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FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2019 file photo, Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the United Nations headquarters. A secretive meeting this week at Madrid's international airport between two prominent officials from Spain and Rodriguez triggered a political storm on Jan. 23, 2020, with conservative parties pressing Spain's left-wing government for full disclosure. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

Spain-Venezuela encounter by tarmac unleashes speculation

Jan. 23, 2020 6:49 PM EST

MADRID (AP) — A secretive meeting this week by the tarmac of Madrid's international airport between two prominent officials from Spain and Venezuela triggered a political storm on Thursday, with conservative parties pressing Spain's left-wing government for full disclosure. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy...

Venezuelan exile Dr. Rafael Gottenger, President Of Venezuelan American Medical Association, speaks during a news conference after a roundtable discussion with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, in Miami. At rear is Venezuelan exile Milagros Mendez. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Pompeo talks Nicaragua after Florida Senate condemns Ortega

Jan. 23, 2020 3:25 PM EST

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Latin American affairs with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, the day after the state Senate unanimously voted to condemn Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. DeSantis and Pompeo hosted a roundtable discussion with prominent members...

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2011 file photo, Jhon Viafara of Colombia's Junior de Barranquilla celebrates after scoring against Brazil's Gremio during a Copa Libertadores soccer match in Barranquilla, Colombia. The former midfielder for Colombia's national soccer team was extradited on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

Colombia soccer star extradited to US on trafficking charges

Jan. 23, 2020 2:56 PM EST

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A former midfielder for Colombia's national soccer team was extradited on Thursday to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. Prosecutors in Texas accuse Jhon Viafara of conspiring with members of the Gulf Cartel to organize cocaine shipments that left Colombia on...

Former Guatemalan minister hid in Colombia ambassador's home

Jan. 23, 2020 2:24 PM EST

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A former Guatemalan economy minister was on the run again after hiding out for 24 hours in the home of Colombia's ambassador to the country, authorities said Thursday. Acisclo Valladares Urruela, who left office and thus lost his immunity last week at the conclusion of President Jimmy...

Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martins plays the piano wearing bionic gloves at his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. Martins, 79, was for decades Brazil's most acclaimed pianist, but an accident an a degenerative disease forced him to stop playing with both hands since 1998. That changed a few months ago when a new friend came to him with a pair bionic gloves that suit him perfectly. He can now play again with nine out of ten fingers. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

'Magic' gloves let acclaimed Brazilian pianist play again

Jan. 23, 2020 9:56 AM EST

SAO PAULO (AP) — A few days before Christmas, renowned pianist João Carlos Martins summoned his friends to a Sao Paulo bar so he could show off the best gift he'd received in years: a new pair of bionic gloves that are letting the 79-year-old play with both hands for the first time in more than two...

HRW: Armed groups move freely on Colombia-Venezuela border

Jan. 22, 2020 3:17 PM EST

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Illegal armed groups operate with virtual impunity along the border between Colombia and Venezuela, and civilians are suffering as a result, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. Researchers said in a report that they found credible allegations that Venezuelan security forces have...

Leader of Venezuela's political opposition Juan Guaido talks to a journalist during an interview with Associated Press in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. Intelligence police raided the office of Juan Guaidó on Tuesday, while the U.S.-backed opposition leader was travelling in Europe seeking to bolster support for his campaign to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Guaidó seeks EU sanctions for Venezuela, meeting with Trump

Jan. 22, 2020 3:06 PM EST

BRUSSELS (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition leader said Wednesday that he wants the European Union to broaden sanctions against members of the Venezuelan government as a way to push toward free presidential elections in the country. Speaking in Brussels during a global tour that defied a year-long travel...

Rio de Janeiro 2019 homicides fall as police killings surge

Jan. 22, 2020 1:59 PM EST

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The number of homicides in Rio de Janeiro plunged to a record low in 2019, while police killings surged to a previously unseen level in the same year, according to official figures. There were 3,995 homicides in 2019, down 19% compared to the prior year, said the security institute...

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Review: Allende novel seeks to spotlight footnote of history

Jan. 22, 2020 1:10 PM EST

"A Long Petal of the Sea: a Novel,” Ballantine Books, by Isabel Allende Isabel Allende's new novel seeks to spotlight a footnote of history - and to connect the past and present in an epic tale. The goals were high but the results are mixed. "A Long Petal of the Sea" follows a family fleeing the Spanish...

In this Jan. 13, 2020 photo, members of the media take images of a destroyed bust of Bolivia's former President Evo Morales, after it was knocked down on the orders of Bolivia's sports minister, outside a sports center in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Across Bolivia, the government of interim President Jeanine Áñez is taking down statues, painting over murals, changing the names of soccer fields and stadiums, and trying to erase the legacy of the former leader, who ruled the Andean country for more than 14 years as its first indigenous president. (Daniel James/Los Tiempos via AP)

Erasing Evo: Bolivian bid to remove his image draws backlash

Jan. 22, 2020 12:01 AM EST

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — A man with a sledgehammer pounded at the bust of his country's former leader adorning a huge sports stadium that his government had built and named after the then long-reigning president. Ministers from the current government applauded as the head came down. It was a scene...

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