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Paraguay president’s big military reshuffle amid coup rumors

Angelo — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:43:14 +0000

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo on Wednesday ordered the replacement of top military commanders, a day after publicly dismissing rumors circulating the capital about a military coup.

The announcement came from the armed forces themselves, not the president’s office.

In his capacity as commander-in-chief, Lugo named replacements for the heads of the army, air force and navy, according to a statement from the armed forces.

One day earlier, Lugo had addressed — and dismissed — reports of a possible coup.

“In recent days rumors have surfaced about the placement of bombs, new kidnappings, assaults, coup d’etats,” Lugo said at a news conference Tuesday.

Olympic fears as Rio drug gangs shoot down police helicopter

Angelo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:55:54 +0000

Police chiefs in Rio de Janeiro yesterday mobilised an additional 4,500 officers in areas of the city that were plunged into violent chaos all day Saturday as rival drugs gangs battled for turf, renewing fears that the city may struggle to ensure security when it plays host to the 2016 Olympic Games.

Outbreaks of bloodshed are hardly uncommon in the hillside slums – or favelas – of Rio de Janeiro, already recognised as one of the most deadly cities in the world. Urban violence has been a feature of life there for decades. Last year saw over 6,000 murders in Rio, most related to drug-gang feuds.

But Saturday’s spasm was unusually intense, sending dense plumes of black smoke into the sky and forcing government officials to issue words of reassurance about the games. It was only two weeks ago that the Brazilian city was chosen over Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo to stage the games after London. It was hailed as a breakthrough for South America, which has never hosted an Olympics.

Guerrilla rebel recruiters target isolated, poverty stricken teens

Angelo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:44:16 +0000

Reporting from Toribio, Colombia - Craving adventure and escape from his broken home, Jerson enlisted with leftist guerrillas when he was in his early teens. He saw it as a way to emulate Che Guevara and bring social justice to this impoverished region of Colombia.

Plus the rebels offered him new clothes and a cellphone.

So three years ago the indigenous youth found himself in the Sixth Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which patrols the mountains of Cauca state. Two months later, chafing under strict rules and horrified by the killing of a childhood friend and fellow recruit by Colombian soldiers, he fled the rebel ranks.

“I was just a mule forced to carry water to the camps, look for firewood and move things to keep a step ahead of the army. All you do is obey orders,” said Jerson, now a 17-year-old high school student in Toribio, a town 150 miles southwest of Bogota, the capital. “But I couldn’t forget how my friend was killed. I knew death was waiting for me if I stayed.”

Evangelical Christian churches are luring Brazilians away from Roman Catholicism

Angelo — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:03:24 +0000

Reborn in Christ is among a growing number of evangelical churches in Brazil that are finding ways to connect with younger people to swell their ranks. From fight nights to reggae music to video games and on-site tattoo parlors, the churches have...

Jamaica: A grim place to be gay

Angelo — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:56:47 +0000

When neighbours of John Terry, the British honorary consul in Jamaica’s Montego Bay, were approached by a young man outside his home on Tuesday evening asking for a taxi, they assumed he was just the latest recipient of assistance from the voluntary diplomat who in his three decades on the island had become a pillar of his community.

As well as coming to the aid of hundreds of holidaying Britons, the genteel 65-year-old had served as a magistrate in St James, his well-heeled rural neighbourhood on the outskirts of the country’s tourism capital, and worked for a succession of charities, including a support group for the mentally ill.

But a team of detectives were yesterday investigating whether Mr Terry’s visitor that night, far from being a beneficiary of the honorary consul’s help, was in fact his murderer and a killer driven by the homophobia that plagues the country which the father-of-two had grown to love so much that he made his life there.

If Colombia Is Winning Its War, Why Are People Fleeing?

Angelo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:39:26 +0000

As he contemplates running for a third term next year, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe must first get over the swine flu, which he was diagnosed with over the weekend. But he has another thing to worry about besides his health: his impressive...

Striving to become global power, Brazil grips Control over Oil Fields

Angelo — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:17:52 +0000

Faced with the world’s most important oil discovery in years, the Brazilian government is seeking to step back from more than a decade of close cooperation with foreign oil companies and more directly control the extraction...

Bolivian farmers choose coca or rice

Angelo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:10:36 +0000

In a precarious-looking bar in the small, steamy rainforest town of Puerto San Francisco, a Coca-Cola is being ordered.

Mumbai attack: Unanswered questions

Angelo — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 07:12:58 +0000

Terrorists coming via sea in rubber boats with heavy artilleries like AK 47 and AK 56 to Mumbai Gateway of India and then entering heavily guarded luxury hotels and going around the city at peak hours creating havoc with great...

Argentine farmers withhold food Americas

Angelo — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:17:42 +0000

Argentina - President Cristina Fernandez on Monday urged striking Argentine farmers to end a 19-day national walkout after offering some concessions but refusing to roll back a disputed tax increase that sparked the farmbelt rebellion.

Despite her nationally televised appeal, farm groups said the concessions were not enough and announced that they would continue the strike until at least until Wednesday. The walkout has emptied supermarket shelves of beef in this beef-loving nation. It also blocked key exports of soybeans, beef and wheat.