The week at a glance ... Americas

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Wyclef Jean disqualified: Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean can’t run for president of Haiti, the country’s election council has ruled. The council said that Jean, who grew up in the U.S., has not lived in Haiti for the requisite five consecutive years before the election. Jean vowed to appeal, saying the council had used “trickery” to bar him. “Are you going to continue to support people who do not respect the fundamental law of the country?” he said in a message to supporters. It’s unclear to whom Jean can officially appeal, since in eligibility matters there is no higher authority than the election council.

Caracas, Venezuela

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Murder capital: Venezuela’s murder rate eclipses Iraq’s and is one of the highest in the world, according to statistics released this week. The government counted 13,975 murders in 2009, while Iraq, which has a simmering insurgency amid a population of similar size, had 4,644. The Venezuelan murder rate was 52 per 100,000 residents, compared with 38.8 in Colombia, where the government continues to battle rebels, and 11.6 in Mexico, where a drug war is raging. Venezuelan analysts blame a corrupt police and judiciary and a high prevalence of illegal guns, but officials blame the press for sensationalizing the issue. After two newspapers published a photo showing the Caracas morgue overflowing with corpses, the government fined them, saying they were engaging in “journalistic pornography” intended to “sow fear.”

San José, Chile

Lost miners alive: All of Chile erupted with joy after a probe of a copper mine that collapsed two weeks ago discovered the 33 trapped miners alive. But the mood turned more somber when engineers said it could take until late December to bore a tunnel wide enough to pull the men to safety. In the meantime, the miners, who are 2,000 feet underground, have received glucose, rehydration tablets, oxygen, and medicine through a 4-inch tube that reaches their cavern. They have yet to be told that they will have to spend months in the 95-degree heat of their shelter because of fears for their mental health. Chilean officials have asked NASA, which has expertise with crews isolated in small spaces, for advice and supplies.