Havana
American tried: A U.S. government subcontractor awaited a verdict this week after being tried in Cuba on charges of supplying communications equipment to dissidents. Alan P. Gross, 61, was arrested in Havana in 2009 while working for a Maryland firm contracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development to help pro-democracy groups in Cuba. During his year in maximum-security prison, Gross has lost weight, and both his mother and daughter have been diagnosed with cancer. U.S. officials called for his release on humanitarian grounds. “He has been unjustly jailed for far too long,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “We call on the government of Cuba to release him unconditionally and allow him to leave Cuba and return to his family.”
Práxedis G. Guerrero, Mexico
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Top cop flees: The young woman who made international headlines when she became police chief of a small Mexican town was fired this week after fleeing to Texas. Marisol Valles García, a 20-year-old college criminology student, was called “the bravest woman in Mexico” when she agreed last fall to take the post, which had been vacant for more than a year because no one was willing to confront the brutal drug gangs that were warring for control of Práxedis G. Guerrero, in the border state of Chihuahua. After months of death threats, Valles García last week asked for a five-day leave to care for her infant son and did not return to work; witnesses said they saw her entering El Paso. U.S. officials confirmed that she is seeking asylum in the U.S.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Sweet Micky is broke: One of the two candidates in Haiti’s upcoming presidential runoff left massive debts in the U.S., The Miami Herald reported this week. Michel Martelly, the singer known as “Sweet Micky,” defaulted on more than $1 million worth of loans and owned at least three Florida properties that went into foreclosure in the late 2000s. When Martelly, who spent most of the past 30 years in the U.S., returned to his native Haiti in 2007, he was being pursued in court by numerous creditors. A spokesman for the Martelly campaign said the candidate had had poor investment advice and insisted the defaults had no bearing on “his capability to manage investments or his capability as a successful businessman.” Martelly faces former First Lady Mirlande Manigat in a vote later this month.
Rio de Janeiro
A samba for the police: Several of Rio’s biggest slums held Carnival celebrations this week for the first time in decades, thanks to a massive police presence. The Brazilian government stationed police units in the 14 most violent favelas, or shantytown areas, last summer in a bid to wrest control of the areas from drug lords. The tactic has paid off: This year nine of the targeted favelas were able to participate in the great national party of Carnival, and one neighborhood even dedicated its samba theme song to the police. Skimpy outfits inspired by police uniforms were among the most common costumes for women.
