In a continuing purge in the state-owned media, Carlos Goncalves, the producer of the Radio Nacional programme “Redpública,” was notified on 17 September that his contract will definitely be terminated at the end of the month, while two other programmes could also be affected, Reporters Without Borders has learned. The situation has been further exacerbated by the direct threats that two women journalists have received from people close to Federico Franco, who took over as...

The Mexican blog reported today that its founder, known as Ruy Salgado or “El 5anto”, has been missing for the past six days. "Salgado’s disappearance may be voluntary, but he may have been kidnapped or worse and every day that passes without his reappearing rightly increases the concern about his fate," Reporters Without Borders said. "If he disappeared voluntarily, he would not be the first person to choose temporary silence. More and more journalists are...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Prominent Cuban dissident Marta Beatriz Roque began a hunger strike on Monday along with 22 others to bring attention to what she described as the government's persecution of its opponents. She accused the government of conducting a vicious campaign of attacks and harassment against dissidents that has worsened in recent months. Roque, who is 67, vowed to refuse medications and to only drink water, which could bring a quick death, she said, because she suffers from...

The American citizen of Arab origin Rafic Mohammad Labboun Allaboun, a suspected member of the terrorist network Hezbollah, was arrested Saturday night in Merida through an operation conducted by the National Migration Institute (INM) and the State Police. Labboun Allaboun was arrested in a house located in the street 41-B, between 56 and 5 of the colony Francisco de Montejo in the west part of the city. At the moment of the arrest, the suspect identified himself with a fake passport from...

Three alleged members of Hezbollah have been arrested in Mexico and one was handed over to U.S. authorities, Mexican media reported Sunday. Reforma newspaper identified one of the detainees as Rafic Mohammad Labboun Allaboun, a U.S. national, who was wanted by the U.S. government. Allaboun was arrested in the city of Merida late Saturday as part of an operation conducted by Mexican immigration agents and local police, the report said. Two other suspected Hezbollah members -- George Abdalah...

Former Bolivian Congressman Jose Brechner sent the photos from a South American Hezbollah website in 2007. Hezbollah is reportedly training terrorists at a base in northern Nicaragua. The Lebanese website Naharnet reported, via ROP: Hizbullah is using a training base established by Iran in northern Nicaragua near the border with Honduras, the Israeli radio reported on Thursday. “The area is cordoned off and there are around 30 members of Hizbullah being trained in the camp,”...

Fourteen indigenous organizations issued a statement where they communicate that since 2009 they have been reporting to the Venezuelan authorities the presence of illegal Brazilian gold miners in the Alto Ocamo area (Amazonas state, Alto Orinoco municipality, on the southern Venezuelan border with Brazil), and that these illegal gold miners allegedly massacred a Yanomami community in July 2012. According to the statement, unauthorized Brazilian gold miners had committed "physical...

Bolivian officials walked back initial claims that two tons of radioactive uranium were seized in La Paz, saying the find contains only traces of the substance; but the discovery renews earlier questions about Bolivia’s relationship with Iran and speculations of Hezbollah influence in the area. On August 28, Deputy Interior Minister Jorge Perez said police uncovered two tons of uranium in a garage in an upscale neighborhood near the Brazilian, British, and United States embassies. He...

The Colombian government has opened "exploratory talks" with its largest rebel aimed at ending a half-century insurgency, President Juan Manuel Santos said Monday. Santos' announcement in a brief televised address confirmed mounting rumors of talks, supposedly held in Cuba, between representatives of his government and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which is largely a peasant army. Santos offered no details of the talks, such as when they began, where they...

Anti-Western symbolism was rampant across Iran's capital city on Sunday as the Islamic Republic welcomed attendees of a weeklong gathering of nonaligned nations, a Cold War-era movement that Iranian officials have embraced as a counterweight to U.S.-led efforts to isolate their country. As the sessions began, a balloon with a message hailing Iran as a "cradle of peace and justice" hovered near the site of the former U.S. Embassy, where Iranian militants held 52 people hostage almost...