Mexican navy kills drug baron but body taken by armed men

SINA - Saturday 25th May, 2013

The Mexican navy has killed one of the most wanted drug cartel leaders in a clash in northern Mexico's Coahuila state, but his body was later taken from a funeral house, Mexican authorities said Tuesday. The body, according to Mexican authorities, corresponds to Heriberto Lazcano, alias "El Lazca", head of the Los Zetas Cartel. It was in a funeral home where he had been tested ...

Former Guatemalan president extradited to face money laundering charges in US

Merco Press - Saturday 25th May, 2013

Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited on Friday to the United States to face money laundering charges, the US embassy in Guatemala said. A US grand jury decided in 2009 that Portillo, who was in office from 2000 to 2004, should face charges that he laundered 70 million dollars through US ...

Ex-Guatemala president extradited to US

The Kansas City Star - Saturday 25th May, 2013

GUATEMALA CITY - Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited on Friday to the United States to face charges of laundering $70 million in Guatemalan funds through U.S. bank ...

Ex-President Portillo of Guatemala Is Extradited to U.S.

New York Times - Saturday 25th May, 2013

Mr. Portillo, who was president from 2000 to 2004, faces charges in federal court in New York of conspiring to launder some $70 million of his country's funds through American ...

Mexican Official Defends Accuracy of Data on Organized Crime

New York Times - Friday 24th May, 2013

Mexico 's top security official argued Friday that real progress was being made in reducing organized crime killings and that the number of people previously reported missing was ...

Honduras’ biggest gangs plan to sign a truce to cut violence

Globe and Mail - Friday 24th May, 2013

A gang member looks into a broken piece of mirror while getting a haircut by a fellow inmate at a prison in Quezaltepeque, on the outskirts of San Salvador, El Salvador, June 2, 2012. Two of Honduras' biggest gangs, 18th Street and Mara Salavatrucha, have announced that they will sign a truce - as they did in El Salvador in 2012. (STRINGER/EL ...

Fewer people have disappeared in drug war than feared says Mexican official

The Globe and Mail - Friday 24th May, 2013

Mexico's top security official said Friday that far fewer people disappeared during Mexico's drug war than were feared when the government released a list of about 26,000 cases.Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said federal and state governments are working to weed out people who have been located. He noted that many of those included on the original list of 26,121 released ...

Reversal of Rios Montt verdict in Guatemala sparks criticism of genocide charge

McClatchy - Friday 24th May, 2013

GUATEMALA CITY - The overturning this week of former military dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt’s conviction on charges stemming from Guatemala’s brutal civil war has created a surprising consensus among critics on both the left and the right: Prosecutors badly overreached when they tried to pin accusations of genocide on the 86-year-old former president. Despite sharp divisions ...

OAS Permanent Council and CIDI Submit Proposals to the General Assembly in Antigua Guatemala

OAS - Friday 24th May, 2013

May 24, 2013 The Permanent Council and the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved the submission of several draft resolutions to the next General Assembly, which will take place from June 4 to 6 in Antigua, Guatemala. In a joint session, the Permanent Council and CIDI approved the draft resolution on the ...

Mexican Mafia Member Sentenced in Racketeering Conspiracy

FBI - Friday 24th May, 2013

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that Mexican Mafia member Salvador Nicola Colabella was sentenced today by United States District Judge Anthony J. Battaglia to serve 262 months in federal prison based on his August 9, 2012 plea to RICO conspiracy charges, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(d). Colabella has been in custody since his arrest on January 25, ...

Guatemalan ex-president extradited to U.S. on money-laundering charges

Baltimore Sun - Friday 24th May, 2013

Former Guatemalan president Portillo is escorted before boarding plane for his extradition to United States for money laundering, in Guatemala ...

Panamanian Lawyers to Impugn Appeal of Annulment in Favour of Posada

Prensa Latina - Friday 24th May, 2013

Panama, May 24 (Prensa Latina) Lawyers in lawsuit in the case of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices in Panama who were punished because of terrorism and indulted by former president Mireya Moscoso, will impugn a cassation to revoke their penal sentences. So it was said by Julio Berrios, one of the five lawyers in the trial in Panama against Posada, Pedro Remn Rodrguez, Gaspar ...

