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

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Mexico City — Mexican security forces killed drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, one of the most wanted traffickers in both Mexico and the United States, in a gunfight Wednesday, the navy said.

Tijuana — The severed heads of six state police investigators were found on a public plaza in the northern Mexican state of Durango a day after the officers were reported kidnapped, a state prosecutors’ spokesman said.

Sao Paulo, Brazil — A 2-year-old boy has as many as 50 sewing needles inside his body, apparently stuck there one by one, a doctor treating him said.

Geneva — Three U.N. human rights experts accused President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela of creating a climate of fear within his country’s legal profession with the arrest last week of a female judge.

-- Times staff and wire reports