Latin America News

CANCUN, Mexico - Officials readied storm shelters along Mexico's Caribbean coast Saturday and told fishermen and tour operators to pull in their boats as Ida strengthened into a hurricane as it neared the resort city of Cancun. Full Story »

MORELIA, Mexico - The Mexican army said Saturday it has seized a shipment of almost a quarter-ton of opium in the country's northern mountains, one of the largest such seizures made in Mexico. Full Story »

RIO DE JANEIRO - TAM Airlines says one of its jets took off from New York's JFK airport but was forced to return 20 minutes into the flight because of a mechanical problem. Full Story »

RIO DE JANEIRO - Scores of relatives of the 228 people killed in the June 1 Air France jet crash dedicated a memorial in an upscale beach neighborhood Saturday amid strong criticism that the airline has failed to provide them with the answers or compensation they were promised. Full Story »

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Police say a U.S. tourist who was pretending to be surfing on the hood of a friend's moving car was killed when he fell and broke his neck in a popular Puerto Rican beach town. Full Story »

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Recent arson attacks and shootings in this violence-wracked South American nation are the work of a mastermind living in the United States, Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo alleged. Full Story »

HUAMPAMI, Peru - In his first year at San Marcos University, Hermenegildo Espejo barely spoke, and certainly not in class. Full Story »

TIJUANA, Mexico - Mexican police caught a prison official who spent a year on the run from charges of killing a 19-year-old inmate, whose beating death sparked riots that left nearly two dozen dead, including two American prisoners. Full Story »

HAVANA - A senior Vatican official said Friday he has asked Cuba's government to allow the Roman Catholic Church more access to mass media, saying Cubans are a religious people and should be given broadcast access to their pastors. Full Story »

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay needed a military shake-up to create opportunities for young officers with a proven commitment to democracy, President Fernando Lugo said Friday in his first explanation for removing his top commanders this week. Full Story »

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The lower house of Haiti's parliament confirmed Jean-Max Bellerive as prime minister on Saturday, clearing the way for the economist and veteran politician to form a new government. Full Story »

GALLUP, N.M. - A slain Catholic nun who lived and worked on the Navajo Indian reservation was remembered Saturday for her passion for the poor at funeral services. Full Story »

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' ousted president and de facto leader gave signs they would try again on Saturday to form a unity government to guide the country out of a four-month crisis after the process collapsed a day earlier. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane Ida strengthened off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as it makes its way to the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday. Full Story »

LONDON (AFP) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met Queen Elizabeth II Thursday on the last day of his trip to Britain, where he sought to drum up investment and signed an Olympic cooperation deal. Full Story »

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's leading coffee roaster Lavazza plans to make India and Brazil its hubs for expansion in the Asia Pacific region and Latin America where demand is growing, unlike its saturated domestic market, its chief executive said. Full Story »

MIAMI (AFP) - Mexico's government issued a hurricane warning on Saturday as a strengthening tropical storm Ida bore down on the country's Yucatan peninsula. Full Story »

BRASILIA (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres is to visit Brazil next week, just days before his country's archfoe, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to also arrive, according to officials. Full Story »