Chile Investigate Massive Prawn Death

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean officials say they are investigating the death of thousands of prawns that washed ashore Wednesday, covering a beach in red.

The dead shrimp appeared in Coronel, about 330 miles (530 kilometers) south of the capital, Santiago.

Local fishermen say the Bocamina 1 and 2 power plants owned by regional electricity generator Endesa and the Santa Maria plant controlled by Chilean power company Colbun have heated the waters, endangering their livelihood.

José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, Argentine Official During Dictatorship, Dies at 87

BUENOS AIRES — José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, who was the economics minister during Argentina’s dictatorship, died on Friday at his home here, where he was under arrest, accused of human rights abuses. He was 87.       

His death was announced by the government-run news agency Télam. His son José Martínez de Hoz said Mr. Martínez de Hoz had been ill and had probably died of a heart attack.

Mr. Martínez de Hoz, a former law professor, was in charge of Argentina’s economy from 1976 to 1981. Initially, he was praised by international bankers, including David Rockefeller, for his free-market policies, designed to combat Argentina’s hyperinflation, but was condemned by Argentine businessmen for the nation’s subsequent economic collapse.

Mr. Martínez de Hoz oversaw Argentina’s financial deregulation in 1977, which drew record inflows of capital from speculative investors.

Guantanamo hunger strikers are 'devastated'

Detainees on hunger strike at Guantanamo are "devastated" after their "optimism" was dashed that the military prison would be closed, and are trying to get the issue "back into the media" by starving themselves, the facility's commanding general has said.
General John Kelly, the commanding general responsible for the prison, told a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday that detainees "had great optimism that Guantanamo would be closed. They were devastated apparently ... when the president backed off, at least (that's) their perception of closing the facility."
The number of detainees on hunger strike has nearly doubled since March 15 to 24.
Eight of them lost enough weight that doctors were force-feeding them liquid nutrients thorough tubes inserted into their noses and down their stomachs, Captain Robert Durand, a spokesman at the detention camp, told Reuters news agency.

Genocide trial of Guatemala ex-leader opens

The trial of General Efrain Rios Montt, 86, the former US-backed de facto president of Guatemala, has begun over the killing of almost 1,800 indigenous people during his country's civil war.
Rios Montt, 86, seized power in a coup in March 1982 and ruled until he was overthrown in August 1983.
Prosecutors alleged on Tuesday that Rios Montt "turned a blind eye" as soldiers used rape, torture and arson against leftist fighters and targeted indigenous people in a "scorched earth" offensive that killed at least 1,771 members of the Mayan Ixil group.

Nicolas Brito, an indigenous Ixil, was the first of at least 150 witnesses expected to give their testimony in the trial of the first Latin American leader to be tried on genocide charges in his own country.

Russian-Cuba debt deal creates waves among creditors

HAVANA, March 14 (Reuters) - Russia's agreement to settle a debt squabble with Cuba over $25 billion owed the former Soviet Union has caused concern among other Cuban creditors grouped in the Paris Club, Western diplomats said this week.

Venezuela's opposition ground down by Chavistas

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The people tapped by Hugo Chavez to carry on his socialist revolution seem to be improvising the rules of governing as they march toward what most Venezuelans consider certain victory in a mid-April vote to replace the late president.

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.