Latin America News Headlines

A veteran of Venezuela's long-suffering political opposition compared Sunday's presidential election to a soccer game played on a hill.

President Hugo Chavez put to rest any doubts about his masterful political touch in winning a third consecutive six-year term after a bitterly fought race against a youthful rival who has galvanized Venezuela's opposition.

A veteran of Venezuela's long-suffering political opposition compared Sunday's presidential election to a soccer game played on a hill.

A state prosecutor says the body of one of Mexico's most feared drug lords was stolen from a funeral home by a group of armed men. It occurred a day after Zetas head Heriberto Lazcano was fatally shot in a gunfight with marines.

The death of the founder and leader of Mexico's brutal Zetas cartel in firefight with marines near the Texas border was perhaps the biggest coup of President Felipe Calderon's war on drugs.

Fingerprints confirm that cartel leader Heriberto Lazcano, an army special forces deserter whose brutal paramilitary tactics helped define the devastating six-year war among Mexico's drug gangs and authorities, was killed in a firefight with marines in a state on the border with the Texas, the Mexican navy said.

The Mexican navy says fingerprints confirm that Zetas cartel leader Heriberto Lazcano was fatally shot in a firefight with marines, but federal authorities don't have the body.

During his re-election campaign, President Hugo Chavez promised to deepen the "21st century socialism" that has meant an ever-greater state role in the economy. That message won him a surprising 11-percentage point win in what many had thought would be a tight race.

During his re-election campaign, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez promised to deepen the public aid programs and reforms that have formed his vaunted "21st century socialism." That message won him a surprising 11-percentage point win Sunday in what many had seen as a tight race.

Venezuelans awakened on Monday to the prospect of another six years under President Hugo Chavez as the leftist president's supporters celebrated his victory against a youthful rival and a galvanized opposition pledged to build on its gains.

President Hugo Chavez won re-election and a new endorsement of his socialist project Sunday, surviving his closest race yet after a bitter campaign in which the opposition accused him of unfairly using Venezuela's oil wealth and his near total control of state institutions to his advantage.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is urging Latin American nations to use their police and not their military forces to enforce the law, saying the U.S. will help them build their capabilities.

President Hugo Chavez put to rest any doubts about his masterful political touch in winning a third consecutive six-year term after a bitterly fought race against a youthful rival who has galvanized Venezuela's opposition.

President Hugo Chavez won re-election Sunday, defeating challenger Henrique Capriles and gaining six more years to cement his legacy and press ahead with his crusade for socialism in Venezuela.

A united, well-organized opposition led by a youthful state governor gave President Hugo Chavez the race of his life Sunday as Venezuelans turned out in huge numbers for a presidential election on the country's socialist direction.

President Hugo Chavez's crusade to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, which has bitterly divided the nation, was put to the stiffest electoral test of his nearly 14 years in power on Sunday in a closely fought presidential election.

Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles says Sunday's election has been completely peaceful and that voters are showing they can settle their differences at the ballot box.

President Hugo Chavez's crusade to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, which has bitterly divided the nation, was put to the stiffest electoral test of his nearly 14 years in power on Sunday in a closely fought presidential election.

Cuban authorities released noted blogger Yoani Sanchez more than a day after she was taken into custody near the eastern city of Bayamo, where she traveled for a Spanish man's trial over a car crash that killed another prominent dissident.

The last time he ran for re-election, President Hugo Chavez won comfortably in Petare, one of Latin America's biggest slums with nearly half a million people.

In a story Oct. 5 about protests in Guatemala, The Associated Press erroneously mentioned the president's family name as Molina on second reference. It is Perez Molina.

On the streets of Venezuela's capital, six people explain their choices to vote for either President Hugo Chavez or his challenger Henrique Capriles on Sunday:

A Spanish political activist was tried Friday on charges of negligently causing the car crash that killed a prominent Cuban dissident. Several government opponents including noted blogger Yoani Sanchez were detained around this eastern city where the proceedings were taking place.