New Leader Faces Battle On Reform RIO DE JANEIRO -- The killing usually starts after sunset or in wee hours of the morning, when gunfire turns a mass of decayed housing units in Complexo da Mare into a war zone. Drug traffickers from three factions are waging a daily fight for control of the slum. No one is safe--not the families who crouch fearfully in their homes, not even participants in an internationally respected youth program run by Rio activist Yvonne de Mello. [continues 1102 words]
MANAUS · Towering above the treetops near the Amazon's winding Rio Negro, a gigantic spinning radar points skyward, obscuring a splendid view of puffy white clouds. In a control room miles away, technicians sit transfixed to computer screens, gathering and analyzing the information the radar collects. The radar is only one piece of a complex jigsaw puzzle of some of the most advanced surveillance technology that will attempt to provide an electronic view of the darkest reaches of the planet's largest and most mysterious rain forest. [continues 545 words]
Latin Nations Put New Emphasis On Fighting Operations RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Brazil and Bolivia announced recently that they had cracked a $260 million money laundering operation, the investigation was hailed as proof of a new commitment to stop an often-ignored crime that has flourished in a region where drug lords and corrupt politicians still hold considerable sway. Watchdog groups say that while money laundering remains a relatively unchallenged practice in Latin America, a wave of high-profile investigations like the Brazil-Bolivia cooperation, new regulations and tighter enforcement indicate that recent international scrutiny is forcing governments to take money laundering more seriously. [continues 643 words]
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, who allegedly amassed a fortune from drug trafficking, arms deals and money laundering while working as the right-hand-man of Peru's leader Alberto Fujimori, was captured in Caracas, officials said Sunday. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had been accused by some Peruvian officials of harboring the fugitive, reported the capture at a summit of Andean leaders in Valencia, Venezuela. He said the former spy chief was caught inside a Caracas safehouse late Saturday. [continues 836 words]
Poor Indians Bid For Social Reform QUITO, Ecuador President Gustavo Noboa faced the toughest challenge of his presidency when thousands of angry Indian farmers descended on the capital late last month and also blocked major roads nationwide in their campaign for economic and social reforms. In most democratic nations such protests would not have been cause for alarm, but this is Ecuador. The previous president, Jamil Mahuad, was overthrown in January 2000 in a lightning coup involving an alliance between indigenous groups and the military. The coup put Noboa in office, and the shock wave was felt all the way to Washington. [continues 946 words]
As the American-backed anti-drug offensive known as Plan Colombia pushes ahead, a rising wave of crime and violence is spilling into neighboring Ecuador. That wave is bringing with it bloody gunfights, execution-style murders, cocaine laboratories, fleeing refugees and mounting fears that Colombia's problems could soon spread along Ecuador's 370-mile shared border and throughout the region. The recent discovery in an isolated jungle thicket near Lago Agrio of the body of Ronald Sander, 54, a kidnapped oil worker from Missouri, has added to the sense of insecurity felt by locals as well as the 300 Americans who work here. [continues 1381 words]
