Six killed in bar shooting in Mexican resort of Cancun

 

Two men armed with a machine gun and a handgun opened fire in a bar on the outskirts of the Mexican tourist resort of Cancun, killing six people and wounding five, the office of the state's attorney general said.

After Chavez, what future for ‘petro-socialism’?

The recent passing of Venezuela's firebrand president Hugo Chavez raises questions over the future of the oil-fuelled socialist programmes that underscored his "Bolivarian revolution".

Does Venezuela face a hard landing after 14 years of oil-fuelled “Bolivarian socialism”?

Despite a growth rate of 5.2% in 2012, critics say the country's addiction to oil and years of mismanagement could spell trouble for its economy.

Mourning Venezuelans parade Chavez's coffin, prepare for election

(Reuters) - Shattered supporters of Hugo Chavez paraded his coffin through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday in a flood of emotion that allies hope will help his deputy win an election and keep his self-styled revolution alive.

Tens of thousands of "Chavistas" marched behind a hearse carrying the remains of the flamboyant and outspoken president, draped in Venezuela's blue, red and yellow national flag.

Loudspeakers played a recording of the charismatic socialist singing songs. Some supporters held heart-shaped placards that said: "I love Chavez!" Others cheered from rooftops, waving red T-shirts.

Ending one of Latin America's most remarkable populist rules, Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a two-year battle with cancer that was first detected in his pelvis.

His body will be taken to a military academy on Wednesday to lie in state for three days before a state funeral.

Chávez Dies, Leaving a Bitterly Divided Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela died Tuesday afternoon after a struggle with cancer, the government announced, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he languished for weeks, silent and out of sight, in hospitals in Havana and Caracas.

Dominican prosecutors seek US senator's testimony

A Dominican judge ruled Tuesday that he needs to hear from a U.S. senator and one of his campaign contributors before deciding whether to grant a court order sought by a woman who says she was paid to falsely claim she had sex with the men.

The woman, 23-year-old Nexis de los Santos, asked the court to block any possible arrest for making statements she now says are false: accusing the senator and several associates of using prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

Judge Ismael Ramirez, at a hearing in the town of La Romana, determined he did not have enough information and ordered the testimony of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez and Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor and major campaign contributor.

Neither man would be required to appear personally before the court and could send an attorney to the hearing, scheduled for June 10, prosecutor Jose Polanco said after the hearing.

De los Santos, who did not attend the hearing in La Romana, has said she has been receiving anonymous threatening phone calls warning her not to reveal what she says is the truth: that she was paid by an attorney to claim she had sex with the men. Polanco said his office is investigating the reported threats.

The woman's attorney gave the court an affidavit saying that she was one of the women interviewed in a video published on a Washington-based website, The Daily Caller, alleging that they had been paid to have sex with Menendez and Melgen, including at a point when she was underage. De los Santos says in her affidavit that she has never met either man and was paid to read a script on the video by a Dominican attorney, Melaneo Figueroa.

Polanco said he is seeking to interview Figueroa but has not located him. The attorney has not responded to repeated phone calls and visits to his office.

Sen. Menendez has maintained all along that he never paid prostitutes for sex and said he is looking forward to whatever evidence emerges from courts in the Dominican Republic to vindicate him.

"I've always said that these are false, they're smears," Menendez, D-N.J., told reporters Monday at the Capitol. "And, so, I look forward to seeing whatever the Dominican courts have that prove what I've said all along."

De los Santos is seeking legal protection because she fears she might be prosecuted for making false statements in the video.

Cuba’s leaders The new man

EVER since Raúl Castro replaced his ailing brother, Fidel, as Cuba’s president in 2008, he has made clear that his overriding aim is to organise an orderly political and economic transition to ensure that the ruling Communist Party remains in power after both men die. Progress towards that goal has been painstakingly slow, and sometimes crablike. But another step was taken at the opening of a newly installed National Assembly on February 24th, when Raúl began a second presidential term. Not only did he repeat that it would be his last. He also hailed the appointment as first vice-president of Miguel Díaz- Canel, a former higher-education minister, saying this represented “a defining step in the configuration of the country’s future leadership”.

