Despite photos, doubts remain on health of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has not been seen in public for more than two weeks following an operation for pelvic swelling in Cuba. His absence has prompted widespread speculation about his health and his ability to govern, report special correspondents for The Times.

The Venezuelan and Cuban governments insist Chavez is OK and recovering at an undisclosed location. Cuba's Communist government released photos of President Raul Castro and former President Fidel Castro visiting Chavez in what appears to be a hospital room, but the Venezuelan leader has otherwise been absent from public view.

Chavez's Twitter has also largely been inactive since earlier this month, although on Friday a flurry of messages appeared. These made no mention of the president's health or location.

Speculation persists in the opposition news media over whether "Chavez has a life-threatening disease such as cancer, and even whether he is alive," The Times reports. 

As Chavez's absence enters its 17th day, political opponents in Venezuela have ramped up criticism of the government's silence. The opposition is demanding Chavez delegate power to his vice president while he recovers. Relatives, including Chavez's mother, Elena Frias de Chavez, have asked that Venezuelans pray for his recovery (link in Spanish).

Chavez, who is 56, leads one of the world's biggest oil-producing nations and is an ardent antagonist of the United States. He hopes to be reelected in 2012 but faces rising domestic problems — including crime, inflation, and energy woes — that have hampered his ability to lead a leftist anti-U.S. bloc in the region at large.

Cuba is known to release photographs of the Castro brothers, ages 80 and 84 respectively, when public doubt rises over their health. In the past, such photos have come under scrutiny by bloggers, who have claimed they were faked. (The Chavez photos, in a medium resolution, are reproduced here.)

If Chavez remains in Cuba for "10 or 12 days" more, as his brother Adan Chavez said Sunday, and he does not delegate presidential powers, he will have governed Venezuela from afar for more than a month.

— Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and current President Raul Castro of Cuba, in a photo released on June 17, 2011. Credit: Government of Cuba 

Rousseff tackles economic matters in first day as Brazil's first female president

Economist Dilma Rousseff was sworn in as the first female president of Brazil on New Year's Day, special correspondents report in the Los Angeles Times. Rousseff received the symbolic presidential sash from outgoing leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who left office with a resounding approval rating of 87%.

The transition keeps Lula's Workers' Party in power for at least another four-year term, and speculation remains high that Lula might run for the presidency again in 2014 after a single Rousseff term, or wait out two terms under Rousseff and seek the presidency in 2018. That's assuming, of course, Rousseff has as much success in office as Lula had.

Brazil boomed under Lula, becoming the largest economy in Latin America and shedding millions from the ranks of the poor. Under Lula, Brazil captured the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, strengthened its oil sector and asserted itself as a rising global force, even playing diplomatic deal-maker with Iran over its nuclear program -- a move that irked the United States.

Representing the U.S., Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attended Rousseff's inauguration in Brasilia. Brazil-U.S. relations remain "in flux," The Times reported.

Rousseff, 63, is a former Marxist guerrilla who survived torture under Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s. She had never held elected office, and won a runoff in October largely because of the backing of her mentor Lula, who campaigned heavily for his former chief of staff. Rousseff remains strongly identified with Lula and his policies, which could help or hinder her early efforts to form an administration, analysts said.

"I will not rest while there are Brazilians who have no food on their tables, while there are desperate families on the streets, while there are poor children abandoned to their own devices," Rousseff said in her inaugural speech.

On Monday, the new president moved quickly to cut government spending and open discussions on privatizing expansion projects at the two airports in Sao Paulo, signaling a "market-friendly tone" on the crucial subject of Brazil's economy.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: President Dilma Rousseff greets supporters after receiving the presidential sash from outgoing leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia, Brazil, on Jan. 1. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency

Update: An earlier version of this post misspelled Sao Paulo.

Drug group may have set off oil blast that killed 28 in central Mexico

A powerful pre-dawn pipeline explosion in a central Mexican state left at least 28 people dead on Sunday. The chief suspected cause of the blast is an illegal tap, possibly by the drug group the Zetas, as cartels increasingly attempt to steal crude and gas from state-owned oil lines.

Dozens were injured and 115 homes were damaged in what was described as a series of blasts at a pumping station in San Martin Texmelucan, a town on the main road between Mexico City and the city of Puebla, capital of Puebla state. The smoke plume that rose after the destruction was visible for much of Sunday from neighboring communities as well as in other states.

Witnesses said "rivers of fire" consumed the town's streets.

One survivor recounted how she attempted to rescue her father from a bedroom but a metal door had turned into "gum," El Universal reported (link in Spanish). The flames engulfed homes and incinerated victims, including many children.

President Felipe Calderon arrived at San Martin Texmelucan by the afternoon and met with residents. Here are photos and coverage of the incident in Spanish.

