Latin America News

SANTIAGO, Chile - A magnitude-6.1 earthquake has hit the same part of Chile that suffered a catastrophic quake in February. The new temblor has caused alarm but no reported damage or injuries. Full Story »

HAVANA - Cuba's communist economic model has come in for criticism from an unlikely source: Fidel Castro. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY - The third Mexican mayor in a month was slain by suspected drug gang hitmen on the same day the U.S. secretary of state raised hackles in Mexico by saying the country is "looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago." Full Story »

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez accused his political adversaries Wednesday of sabotaging Venezuela's electricity grid as part of a campaign to chip away at his popularity before legislative elections in two weeks. Full Story »

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that he will meet later this month with the country's Jewish leaders, who are expressing concerns about anti-Semitism in some state media. Full Story »

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - The massacre of 18 people in a shoe factory in northern Honduras was likely an attempt by the assailants to eliminate sympathizers of a rival gang even though none of the victims had criminal records, authorities said Wednesday. Full Story »

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Barbados' prime minister has left the Caribbean island again to seek medical attention in the United States, just a week after he returned from receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness. Full Story »

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - A Red Cross volunteer who helped remove the bodies of six women killed in a weekend fire set by robbers at a clothing store has committed suicide, relatives said Wednesday. Full Story »

HAVANA - The Rev. Lucius Walker, who led an annual pilgrimage of U.S. aid volunteers to Cuba in defiance of Washington's nearly half-century-old trade embargo, has died of a heart attack in New York. He was 80. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY - Mexican marines arrest 7 alleged gunmen in massacre of 72 migrants. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A La Nina weather anomaly became stronger in August and the phenomenon could spark a rash of late-season storms that could menace the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said on Thursday. Full Story »

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva boasted on Wednesday of having won trade disputes against the United States and likened his country to a mouse that scared an elephant. Full Story »

WARSAW, Poland - Fidel Castro should face an international tribunal for alleged crimes against his own people, a recently released Cuban dissident said Thursday. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the success of the TV show "Jersey Shore" made words like "BP Spillcam" and "Guido" among the most used words of the 2009-2010 TV season, according to a global language survey released on Thursday. Full Story »

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian authorities say criminals hijacked an ambulance and forced the driver to give them a ride to a slum in Rio de Janeiro before taking their patient to the hospital. Full Story »

CHICAGO (AFP) - BP sought to spread the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, setting off a battle of oil industry giants with tens of billions of dollars in potential fines and legal liabilities at stake. Full Story »

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Brazil's Petrobras unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings, a sale of up to 64 billion dollars in new stock to finance oil exploration aimed at turning Brazil into a leading oil exporter of the 21st century. Full Story »

SAO PAULO - Police say a 17-year-old teen was detained after he shot arrows with cell phones attached over the walls of a prison in southern Brazil to inmates waiting on the other side. Full Story »