Mexico City
Bieber fever: Up to 300,000 squealing fans packed Mexico City’s main square this week for a free outdoor Justin Bieber concert. To prevent a stampede like the one that injured 40 people at a free Bieber concert in Norway last month, Mexican authorities deployed more than 5,000 police. “Most of the fans will be between 10 and 17 years old. There will be a lot of girls,” city official Héctor Antuñano said ahead of the show. “We are being very careful that the majority of the police are women.” The Canadian superstar invited one lucky girl onstage and serenaded her. She wept through the whole song.
Managua, Nicaragua
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Rival to Panama Canal: The Nicaraguan government is making plans to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a new canal that would be wider and deeper than the Panama Canal. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega submitted the proposal to lawmakers last week, offering six possible routes for the $30 billion project. The government is hoping that shipping fees could bring much-needed revenue to Nicaragua, the poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti. Panamanian officials were not worried. “Competition is always good,” said Panama Canal director Alberto Alemán.
Santiago, Chile
Riots over Pinochet: Hundreds of Chilean protesters battled police in the streets of the capital this week after the screening of a documentary praising the late dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The premiere of the film, which portrays Pinochet as a national hero who saved Chile from communism, drew thousands of his supporters, but enraged his opponents. Pinochet took power in a 1973 coup and led a military government until 1990; under his regime, at least 3,000 people were tortured and killed. Santiago’s conservative mayor, Pablo Zalaquett, criticized the protesters. “Many people say they are out there to defend human rights, but they just come to destroy and loot,” he said. “Chile needs to look forward. We are tired.”
