La Plaza comments switching to Facebook

La Plaza today is switching to a new commenting system.

The system requires commenters to sign in through their Facebook accounts. People without Facebook accounts will not be able to leave comments.

Readers will have the option of posting their La Plaza comments on their Facebook walls, but that's not required.

Readers are welcome to express their opinions about the news -- and about how the new Facebook comments system is working.

Jimmy Orr, the Los Angeles Times managing editor in charge of latimes.com, discussed our online comments and the Facebook system in greater depth in a March entry to the Readers' Representative Journal.

We hope to see your comments on Facebook.

-- The Foreign Staff of the Los Angeles Times

A growing list of Latin American nations moving to recognize a Palestinian state

Joining a widening trend across Latin America, Chile and Paraguay are poised to recognize a Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 Middle East War, reports in Israel and Latin America said.

In recent weeks, several countries in the region have declared their recognition of a Palestinian state half a world away. Led by the rising global player Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador and Venezuela have all done so, reports the Israeli daily Haaretz.

The move by these governments to recognize a Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders appears to be an uncoordinated response to requests that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has made to Latin American leaders, reports said. "There is no obvious coordination but quite a few Latin American governments are suddenly recognizing the Palestinian state in a very short amount of time," notes the Latin America-focused blog Two Weeks Notice.

On Saturday, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera met one-on-one with Abbas in Brazil during the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's first female president. Abbas attended the inauguration in Brasilia to "thank the presidents" that have recognized the Palestinian state, reported the Chilean daily La Tercera (link in Spanish).

Chile is home to a significant population of about 350,000 mostly Christian Palestinians (link in Spanish). Like many of its neighbors, Chile also has a large Jewish community. A Jewish leader in Chile called the decisions to recognize a Palestinian state "imprudent" (link in Spanish).

Ecuador clarifies invite to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Ecuador has clarified an invitation made by a government official welcoming WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the country. President Rafael Correa said in a statement late Tuesday that the comments by a deputy foreign minister, Kintto Lucas, were "personal" and not an official invitation.

"Kintto Lucas's quoted comment was a spontaneous, personal response to a question from a local journalist and garnered attention due to the high international interest in the WikiLeaks story," the Ecuadoran embassy in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

As the fallout continued this week over the U.S. diplomatic cables leaked on his website, the elusive Assange is now on the Interpol most-wanted list for alleged sexual assault in Sweden.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

World mayors sign climate-change pact in Mexico City

Hoping to place cities at the forefront of global climate-change policy efforts, leaders of more than 100 urban centers pledged on Sunday in Mexico City to commit their governments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The so-called Mexico City Pact is a precursor to climate-change talks with world governments opening next week in the Mexican resort city of Cancun. Countries will attempt once more to come up with a binding treaty to rein in global warming after the failure to do so at United Nations talks in Denmark last year.

In Mexico City, mayors and representatives of 138 cities, including Los Angeles, Paris and Johannesburg, signed the voluntary pact that states they will develop and implement local climate-change action plans that are "measurable, reportable and verifiable." The mayors summit was organized by the government of Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, whose efforts to "green" this crowded and polluted megalopolis are considered the most ambitious in Latin America.

Ebrard, who appears a likely presidential candidate in Mexico in 2012, said local governments will be key to reducing the effects of climate change. A majority of the world's population is now living in cities for the first time in history.

"We have to tell the international community that it's in the cities that the battle to slow global warming will be won," the mayor said before the summit.

Other cities in the region joining the pledge in Mexico City included Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina; La Paz, capital of Bolivia; Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the largest cities in Brazil; Bogota,  capital of Colombia; Quito, capital of Ecuador; and Montevideo, Uruguay's capital (link in Spanish).

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, center, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, at left, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hold the pact. Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, who also presented his plan on climate change at the mayors summit, is seen in the far rear, third from left (link in Spanish). Credit: World Mayors Summit on Climate Change

Ecuador 'coup attempt' draws attention to Rafael Correa's presidency

What happened in Ecuador last week? On Thursday images ricocheted across the world of President Rafael Correa stumbling through a storm of tear gas and violent police officers, after he had stood at a window in a barracks and defiantly told them: "If you want to kill the president, here he is! Kill him, if you want to! Kill him if you are brave enough!" (Here's a short clip.)

By nightfall, a spectacular military operation at a police hospital freed Correa, who had claimed that his government was victim of an "attempted coup." In the span of the violent day, five people reportedly died.

Dramatic stuff. Yet in some ways, a spontaneous revolt against some of Correa's recent policy decisions wasn't too surprising, the BBC reports. "Correa can't act as a victim right now and say there's been a coup attempt," Lourdes Tiban, an opposition politician, told the news organization. "There's been no coup attempt whatsoever. What's happening now is his responsibility, he's calling for a confrontation."

Ecuador's armed forces remained loyal to the president throughout last week's chaos, and indeed, no figure or group has come forward to claim responsibility for igniting violence with the intent of toppling the government.

