Colombian navy seizes two tons of cocaine
Two tons of cocaine was seized in Morrosquillo Gulf, north of Colombia, the navy said Wednesday.

The drug was intercepted on Monday after a navy plane tracked an illegal fast vessel in waters of the Caribbean Sea. The suspected traffickers, at least three aboard, escaped the capture.

According to local authorities, smugglers frequently use fast boats to transport drugs to Central American countries, before sending them to the United States, the principal market for Colombian narcotics.

In 2004, the Colombian navy has seized 71 tons of cocaine, compared with 55 tons in 2002.

This South American country remains the world's top cocaine andheroin producer, whose annual cocaine output stands at between 500to 700 tons.
 

Controversial ex-president forced to stay in Argentina
Argentine ex-president Carlos Menem has been forced to stay in the country as a prosecutor prevented him from traveling to Chile to spend the year-end festivities there, the authorities said Tuesday.

The authorities said that federal prosecutor Carlos Stornelli requested two judges to prevent Menem from leaving the country, said judicial authorities.

Menem is accused of failing to report about 600,000 dollars in Swiss bank accounts and receiving kickbacks in the construction of two jails on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The two indictments are investigated respectively by Judges Norberto Oyarbide and Jorge Urso.

Menem, who governed Argentina from 1989 to 1999, had requested both judges' permission to leave the country and spend year-end celebrations in Santiago, Chile, with the promise of returning for the continuation of the proceedings.

Menem and his Chilean wife, former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, and their son, Maximo, spent Christmas at the ex-president's hometown Anillaco, in the Argentine province of La Rioja in the northwest.

Menem, 74, signed a pledge Monday not to evade justice again before federal judges Oyarbide and Urso, who had earlier allowed the former president to return from 13-months of self-imposed exile without fear of arrest but on a one-million-dollar bail.

Menem returned to Argentina from Chile on Wednesday to launch his political comeback after the judges withdrew international warrants for his arrest in two separate indictments.

They had issued the warrants after Menem repeatedly eluded court summons and fled across the Andes to live with his Chilean wife and their toddler son.

Menem, who heads the opposition Justicialista Party, said recently that he would like to run for the presidency once again in 2007.
 

Massacre suspect in Honduras arrested
Honduras' authorities have identified one of the suspects in the massacre of 28 people taking place on Dec. 23 at a bus stop in San Pedro Sula, north Honduras.

According to Saturday's reports from Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, Alexis Ramirez, a former member of a gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, is believed to be one of the suspects in the crime, said the police.

Ramirez, 23, was arrested shortly after the attack while traveling in a private car carrying automatic weapons and drugs.

The agents said Saturday that two suspected gang members arrested have been linked to the attack, but their identities have not been proved yet.

The massacre occurred when 70 people on a bus moved from San Pedro Sula to Chamelecon, 200 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa, after completing their work. Suspected gang members armed with assault rifles stopped the bus and opened fire on passengers, killing 28 and wounding 14.

Thousands of soldiers and police were deployed in Honduras' main cities Saturday to prevent new attacks by gangs after the murder.

 

In the market for a change? Click here!

Castro walks in public since fall Cuban President Fidel Castro appeared Thursday walking in public again, after an accident he suffered two months ago which produced a fracture in his left knee-cap. Castro, assisted only by a young secondary-school student, walked into in the plenary session of the unicameral parliament of the Caribbean country in the Conventions Palace. The president witnessed the session presided by President of the National Assembly (parliament) Ricardo Alarcon after waving hands in response to the applause and cheers of "long live Fidel" from the audience. Castro broke his left knee into eight pieces and fracturing an arm after making a speech in October in the central province of Villa Clara, doctors said. Castro, 78, has appeared determined to dispel the speculation that he would be wheel-chair-bond for the rest of his life. Just five days after his fall, he appeared on television for two hours, his leg hidden behind a desk. He has made two similar appearances since then. Castro first appeared in a wheel chair a month ago to receive Chinese President Hu Jintao, and again earlier this month when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited. Venezuela's oil strike leaders accused of rebellion Venezuelan authorities on Tuesday charged three former oil executives with "rebellion" and "espionage" for their role in a three-month strike beginning in December 2002. Juan Fernandez, Horacio Medina and Mireya Ripanti, former managers of state-owned oil company PDVSA, were charged with instigating illegal activities, interruption of production and computer espionage, the public prosecutor's office said. Fernandez and Medina were two of the main leaders of the general strike from December 2002 to February 2003 which was aimed at forcing President Hugo Chavez to step down. The strike severely hit the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, and interrupted its oil shipments to the United States. The three will be kept in custody during investigation, and their charges could lead to over 25 years in prison. Venezuela now remains the fourth oil supplier to the United States, following Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.