Latin America Digest: Today’s one-line news briefs

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Bogota, Colombia — Twenty-three-year-old fine arts student Nicolas Castro was arrested Wednesday for allegedly posting on the Facebook social networking site a death threat against Jeronimo Alberto Uribe, son of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Asuncion, Paraguay — Paraguay’s foreign ministry acknowledged that it was a mistake to name undocumented U.S. immigrant Augusto Noguera to run its consulate in New York, but said President Fernando Lugo annulled the decision as soon as he was informed of the U.S. Embassy’s visa denial.

Mexico City — The killing of anti-mining activist Mariano Abarca Robledo by a motorcycle gunman late last week has led investigators to question staff members at a mine in the town of Chicomuselo owned by Blackfire Exporation Ltd. of Calgary, Canada, a spokesman for the company said.

Buenos Aires — A political reform measure requiring a more open selection process for Argentine presidential and legislative candidates and tightening campaign finance rules won final congressional approval.

Hato San Jose, Venezuela — Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua said that Venezuela’s worst drought in decades will cause yields for corn to decrease about 40% from 2008 levels, but that thousands of acres of land taken over by the government and cultivated would partly compensate for the shortfall.

-- Times wire reports