After the first jam-packed day of his apostolic journey to several Latin American countries, Pope Francis seemed little affected by the long flight or full timetable that kept him working throughout the day, with an open-air Mass with as many as a million in attendance, meetings with bishops, indigenous groups, and students, as well as a visit to a historic Jesuit church.
Venezuelan socialist head of state Nicolás Maduro has recalled his nation’s ambassador to neighboring Guyana after statements by the latter government that Venezuela was excessively intruding into Guyanese maritime territory.
Eschewing for the moment other topics such as poverty, the environment, and social justice, Pope Francis kicked off his pilgrimage through Central and South America with a series of reflections on the family and its importance for society.
Uruguayan authorities removed what is being described as an “incomplete” explosive device left near the Israeli Embassy in that country. While the artifact itself was deemed harmless due to faulty construction, it is the third such bomb scare for that nation’s Israeli Embassy this year.
The government of Guyana has declared Venezuela a “regional threat” after the socialist nation imposed an expansion of its “integral maritime zone” deep into Guyanese waters, just months after President Obama denounced Venezuela as a threat to America’s national security.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), in the latest edition of its propaganda magazine, indicated that it could purchase a nuclear weapon in Pakistan, take it to Nigeria, and then smuggle it into the U.S. through Mexico by using existing trafficking networks in Latin America.
Two of Uruguay’s six former Guantánamo Bay prisoners are planning to wed in Uruguay on Saturday, June 6. The women, reportedly both converts to Islam, are Uruguayan natives and are believed to have met the men in February, three months after their arrival to the nation.
The rapidly growing number of Shiite cultural centers in Latin America have provided the Islamic Republic of Iran with a means to expand its covert recruitment operations throughout the western hemisphere, leading military officials and experts to provide Breitbart News with statements that directly contradict the Obama administration’s narrative that Iran’s influence in the region is “waning.”
(AFP) Nine people died, one of them decapitated, in a prison mutiny in Brazil which ended on Monday with the release of 70 hostages, police said.
The socialist government of Venezuela has made it increasingly dangerous for political satirists to practice their craft, removing any anti-government humor from airwaves and newspapers and prompting angry mobs to attack stand-up comics.
(Reuters) – Chile President Michelle Bachelet said she will reshuffle her entire cabinet in the next few days, a surprise announcement that indicates the depth of her concern about a collapse in her popularity.
In a startling new interview, a 3-star general and former head of Communist Romania’s secret police who defected to the United States in 1978, claims that the Theology of Liberation was the creation of the KGB, who exported it to Latin America as a way of introducing Marxism into the continent.
Five of the six former Guantánamo Bay detainees being hosted by Uruguay are refusing to sign an accord with the local United Nations body that would pay for their rent and utilities for one year, demanding that the United States subsist their lives and claiming they were promised three years of free living in the Latin American nation.
Iranian “cultural centers,” established across Latin America to enhance the Shiite country’s influence in the region, have proliferated in the last three years, while the Obama administration has been trying to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran.
A Venezuelan woman has been identified as the culprit of an attack on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this week, in which he was pelted in the head with a mango while driving a truck through a socialist rally. The video of the attack has gone viral, inspiring the hashtag #manguicidio or #mangocide.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on April 21 they were targeting 700 businesses in the Miami, FL area for “enhanced scrutiny” in order to detect activity by Latin American criminal organizations related to trade-based money laundering.
Newly released statistics show that the communist government of Raúl Castro in Havana has exponentially increased the number of political arrests, beatings, and detentions since President Barack Obama announced that a White House concessions package would be afforded to the regime.
With a cordial evening handshake, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro moved Friday toward a groundbreaking meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in what would be a remarkable display of reconciliation between two nations.
A group of Cuban dissidents invited to attend events at this weekend’s Summit of the Americas were insulted and physically assaulted by a swarm of dozens of communist Cuban officials and supporters in Panama on Wednesday.
American officials have confirmed that President Barack Obama will engage Cuban dictator Raúl Castro in an unspecified “interaction” at this week’s Summit of the Americas.
The President of the Chamber of Tourism of Venezuela’s Andean state of Mérida has warned tourists hoping to enjoy the state’s mountain vistas over the Easter holiday that they will have to bring their own soap and toilet paper to Mérida’s hotels.
