World: Latin America - Las Vegas Sun

Associated Press: World: Latin America

8 hours, 32 minutes ago

(AP) The party that governed Mexico for 71 consecutive years has rebounded in local elections, returns showed on Monday, and a poll had it jumping into the lead for next year's national congressional vote.Nearly complete results from the southern state of Guerrero showed the Institutional Revolutionary Party recapturing mayorships in the ...

Tropical Storm Norbert strengthens off Mexico

9 hours, 41 minutes ago

(AP) Tropical Storm Norbert is growing toward hurricane force off Mexico's Pacific coast and forecasters say it might bring weekend rains and wind to the Baja California Peninsula.The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Norbert is centered about 325 miles (525 kilometers) south of Manzanillo and is moving west at ...

5 police held in deadly clash at Mexican ruins

18 hours, 4 minutes ago

(AP) Five state police officers were arrested in southern Mexico on Sunday in connection with a deadly raid to dislodge protesters from a Mayan archaeological site.The five officers led an operation on Friday to remove hundreds of mostly indigenous villagers who had occupied the entrance to the Chinkultic ruins for nearly ...

Mexico seizes pseudoephedrine shipment at airport

23 hours, 41 minutes ago

(AP) Mexican authorities say they have seized 7 million pills of pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient used to make methamphetamine, at the Guadalajara airport.The Attorney General's Office says more than 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of the pills were found packed in 24 boxes on a shipment from Calcutta, India.Mexico has banned imports ...

Shootings sour municipal elections in Brazil

23 hours, 41 minutes ago

(AP) Allies of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were poised to pick up the most local mayorships in municipal elections Sunday that were marred by isolated shootings.Boosted by Silva's popularity amid an extended economic boom that has raised salaries and lifted millions out of poverty, the ruling Workers Party ...

5 police held in deadly clash at Mexican ruins

1 day ago

(AP) Five state police officers were arrested Sunday in connection with the deaths of four villagers during a raid on protesters who had seized the entrance of a Mayan archaeological site.The five officers led an operation on Friday to remove hundreds of mostly indigenous villagers who had occupied the entrance of ...

Venezuela bureaucrats told to trim high living

1 day, 3 hours ago

(AP) Bureaucrats in oil-rich Venezuela can look forward to fewer expensive SUVs, top-of-the-line mobile telephones and whiskey-fueled parties next year.Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said Sunday that Venezuela's 2009 budget "will have significant restrictions" compared to this year's US$63.9 billion plan as President Hugo Chavez's government keeps a close watch on slumping ...

Tropical Storm Norbert forms off southern Mexico

1 day, 9 hours ago

(AP) The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Norbert is strengthening off Mexico's southern Pacific coast and could become a hurricane in the next 24 hours.The center says Norbert is centered 215 miles (345 kilometers) south of the Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa resort area with winds of 60 mph (95 kph).Norbert formed late Saturday ...

World's heaviest man helps another obese man diet

1 day, 17 hours ago

(AP) When critically obese, bedridden Jose Luis Garza pleaded for help in shedding a few hundred pounds, he landed the world's biggest weight watcher.Garza is getting diet advice from Manuel Uribe, a fellow Mexican who has been fighting to lose his title as the world's heaviest man.Both men live around the ...

Chavez will swap gas-guzzlers for clean cars

1 day, 21 hours ago

(AP) Give up your gas-guzzler and get a free car. That's President Hugo Chavez's offer to Venezuelans.Chavez says he plans to start a program next year that will give away cars running on less-polluting natural gas to people who turn in old cars that consume "too much gasoline."The socialist leader says ...

World's heaviest man helps another obese man diet

1 day, 21 hours ago

6 villagers killed in clash at Mexico ruins

1 day, 23 hours ago

(AP) Police clashed with hundreds of villagers who seized the entrance to a Mayan archaeological site and six protesters were killed, state officials said Saturday.Hundreds of villagers had occupied the entrance to the Chinkultic ruins for nearly a month, saying they were protesting excessive entrance fees and a lack of investment ...

Mexican police find 9 bodies dumped in Tijuana

2 days ago

(AP) Police have found nine more bodies dumped around the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where nearly 50 people have been killed in a week of violence related to the drug trade.Municipal police found five of the bodies Saturday between two small shopping centers in the eastern part of the city. ...

Morales ups rhetoric against US anti-drug aid

2 days, 3 hours ago

(AP) President Evo Morales said Saturday that Bolivia does not need U.S. help to control its coca crop, stepping up his anti-Washington rhetoric days after rejecting an American request to fly an anti-drug plane over the South American nation's territory.Morales also compared U.S. counter-drug efforts in the country, including Drug Enforcement ...

Hurricane Marie hovers far off Mexico's coast

2 days, 8 hours ago

(AP) Hurricane Marie hovered far off Mexico's Pacific coast Saturday, barely moving on its northwestern path.A tropical depression off the Mexican resort city of Acapulco was forecast to strengthen into a tropical storm Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was located about 200 miles (325 kilometers) south ...