Morélia, Mexico
Killing children for parts: A member of the Knights Templar drug cartel was arrested this week and charged with kidnapping children and killing them for their organs. Manuel Plancarte Gaspar, a nephew of the Knights’ deputy leader, was captured with a load of crystal meth in Michoacán state. It’s unclear how many children were killed in the organ-trafficking operation. A vigilante group that has been battling the Knights for control of Michoacán said it knew the gang was involved in the scheme because it once rescued a group of children who had been kidnapped during a school trip to the beach and found in a refrigerated container. The cartel has been on the defensive since its leader, Nazario Moreno, was killed this month.
Caracas, Venezuela
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Protesters cleared out: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro turned to insults this week, denouncing protesters as “Chuckys,” after the demonic doll from slasher movies. “Get ready, Chuckys, we’re coming for you,” Maduro said as he sent in riot police with tear gas and pepper spray to clear the Caracas city squares where anti-government protesters have been camped for weeks. Foreign Minister Elías Jaua, meanwhile, held U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responsible for inciting violence by calling on Maduro to cease his brutal crackdown. “Mr. Kerry, we denounce you as a murderer of the Venezuelan people,” Jaua said.
Montes Claros, Brazil
Murderer can play: A Brazilian soccer star who admitted having his model-girlfriend killed and fed to dogs will be released from prison to play soccer for the state league. A year ago, Bruno Fernandes de Souza, 29, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for arranging the murder of Eliza Samudio so he wouldn’t have to pay child support for their son. He’s been in prison since 2010 after being convicted earlier of arranging Samudio’s kidnapping, and Brazilian law allows limited furloughs to felons who have served three years. Fernandes has signed a five-year contract with the Montes Claros team and will show up under police escort for practices and games, returning to prison at night.
Rio de Janeiro
Poverty slashed: Brazil has reduced the number of its citizens living in extreme poverty by 89 percent in just one decade, the government announced this week at a World Bank forum. Brazil’s aid program, known as Bolsa Familia, is an income-transfer plan that ensures all families receive a minimum of $30 per person per month. First implemented a decade ago, it now reaches nearly 50 million people, or one in four Brazilians. Social Development Minister Tereza Campello said critics who feared that the aid would encourage welfare dependency had been proved wrong. Some 70 percent of recipients are employed, she said, which is about the same as the proportion of nonrecipients who work.