The rebel police who roughed up their president in Quito on Thursday were protesting Correa-backed austerity measures that would have seen their benefits substantially curtailed. In recent months, Correa had also threatened to dissolve Congress and rule by decree because of persistent deadlock on his proposed reforms. Ecuador is severely strapped for cash, and has defaulted in $3.2 billion in global bonds.

Yet at a news conference he held shortly after addressing his supporters from the Palacio de Carondelet, the presidential palace, Correa blamed the police uprising on allies of his chief political foe, the most recent former president, Lucio Gutierrez. Correa's government repeated the claim on Sunday. (Incidentally, Gutierrez also ruled during a period of political instability that saw massive protests against him, forcing Gutierrez to eventually seek asylum in Brazil.)

As volatile as some of that might sound, oil-exporting Ecuador has seen relative stability under Correa. He was elected in late 2006 and, in 2009, became the first Ecuadorean president to be reelected in 30 years.

On Friday, after the violence, Correa's government suggested it would back off the idea of dissolving Congress and revisit the austerity measures that sparked the police revolt. The president, his profile raised considerably with those dramatic images from Thursday, may attempt to use the police revolt as a political weapon to help consolidate power.

Meanwhile, the chief of the national police resigned on Friday, and three commanding colonels are under investigation for possibly inciting last week's violence. For more, Reuters has a fact-box with key political risks to watch as developments unfold in Ecuador.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, in his presidential sash, holds a news conference in Quito after a violent police revolt last week. Credit: Reuters

Unrest grips Ecuador, threatening President Rafael Correa

 

In a violent day of chaos, Ecuadoran security forces protesting cuts in their benefits took to the streets and are threatening the government of President Rafael Correa.

The government declared a state of emergency after Correa was confronted by angry police officers.  He  shouted defiantly from a window to demonstrators: "If you want to kill the president, here he is! Kill him, if you want to! Kill him if you are brave enough!" When Correa attempted to leave the site, tear gas was fired and the president was seen in televised video struggling through a large outdoor scuffle.

On Twitter, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said, "They are trying to topple President Correa. Be on alert people of the Bolivarian Alliance!" Readers can follow live Twitter updates on the unrest at #Ecuador.

Members of the armed forces took over and shut down the airport in Quito, the capital, and clashes were reported in several cities between security forces and civilian Correa supporters. Several news organizations are also reporting that their reporters have been attacked and their equipment damaged.

Ecuador's government has launched an emergency news site tracking the unrest and response in the international community. As of this afternoon, Correa is reportedly in a police hospital, but it is unclear whether he is holed up there or being held against his will. The Los Angeles Times will have more updates soon.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa is carried away after being overcome by tear gas. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

A third migrant said to survive massacre, as bodies return home

Now, a third migrant is said to have survived last month's massacre in Tamaulipas, Mexico. El Salvador's president, Mauricio Funes, asserted Sunday -- almost two weeks after the killings took place -- that one Salvadoran citizen survived and is in the U.S.

Funes gave no further details, and it is not clear how the Salvadoran survived or made it to the U.S. Late Monday, however, the Mexican government expressed doubts about the existence of a third survivor, saying officials would check out the story but that there was no corroborating evidence at this point of another survivor.

Alejandro Poire, the Mexican government's security spokesman, also said a Mexican is under arrest on suspicion of involvement in the massacre, and three bodies found on a road Aug. 30 are believed to be men who participated.

The massacre has reverberated across Latin America. Confirmed victims include citizens of Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador. Reporting from the home village of one of the Salvadoran victims, a 15-year-old girl, Times special correspondent Alex Renderos says that a majority of children in school there have parents living in a U.S. city.

"There are sons and daughters living alone here, taken care of only by their grandparents," a school teacher told Renderos. "And the parents want to hug their daughters and sons and give them a better life."

In this video report by La Prensa Grafica, Funes is shown addressing officials and mourners during a ceremony at a hangar to receive the bodies of 11 of the Salvadoran victims (link in Spanish). The gray caskets are seen driven through streets where passers-by stopped to weep. El Mundo published the names of 10 Salvadorans identified so far (link in Spanish). Their ages run between 22 and 55. Three are women.

The number of Central and South Americans taking the treacherous path through Mexico to reach the United States has taken a drop in recent years, The Times reports. Yet Mexico's National Human Rights Commission estimates that 1,600 migrants are kidnapped in Mexico each month. The story adds: "In El Salvador and other countries from which the victims came, the massacre has raised another dark question: How many others have met the same fate, but were never found?"

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Relatives of slain migrant Armando Nieto grieve in El Salvador as 11 bodies return from Mexico. Credit: Associated Press

Second survivor confirmed in migrant massacre as Latin America mourns

Authorities in Mexico have confirmed that a second person -- a Honduran citizen -- survived the massacre of 72 migrants last week in the state of Tamaulipas, but the man's identity and location are being closely guarded to protect his safety. The revelation came Wednesday, after Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa mentioned another survivor and his nationality, prompting the Honduran government to chastise Correa for releasing the information.

