The week at a glance...Americas

Vancouver

Northward ho: The Northwest Passage is open for trade. Carrying a heavy load of coal and accompanied by Canadian icebreakers, the Nordic Orion became the first large cargo vessel to transport goods through the Arctic from Vancouver to Finland. The ship can carry 25 percent more coal on the Arctic route than it could if it had to pass through the shallow Panama Canal, and the route—more than 1,000 nautical miles shorter—saves four days. Global warming has made the passage possible, as Arctic sea ice retreats. “The melting in various places is alarming, but it’s creating opportunities that weren’t there before,” said Edward Coll, head of Bulk Partners, the holding company that owns the Nordic Orion.

Caracas, Venezuela

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Americans kicked out: Venezuela expelled three American diplomats for allegedly conspiring with the right-wing opposition to plunge the country into darkness. Railing on state television like his late predecessor, Hugo Chávez, President Nicolás Maduro said the three diplomats—including the highest-ranking U.S. envoy to the country—planned to sabotage the electrical grid and “shut down all of Venezuela.” In English, he added, “Yankees, go home!” Without citing evidence, Maduro often blames the country’s chronic blackouts and food shortages on sabotage. The U.S. hasn’t had an ambassador in Venezuela since 2010, when Chávez refused to grant President Obama’s appointee a visa.

Santiago, Chile

Cushy prison closed: A Pinochet-era intelligence chief killed himself last week after the government said it would close the comfortable military prison where he was incarcerated. Gen. Odlanier Mena, 87, shot himself while home on weekend leave halfway through a six-year sentence for the murder of three leftists in 1973, when he was an army commander. The prison offered its 10 inmates—all elderly human rights abusers—cabins with private bathrooms, Internet, cable TV, tennis courts, and a barbecue. After news reports about the plush conditions at the Cordillera prison prompted a public outcry, President Sebastián Piñera announced that the inmates would be transferred to another facility.