Latin America News Headlines

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro's samba schools vied for the title of the year's best Monday in an over-the-top, all-night-long Carnival parade at the city's iconic Sambadrome.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — From the parishes of Poland to the churches of Chile, Roman Catholics around the world were stunned Monday at the first papal resignation in six centuries, even as many prayed for a new charismatic pontiff who could lead the church into a new era after decades of disaffection and mistrust.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Lawyers for the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks want to know if U.S. government officials have been eavesdropping on their private conversations with the defendants.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — There's nothing glamorous about the industrial warehouse reverberating with the zap of soldering metal, the clatter of hammers and an earsplitting whine of a circular saw, or in the sweat-drenched workers toiling in the midafternoon summer heat among huge bolts of cloth and heavy-duty sewing machi …

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As samba queens get final touch-ups on their sequins and feathers and hundreds of thousands of revelers take command of Rio's streets for Carnival's opening on Friday, Leo Name is hunkering down. The self-avowed Carnival Scrooge has stocked up on frozen TV dinners and hopes he won't have to set foot …

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Two months have passed since Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez climbed the stairs of the presidential jet, blew kisses to his supporters and flew to Cuba to undergo his fourth cancer-related surgery.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It's a life of stark contrast: By day, Diana Prado is a supervisor at an insurance company's drably lit call center cramped with blue cubicles. But when night falls, she dazzles as a scantily clad samba school dancer in over-the-top performances glittery enough for a Hollywood musical.

HAVANA (AP) — There have been some strange sights on Cuban TV sets recently.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The crowd gathering Saturday was a typical Rio Carnival mix: a sprinkling of superheroes, girls in cute bunny outfits, zombies and princesses, a group of hairy-chested hula dancers.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The relationship between a U.S. Senator from New Jersey and a wealthy political benefactor has highlighted gaps in port security in the Dominican Republic, which has become the top transit point for drugs in the Caribbean. And the situation appears to be getting worse.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A powerful but deep earthquake shook a broad swath of Colombia and Ecuador on Saturday, sending frightened people fleeing into the streets, but no serious injuries or major damage were reported.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A powerful but deep earthquake shook a broad swath of Colombia and Ecuador on Saturday, sending frightened people fleeing into the streets, but no serious injuries or major damage were reported.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A powerful but deep earthquake shook a broad swath of Colombia and Ecuador on Saturday, sending frightened people fleeing into the streets, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage or deaths.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government announced Friday that it is devaluing the country's currency, a long-anticipated change expected to push up prices in the heavily import-reliant economy.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government announced Friday that it is devaluing the country's currency, a long-anticipated change expected to push up prices in the heavily import-reliant economy.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government announced Friday that it is devaluing the country's currency, a long-anticipated change expected to push up prices in the heavily import-reliant economy.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Just over a week since a nightclub fire killed nearly 240 revelers in southern Brazil, Carnival festivities hit full stride Friday, raising questions about the safety of those who will pack party spaces across the nation.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The crowd at the Blocao Carnival street party Sunday was a decidedly mixed one. Roughly half the revelers were humans, the other half dogs, though the canine contingent was unquestionably the better dressed of the two.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — The tourism world turned its eyes on Mexico after six Spanish women were raped by masked gunmen during a vacation in the long-troubled Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Armed, masked men who raped six Spanish tourists in the Mexican resort of Acapulco spared the lone Mexican woman in the group because of her nationality, adding yet another macabre twist to the case that has further hurt the resort's already battered reputation.

CROIX-DES-BOUQUETS, Haiti (AP) — Teenagers in blue-and-white uniforms pour out of classrooms of this boarding school at the edge of Haiti's capital, chattering in their native language of Creole about the science test they have just taken.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Six Spanish tourists were raped by a gang of armed, masked men in the Mexican resort of Acapulco, the latest chapter of violence that has tarnished the once-glamorous Pacific coast resort.

HAVANA (AP) — The French "Spider-Man" continues to dazzle Havana with his unassisted, death-defying climbs.