Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has rejected the top US diplomat's "threats" on the consequences of Latin American ties with Iran, blasting Hillary Clinton's remarks as an "imperial offensive”. "Mrs (Hillary) Clinton's statements (are) like a threat above all against Venezuela and Bolivia... They are the clear signs of an imperial offensive seeking to stop the advancement of progressive forces, and regain its back yard," Chavez told reporters in Havana...

Honduran authorities must launch an urgent and independent investigation into the murder of human rights defender Walter Trochez who was killed late on Sunday night while walking home through the centre of Tegucigalpa, Amnesty International said today. According to sources, Walter Trochez was shot in the chest by a drive-by gunman and taken to hospital where he later died. Amnesty International fears that he may have been targeted because of his human rights work. Walter Trochez told Amnesty...

Walter Trochez, 25 years old, a well-known LGBT activist in Honduras who was an active member of the National Resistance Front against the coup d'etat there, was assassinated on the evening of December 13, shot dead by drive-by killers. Trochez, who had already been arrested and beaten for his sexual orientation after participating in a march against the coup, had been very active recently in documenting and publicizing homophobic killings and crimes committed by the forces behind the coup,...

Washington, DC - The proposal by Porfirio Lobo, winner of Honduras' disputed presidential election on November 29, 2009, for an "amnesty for all" of those involved in the June coup d'état violates the country's international obligations and undermines the rule of law, Human Rights Watch said today. The election was organized by the de facto government, and has been recognized only by the United States and four Latin American countries. The de facto government took over after...

Government harassment and criminal violence are harming press freedom and weakening democracy, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) concludes in a report presented at the closure of its 65th general assembly in Buenos Aires. IAPA expressed dismay over the excessive increase of violence against journalists. Sixteen reporters were killed in the last six months (eight in Mexico, three in Honduras, two each in Guatemala and Colombia and one in El Salvador), "the highest figure in...

Washington, DC - Raúl Castro's government has locked up scores of people for exercising their fundamental freedoms and allowed scores more political prisoners arrested during Fidel Castro's rule to languish in detention, Human Rights Watch . Rather than dismantle Cuba's repressive machinery, Raúl Castro has kept it firmly in place and fully active, the report says. The 123-page report, "," shows how the Raúl Castro government has relied in particular on the...

The armies of Nicaragua and Venezuela will conduct military exercises aimed at training their air and naval forces, reported on Thursday official sources in Managua. The military exercises will take place in Nicaragua from May 1 to June 30, with the presence of about 30 Venezuelan soldiers and an unspecified number of ships and planes of the Venezuelan Air Force, DPA reported. The participation of Venezuelan troops was authorized on Wednesday by the Nicaraguan parliament as required...

LIMA - Peru's Congress Friday approved the executive branch's 2010 fiscal budget proposal worth about 82 billion soles ($29.2 billion) by a 51-26 vote. That compares with a budget of some PEN72 billion originally presented by the executive branch for 2009. The 2010 budget contains an 80% increase for defense forces, part of which will go to battling the illegal drug trade. The unicameral legislature also passed separate bills approving, among other things, public sector debt financing for...

Venezuela plans to open an embassy in Palestinian territories and upgrade its ties to ambassadorial level, President Hugo Chavez said on Friday, to support Palestinians in their struggle against Israel. "We have decided to designate an ambassador and open an embassy in Palestine," Chavez said after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We now have a charge d'affaires; we will name an ambassador in coming days as part of accords to boost our bilateral...

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Ever isolated by the United States and its European allies, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is increasingly forging ties in Latin America, and not just with fervently anti-American leaders such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. On Monday, Ahmadinejad met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, a vibrant democracy of 190 million that has the world's eighth-largest economy and warm ties with the United States. The meeting raised concerns in...