The week at a glance...Americas

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Suspect in consulate killings: Mexican police have arrested the man they believe was the mastermind behind the killings last year of three people connected to a U.S. consulate. Authorities say José Antonio Acosta Hernández, a former police officer known as El Diego, has confessed to being the head of a drug gang in Juárez and ordering some 1,500 killings, including those of an American consulate worker, her American husband, and the Mexican husband of another consulate employee. “He was a very hands-on manager that was practically involved in the management and organization, personally brokering every single activity and every single murder,” Mexican drug war expert Tony Payan of the University of Texas told The Washington Post. Acosta is expected to be extradited to the U.S. to face murder charges.

Caracas, Venezuela

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Sweat with Chávez: Eager to prove his cancer treatment won’t prevent him from running for re-election next year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has released a workout video starring himself. In the video, set to music, a tracksuit-clad Chávez and some of his Cabinet ministers do exercises and stretches while Chávez talks about healthful eating habits. The video aired multiple times on state-run television. Chávez went to Cuba last month to undergo chemotherapy for an unspecified form of cancer. “It was hard, but my soldier’s body was able to withstand the small discomforts of this difficult treatment,” he said.