The world at a glance ... Americas

Ottawa

Debtor nation: Canadians now carry more debt as a percentage of their disposable income than Americans, consulting firm Deloitte & Touche said this week. And they are starting to default on it. Credit card companies said delinquencies have risen at least 10 percent since October, while personal bankruptcies in Canada jumped more than 50 percent in December compared with the same month a year ago. “This is an enormous increase,” said Patricia Croft, chief economist with RBC Global Asset Management. “Historically, you don’t usually see personal bankruptcies rise until the unemployment rate really begins to take off.” Last month, Canada suffered its worst monthly job losses in more than 30 years. The unemployment rate now stands at 7.2 percent.

Cancún, Mexico

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

Police chief arrested for murder: Cancún Police Chief Francisco “The Viking” Velasco Delgado was arrested this week on suspicion of torturing and killing a retired army general and two other people. Brig. Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello had recently been hired as a security consultant by the Cancún city government, specifically to root out corruption. His bullet-riddled body was found along with two others in his SUV on the outskirts of the city. Authorities said they believed the murders were the work of city police in the pay of drug gangs. State police stripped Velasco and his force of their guns and took over the policing of Cancún, Mexico’s top tourist destination. The police force will undergo “a completely thorough cleaning,” said Quintana State Gov. Felix Gonzalez Canto.

Quito, Ecuador

Anger at Washington: Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa expelled a U.S. diplomat last week, saying the American had sought to dictate government policy. The diplomat, Homeland Security attaché Armando Astorga, sent a letter to authorities saying that the U.S. was withdrawing aid to Ecuador’s anti-drug police force because the government refused to grant the U.S. veto power over the force’s personnel decisions. Astorga, Correa said, had “the insolence to pretend that Ecuador is a colony of the U.S.” The U.S. Embassy in Quito said Astorga had left the country because he had completed his assignment.

Santiago, Chile

Tainted salmon: Chilean farmed salmon destined for the U.S. contains chemicals and drugs not approved by the FDA, environmentalists said this week. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request it had filed, the Pew Environment Group obtained FDA documents revealing that Chilean salmon was laced with pesticides and antibiotic residues. Some U.S. supermarkets, such as Safeway, curtailed their purchases of Chilean salmon last year, after a virus swept through Chilean fisheries. But many U.S. markets continue to sell the fish. While the virus is not harmful to humans, some of the measures fish farmers take to combat it—such as dumping medications and chemicals into the fisheries—may be.