The news at a glance ... Americas

Juárez, Mexico

Suspect in killing of Americans: Mexican officials have arrested a man for the murders two weeks ago of two Americans and a Mexican, each of whom had work or family ties to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juárez. The suspect, Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, 45, is allegedly a hit man for the Barrio Azteca drug gang and has homes in Juárez and in El Paso, Texas. The Barrio Azteca gang has been battling other gangs for control of drug-smuggling routes. Authorities didn’t provide a motive for the killings, or detail whether the victims were targeted by mistake. The three died in two separate attacks and witnesses said several gunmen participated in each.

Caracas, Venezuela

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Dissidents on Twitter: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez may regret his push to wire the country for the Internet, now that his opponents have taken to Twitter with a vengeance. After Chávez shut down numerous television stations and newspapers that criticized his authoritarian rule, many of those media outlets began using Twitter to communicate. “The Internet is a battle trench because it is bringing a current of conspiracy,” Chávez complained. Since coming to power in 1999, Chávez has built a network of centers offering Internet access to the public. With nearly one-third of Venezuelans now online, Twitter accounts exploded last year, growing more than tenfold. The country now has one of the largest rates of Twitter users in Latin America.