The Venezuelan government is forcing citizens to sign a petition calling for President Obama to remove sanctions on the socialist state for its human rights abuses. Those eager to sign are rewarded with anything from a coveted smaller wait time on supermarket lines to whole chickens, but those who refuse may wind up unemployed.
WASHINGTON, DC — Iran’s presence in Latin America and its growing influence in the region are causing consternation among senior lawmakers and top U.S. military officials.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has vowed to collect millions of signatures for a petition against American President Barack Obama, demanding that he repeal executive sanctions against high-ranking armed forces officials in the country over human rights abuses against anti-socialist protesters.
In a surprising assessment that indicates the Venezuelan economy is doing worse than its socialist government has indicated, a Barclay’s report on the nation’s oil exports show that the nation has reduced exports of crude to the Caribbean by at least half, including exports to its greatest political ally, Cuba.
WASHINGTON, DC — The Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah is among the terrorist organizations that are benefiting from the illegal drug trade in Latin America, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Tovo, deputy commander of the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom), told lawmakers.
The human rights violations occurring in Venezuela– from thousands of arbitrary arrests to beatings and rapes to the murder of unarmed teenagers– have taken up little of the international spotlight in the past year. They have, however, increasingly caught the attention of human rights groups like Amnesty International, which details and condemns the abuses in a report released this week.
The Brazilian government is preparing to thwart attempts by the Islamic State to recruit young Brazilian citizens to orchestrate “lone wolf” attacks in the Latin American nation, particularly during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
Iran has established 80-plus “cultural centers” across Latin America and the Caribbean to promote Shiite Islam, counter U.S. influence in the region, and increase its own, according to the U.S. Southern Command’s 2015 posture statement submitted to Congress.
In Nicaragua this week on an official visit, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro urged Latin Americans to send “millions of letters to Obama” denouncing a new round of sanctions on Venezuela over the Maduro regime’s many human rights violations. This, according to official correspondence obtained by Latin media, will include letters teachers are to force schoolchildren to write and send to the U.S. President.
A video surfacing online of Nicolás Maduro Guerra, son of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, dancing in a shower of dollar bills at the wedding of an elite business owner has outraged the nation. Maduro Guerra, who himself is a public official in his father’s repressive socialist government, has become a prime target of the opposition on social media over the embarrassing display.
A leftist legislator of indigenous descent in Peru cited Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as an inspiration for his vote against legalizing same-sex civil unions in the South American nation.
The Brazilian magazine Veja published a report this Saturday alleging that former high-ranking officials in the government of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez have proof that Venezuela helped Argentina protect Iranian terrorists believed to be responsible for the deadliest terror attack in Argentina’s history.
(Reuters) – Ridiculing the U.S. qualification of Venezuela as a security threat, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday he may travel to Washington to challenge American counterpart Barack Obama.
WASHINGTON — Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, warned lawmakers that Sunni extremists are radicalizing converts and other Muslims in Latin America, adding that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) may exploit trafficking organizations in the region to infiltrate the United States.
Venezuelan Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OEA) Roy Chaderton has raised the ire of the nation’s anti-socialist opposition upon remarking during an interview on state television that bullets pass through the heads of the opposition faster and more silently, because their heads are “empty.”
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The son of Suriname’s president was sentenced on Tuesday to 16-1/4 years in prison, after pleading guilty last August to U.S. charges that he tried to offer a home base to the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro responded to the announcement of expanded sanctions on his regime on behalf of the Obama administration yesterday in an extensive public broadcast in which he repeatedly called President Obama “nefarious” and claimed the United States had organized a false-flag style operation to make it appear that Maduro had bombed his own government buildings.
As recently as last night Eastern Time, reports circulated that the Colombia government had approved the extradition of major Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terrorist Eduardo Cabrera (alias ‘The Priest’) to New York, where he awaits a 16-year prison term. Hours later, the government has rescinded its agreement with the United States.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday sanctioning seven high-level Venezuelan officials and declaring the nation a “national security threat,” according to Reuters. The actions follow weeks of accusations by President Nicolás Maduro that a bevy of American conspirators, including Vice President Joe Biden, are attempting to force a coup in his country.