Juárez, Mexico
Drug lord boasts of murders: A drug-gang leader arrested this week has confessed to ordering hundreds of killings in Juárez over the past year, including the March murders of U.S. consular official Lesley Enriquez and her husband. Arturo Gallegos Castrellón, 32, leader of the gang Los Aztecas, is responsible for 80 percent of recent killings in the city, including the January massacre of 15 teenagers at a party, Mexican authorities said. Others were skeptical of the claim. “That sounds like a blue sky figure to me,” Latin American expert George W. Grayson told the El Paso, Texas, Times. “It’s a high figure to make the government look good.”
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
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Election chaos: Haiti’s effort to hold elections descended into chaos this week, as some polling places were set on fire and many candidates alleged massive fraud. Among other problems, new voter lists that replaced those destroyed in the January earthquake were incomplete, and thousands of voters were turned away at the polls. In some places, armed thugs stole ballot boxes. Twelve of the 19 presidential candidates issued a declaration accusing President René Préval of manipulating the vote to ensure that his party, Unity, won a majority in the parliament and that its candidate, Jude Celestin, won the presidency. But observers from the Organization of American States said there weren’t enough irregularities to invalidate the results, which should be available next week.
Quito, Ecuador
WikiLeaks welcome withdrawn: Ecuador was forced to backtrack this week after its deputy foreign minister announced that the country would give asylum to beleaguered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Following international media coverage, President Rafael Correa said the minister had made a “spontaneous and personal” statement that did not amount to a formal offer—although he didn’t explicitly rule out eventual residency for Assange. An Australian citizen, Assange had previously sought residency in Sweden, but he is now wanted there on rape charges that he says are part of a conspiracy against him. The U.S. said this week that it was weighing whether it could indict Assange for publishing more than a quarter-million confidential U.S. military and diplomatic documents.
