The week at a glance ... Americas

Chihuahua, Mexico

Former AG accused: Mexico was riveted this week by the videotaped statement of a kidnapped lawyer that his sister, until recently the attorney general of Chihuahua, was in the pay of a Juárez drug cartel. Mario Gonzalez was kidnapped from his law office two weeks ago. In a video released four days later, he appears handcuffed and surrounded by masked, armed men. Gonzalez says his sister, Patricia Gonzalez, whose term as attorney general of Mexico’s most violent state ended last month, protected the cartel and even ordered murders. Patricia Gonzalez says her brother was obviously coerced into lying on camera. She says she suspects dirty cops angry at her success in rooting out corruption were behind the abduction. “During six years, I received threats from police and ex-police as well as organized crime groups,” she said.

Brasilia, Brazil

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First female president: Brazil has elected Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla turned energy expert, to be its first female president. Rousseff, 62, was chief of staff to outgoing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is credited with engineering Brazil’s economic rise. “I offer special thanks to President Lula,” Rousseff said. “I will know how to consolidate and go forward with his work.” The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, Rousseff joined rebels fighting Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1960s. She was imprisoned for three years and tortured. Later she became an economist and worked on energy policy. She will assume office in January.