"There's no name for what happened in Mexico last week," Correa said, according to Agence France-Presse.

The investigation is delicate because of the international nature of the incident and because survivors of major crimes in Mexico are often at risk for reprisal violence. An investigator in Tamaulipas has already been reported missing. Fifty-eight men and 14 women from several Central and South American countries were killed execution-style near the town of San Fernando after refusing to work for the ruthless Zetas gang, the Ecuadoran survivor told authorities. Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, 18, was repatriated to Ecuador on Sunday and will be placed in a witness protection program.

Some of the bodies were moved to a morgue in Mexico City on Wednesday as the process to identify the remains continued. Those identified so far include 16 Hondurans, 13 Salvadorans, five Guatemalans and one Brazilian. Families seeking information on missing loved ones are crowding outside embassies and foreign offices in their home countries. Many are in mourning for victims of an incident that highlights the extreme risks that migrants undertake as they cross Mexico to seek better lives in the United States. Look for our upcoming special report from El Salvador.

"I haven't heard anything from him in a week. The last time we talked he was in Tamaulipas," one woman in San Salvador said of a loved one who went missing, according to MSNBC. "Some men called and asked for $400, and I sent it."

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Workers begin examining the bodies of migrants killed in Tamaulipas at a morgue in Mexico City. Credit: Fernando Antonio / Associated Press

Survivor of migrant massacre returns to Ecuador

The sole survivor of last week's massacre of 72 migrants in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas has refused a humanitarian visa from Mexico and returned to his native Ecuador, officials in Mexico said Monday (link in Spanish).

Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, 18, was recovering under heavy guard after the massacre, in which suspected gunmen with the Zetas criminal organization captured, blindfolded and killed the migrants execution-style. Reports said the migrants had refused to pay ransom or work as drug runners for the Zetas. Lala managed to survive a bullet wound and escaped.

The massacre has become an international incident. When the citizenship of the survivor was discovered, Ecuador immediately requested that Lala receive extra protection while he recovered; witnesses or survivors to major crimes in Mexico often are hunted down later and killed (link in Spanish). Four countries have sent consular representatives to Tamaulipas to help identify the victims. Thirty-four of those have been identified so far: 16 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, five Guatemalans and one Brazilian.

Lala, the survivor, returned to Ecuador on Sunday night after Mexican diplomats turned him over to their Ecuadoran counterparts at a military hangar at Mexico City's international airport, Mexico's Interior Ministry said in a statement. In images posted with the official report, the faces of the survivor, doctors and military personnel are blurred to conceal their identities.

The massacre highlights the risks and dangers that Central and South American migrants face as they travel to the United States through Mexico, where their path increasingly intersects with the brutal warfare associated with the drug trade. A group of migrants from several countries reportedly demonstrated Saturday against the violence in the city of Saltillo, in Coahuila state.

Violence continues unabated in Tamaulipas. On Friday, car bombs went off at a Televisa station in Ciudad Victoria and outside a police station in San Fernando, the town where the bodies were discovered, and a top investigator into the migrant massacre was reported missing. On Sunday, a mayor in Tamaulipas was shot to death.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: The survivor of last week's migrant massacre in Tamaulipas is loaded onto a flight to his native Ecuador. Credit: Secretaria de Gobernacion, Mexico

Drug-smuggling sub seized by Ecuador reportedly able to dive 65 feet

Authorities in Ecuador have seized a 100-foot-long submarine intended to smuggle drugs north to Mexico and the U.S., the latest in a string of captured drug-smuggling craft. The vessel found Friday in an "industrial complex" in swampland near Ecuador's border with Colombia is significant in that it was reportedly capable of diving as deep as 65 feet, unlike smuggling vessels known as semi-submersibles, which glide just beneath the surface.

The sub was fitted with "a conning tower, a periscope, air conditioning and 'scrubbers' to purify the air, and bunks for a maximum crew of six," Chris Kraul writes in The Times, reporting from Bogota.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency participated in the operation that netted the sub. It was not clear who built it. Jay Bergman, the DEA's Andean director, told Kraul in an interview that the cost of the vessel, with twin diesel engines, was estimated at $4 million. Bergman said the periscope appeared to be "military-issue."

It was the second drug-smuggling sub seized in Ecuador this year, reports El Comercio (link in Spanish). Kraul reported previously on this phenomenon in The Times, noting in 2007 that a likely source for some vessels is the FARC, the Colombian guerrilla group and drug-trafficking organization.

Colombian suppliers have sought to use submersibles to smuggle cocaine toward the U.S. since at least 2000. In July 2008, Mexican forces caught a drug-smuggling sub with a four-man crew off the southern coast of Oaxaca.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Ecuadorean forces watch over the seized drug-smuggling submarine. Credit: El Comercio