“Who’s he?” was how one Havana resident greeted the news. Mr Díaz-Canel may not be exactly a household name in Cuba but he has been tipped for the top for several years. He has stood in for Raúl on a couple of recent foreign visits. Aged 52, his elevation means that the Castros, both of whom are in their 80s, are at last passing the baton to a generation born after the 1959 revolution. (Fidel gave a short speech at the assembly, in a rare public appearance which could be read as giving his blessing to the new appointment.)

In this section. 

Mr Díaz-Canel is an electrical engineer who spent 15 years as a provincial party secretary before becoming a minister and, last year, vice-president of the Council of Ministers. He is unexpressive in public, but is said to be affable and accessible, with a quick wit and sharp mind. Until fairly recently he wore his hair long, another reminder of the fact that he is a child of the 1960s, not the 1930s. He is known to be a fan of the Beatles, an enthusiasm once frowned upon by the regime.

Whereas Fidel liked to surround himself with young acolytes, Raúl has long shown that he values the practical experience of provincial party officials, to whom he has devolved some powers. Another rising star, Mercedes López Acea, the Havana party secretary, was promoted to the rank of vice-president as well.

As higher-education minister Mr Díaz-Canel expanded a scheme under which Cubans taught students from Venezuela, Cuba’s chief benefactor. He forged close ties with Venezuela’s leaders, including Nicolás Maduro, the de facto president. With Mr Chávez seemingly dying of cancer, it is vital for Cuba’s leaders that Mr Maduro should succeed him and continue to provide subsidised oil.

Raúl once praised Mr Díaz-Canel for his “ideological firmness”. The new man’s private views are unclear. In the 1990s he was linked to a group of communist reformers that surrounded the then foreign minister, Roberto Robaina, who openly argued for economic liberalisation in Cuba.

Raúl Castro has allowed Cubans to buy cars and homes, to lease farmland and to set up small businesses. Last year he scrapped curbs on foreign travel. As a result, this month Yoani Sánchez, a blogger and opponent of the regime, has been able to visit Brazil—though she has faced protests organised by the Cuban Embassy in Brasília and members of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party.

There are signs that Raúl is running out of reformist steam. His tone in his speech to the assembly seemed at times almost resigned. “I was not chosen to be president to restore capitalism to Cuba” he stressed (Mr Díaz-Canel nodded in agreement). He announced no new economic reforms. It will be Mr Díaz-Canel’s job to get to grips with the “issues of greater scope, complexity and depth” that Raúl said the government was grappling with. First among these is allowing private wholesale markets.

Various putative dauphins were raised up by Fidel only to fall from grace, accused of corruption or of excessive ambition. One of them was Mr Robaina, sacked in 1999. He now spends his days painting and running a restaurant in Miramar, an elegant district of Havana. Mr Díaz-Canel is presumably aware of the risks involved in his elevation. But this time it looks as if the chosen successor may be the one who actually succeeds.

Power in Mexico “The Teacher” in detention

RESPLENDENT in high-heels and handbags from the world’s priciest designers, Elba Esther Gordillo (pictured), the leader of Mexico’s powerful teachers’ union, has never made any secret of her wealth. Mexicans have long wondered how she is able to maintain her lavish lifestyle on a public servant’s salary. On February 26th federal prosecutors announced what they think is the explanation: the alleged embezzlement of 2 billion pesos ($159m) of union funds. Ms Gordillo, who likes to be known as “la Maestra” (“the Teacher”), was arrested at an airport outside Mexico City.

Jesús Murillo Karam, the attorney general, said Ms Gordillo and two other union officials had spent the money on designer clothes, art, property and cosmetic surgery. Some of the funds were transferred to companies in Switzerland and Lichtenstein registered in Ms Gordillo’s mother’s name, before being used to buy houses in San Diego. This may not be the full extent of the swindle, prosecutors said. “La Maestra” has not yet commented though her union colleagues have come out in her defence, saying they “believe in” her.