Ex-Guatemalan President Extradited To U.S.

NPR - Friday 24th May, 2013

Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo speaks with journalists in Guatemala City before boarding a plane for the U.S. on ...

Costa Rica Might Be ChangingPolicy on GMO Foods

Check Biotech - Friday 24th May, 2013

Although transgenic soybeans, cotton and some corn has been grown in Costa Rica since 1991, groups that oppose genetically modified crops are increasing pressure on the government to slow the permit process for future GM crops, reports Ag ...

Honduras - Journalists targeted in gunfire in northern Honduras

IFEX - Friday 24th May, 2013

Journalist Ramn Maldonado and camaraman Daniel Snchez from Canal Litoral Atlntico, in the city of La Ceiba, Atlntida department, escaped unharmed from an firearms attack by an unidentified suspect riding a motorcycle.On Monday 20 May 2013 in Colonia Villa Antonella, minutes after leaving the Canal Litoral Atlntico building around 9 a.m., a motorcyclist drove in front of Maldonado and shot ...

Fitch Afirma la Calificacion Internacional de Banco Internacional de Costa Rica en BB+

Fitch Ratings - Friday 24th May, 2013

U.S. prime money market funds (MMFs) increased their exposure to eurozone banks in April. However, even at 15.1%, asset allocations to these institutions remain well below 2011 levels, according to Fitch ...

Ex-Guatemala President Extradited to US

International Herald Tribune - Friday 24th May, 2013

GUATEMALA CITY -- The lawyer for ex-Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo says he is being extradited to the United States to face money-laundering and embezzlement ...

Mexican homebuilder Urbi seeks to reduce impact of payment freeze

Reuters - Friday 24th May, 2013

MONTERREY, Mexico | Fri May 24, 2013 1:51pm EDT MONTERREY, Mexico May 24 (Reuters) - Troubled Mexican homebuilder Urbi, struggling with flagging sales and a heavy debt load, said it is looking to minimize the impact of a suspension in payments from state mortgage-lenders to Urbi and two other homebuilders. Two state mortgage-lenders, Infonavit and Fovissste, on Thursday stopped payments ...

Millions Seized in Tabasco Former Mexican Governor Questioned

Prensa Latina - Friday 24th May, 2013

Mexico, 24 (Prensa Latina) The attorney for the Mexican state of Tabasco, Fernando Valenzuela, announced that former Governor Andres Granier will be summoned to testify today due to the huge sum of money seized from the treasurer for his administration, Jose Sainz. The newspaper Tabasco Hoy reported that former Undersecretary of Expenditures Miguel Angel Contreras will also appear in court for ...

Cubans Russians Lead in Last Stop for World Diving Series

Prensa Latina - Friday 24th May, 2013

Mexico, May 24 (Prensa Latina) The last stop in the Diving World Series begins today and ends on Sunday at the Pan American Aquatics Complex in Guadalajara, Mexico, with Russian and Cuban duos in the lead for top honors in the male synchronized platform. In the two-day event the first four duos in each branch will compete, while also training for the next world championship, from July 19 to ...

Mexican stocks fall more than 1 percent on Fed worries

Reuters - Friday 24th May, 2013

MEXICO CITY | Fri May 24, 2013 10:07am EDT MEXICO CITY May 24 (Reuters) - Mexico's IPC stock index fell more than 1 percent on Friday on continued worries about a winding down of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's bond-buying program. The index fell 1.05 percent to 40,091.41 points, with telecoms giant America Movil and bottler Femsa ...

One Small Towns Fight to Banish a Brutal Mexican Cartel

Wired News - Friday 24th May, 2013

Chern, a small mountain town in the Mexican state of Michoachan, in middle of the Mexican forest, saw its citizens organize in 2011 and overthrew the corrupt local government and police force. The citizens of the pueblo (town or community,) set up their own government system and police force in an attempt to drive organized crime out of their community and forest after years of extortion and ...