without Borders hopes for quick results from the police investigation into yesterday evening’s murder of local radio station owner and manager Marcelino Vázquez in Pedro Juan Caballero, the capital of Amambay, an eastern department that borders Brazil. A marijuana-growing region with a reputation for being dangerous, Amambay is also a leading hub in the trafficking of so-called hard drugs to the Southern Cone countries. Its journalists are constantly exposed to threats,...

Iranian Ambassador to Venezuela Hojattolah Soltani stated on Tuesday that Tahmasb Mazaheri, an Iranian citizen detained in Germany over a USD 70-million check, has nothing to do with the Government of Teheran. Tahmasb Mazaher "is by no means an official of the Government (of Iran); neither has his name been affixed to the confiscated check, the Iranian Ambassador told private-owned TV news channel Globovisión in an interview, AP cited. The ambassador stressed that Mazaheri...