Press photographers Mircea Topoleanu and Brandon Daniel Bazán were finally released yesterday after being held since their arrests while covering major clashes between police and demonstrators in Mexico City during President Enrique Peña Nieto’s swearing-in on 1 December. They were freed along with 54 of the other 69 people arrested during the inauguration-day clashes. The authorities have dropped the public disorder charges on which they were all being held, which carried...

The government of Iran on Sunday launched the Mehr.ir Web site, the country’s homegrown flavor of a user-generated video content site. The site aims to spread the influence of Islamic and Iranian culture throughout the Persian-speaking world. Mehr’s debut comes after years of the Iranian government blocking its population off from many YouTube videos. It also comes after Iran recently expressed its intent to create a domestic Internet network, cutting off access to the...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, preparing to travel to Cuba for further cancer surgery, Saturday named Vice President Nicolas Maduro to carry out his legacy if he is unable to remain in office. Chavez, who spoke in a national television and radio address, said he requires more surgery after malignant cells were detected in the same area as his previous cancer during health exams held over the past month in Cuba. The National Assembly Sunday approved his request to be absent from the...

Human rights defenders across the Americas are facing escalating levels of intimidation, harassment and attacks at the hands of state security forces, paramilitary groups and organized crime, Amnesty International said in a new report today. The report Transforming pain into hope: Human rights defenders in the Americas, is based on around 300 cases of intimidation, harassment, attacks and killings of human rights defenders in more than a dozen countries primarily between January 2010 and...

The embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is considering the possibility to claim political asylum for himself, his family and his close circle in Latin America if he has to cede power, a newspaper reported Wednesday. "Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister held meetings in Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador over the past week, and brought with him classified personal letters from Assad to local leaders," the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported. Some Western and Arab countries have...

The growth of organized crime in Mexico and Central America has led to an increase in violence and insecurity, posing challenges to citizens, public security forces, and travelers. Migrants crossing the region are particularly vulnerable, facing increasing threats from Mexican drug traffickers, Central American gangs, and corrupt government officials. Migrants who choose to proceed even in the face of these risks increasingly are forced to seek the assistance of intermediaries known as...

HAVANA, -- Representatives of the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group Friday renewed the peace talks in Havana, aimed at ending five decades of fighting in that country. The peace talks had a recess on Thursday, after three days of continuous work at closed doors at the Palace of Conventions in Havana. According to the schedule, the two sides are expected to continue discussions Friday on the integral agricultural development, the...

HAVANA (AP) - Colombia's main rebel group is appealing to U.S. President Barack Obama to free a guerrilla leader serving a long prison term in the United States. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia says Simon Trinidad's presence at the current peace talks with the Colombia government in the Cuban capital of Havana would be an "immense" help to negotiations. The FARC rebels named Trinidad to their negotiating team in September, even though he is serving a 60-year prison term....

At least five privately-owned local and community-based media organizations in three South American countries have been the targets of violent attacks in the past few weeks, depriving some of them of the means to broadcast. Reporters Without Borders is committed to helping them rebuild. The press freedom organization is seeking a detailed breakdown of the estimated damage they have suffered. In view of the extent of the losses, we are requesting assistance from the authorities in the...

Today the Colombian government and FARC started their peace negotiation in La Habana, whose purpose is to put an end to the armed conflict of almost fifty-years. Meanwhile the Colombian government has disposed a law to compensate the victims of the confrontation. This would be implemented and verified once all the subjects reach a definitive agreement. In the meeting it will be discussed an integral agricultural development plan, a subject that has a historical background and the rising of...