The state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said in a statement that a rapid drop in pressure on the 30-inch pipeline suggested a "clandestine tap" (link in Spanish). The line, named Nuevo Teapa, carries fuel from its origin at a port in Tabasco state on the Gulf of Mexico and heads to a refinery in Hidalgo, northeast of Mexico City, Bloomberg reported.

Pemex loses millions of barrels a year to drug groups -- primarily, the Gulf Coast-based Zetas gang -- in thefts that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The stolen fuel is believed to be trafficked by the Zetas and sold in the United States as cartels seek to diversify their criminal enterprises. The Pemex chief said Sunday that the section of pipeline that erupted in San Martin Texmelucan had been tapped at least 60 times before, and 550 cases of illegal tapping have been reported nationwide.

The Times recently looked at how the drug war has affected production at Pemex in a report in September. Pemex work sites are often attacked and raided by kidnappers, who yank away workers. In May, at least 30 men disappeared from a Pemex plant in Tamaulipas by presumed Zetas.

Sunday's incident joins other major Pemex accidents that have killed scores in Mexico, although previous disasters have been blamed on incompetence and corruption. In 1984, a massive explosion at a Pemex plant in the state of Mexico left more than 500 dead. In 1992, more than 200 died in a leak explosion in downtown Guadalajara.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Residents flee and watch as smoke rises in San Martin Texmelucan, Puebla, after the pipeline blast that left at least 28 dead. Credit: El Universal 

New cables reveal frank U.S. views on Latin America, from Argentina to Venezuela

The global fall-out over the leaked U.S. diplomatic cables continues to trickle into Latin America, where leaders are responding to a variety of disclosures that reveal frank opinions on governments with whom   the United States has sometimes had tense relations.

Here's a run-down of some of the most significant claims or statements made on Latin America in the latest WikiLeaks disclosures, by country. Links below follow news coverage as well as the original cables as published by WikiLeaks or the news organizations that have reviewed them.

Carlos Slim to open gold mines in Mexico

Carlos Slim is eyeing gold.

The Mexican magnate and world's richest man announced that one of his major companies has plans to open two mines in Mexico's northern state of Chihuahua, in an investment of about $367 million. The new mining operation is expected to generate 4,000 jobs, said the governor of the violence-plagued state, where Ciudad Juarez is located.

In a news conference in Chihuahua City, Gov. Cesar Duarte called the plan a "breath of fresh air."

Mining is a booming sector for Slim's empire. The new mines will extract gold, zinc and other minerals. Earlier this year, a police raid allowed the company Grupo Mexico to regain control of a mine in northern Mexico that striking workers had occupied for almost three years. That mine in Cananea, Sonora, is slowly reopening.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Magnate Carlos Slim. Credit: EPA

Dilma Rousseff: Brazil's new president is latest female leader in Latin America

Brazilians partied on the beaches of Rio and Brazilian stocks rose with anticipation Monday morning as results from Sunday's runoff election confirmed Dilma Rousseff as the South American nation's first female president.

Rousseff, who has never held elective office, won largely due to her ties to her mentor, outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a beloved figure credited with transforming Brazil into a world player. "It's historic," a government worker celebrating Rousseff's win in Brasilia told the Daily Mail. "Brazil elected a factory worker and now a woman. Dilma will be a mother for the Brazilian people."

In her victory speech, Rousseff promised to further attack poverty in Brazil. Making reference to her historic win, she said, "I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say yes, women can."

Here's more coverage in The Times.

Rousseff joins a small but celebrated group of female leaders in Brazil's long history. The last time a woman ruled over Brazil was in the early 19th century, when Princess Maria Leopoldina served briefly as empress consort of the Brazilian empire, and was instrumental in Brazil's declaration of independence from Portugal in 1822. In the final period of the Brazilian monarchy, Princess Isabel, serving as regent, abolished slavery by signing the Ley Aurea in 1888 (link in Spanish).

The abolition of slavery in Brazil triggered the fall of the monarchy.

Brazil became a constitutional republic in 1889. The country witnessed a repressive military dictatorship between 1965 and 1985. It was during this time that Rousseff, daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant and a teacher, became active in Brazil's guerrilla resistance movement.

In this manner she is similar another modern female leader in the Americas. The popular former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, was a member of the resistance during the Pinochet dictatorship and was jailed and tortured, as Rousseff was in Brazil.

Three other women currently serve as leaders in Latin America. Laura Chinchilla was inaugurated as the first female president of Costa Rica in May. Weeks later in Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar became the first female prime minister. Argentina is led by Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, its first elected female president.

Brazil hosts the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, and is set to become a major oil exporter in the coming years.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Dilma Rousseff looks up to a television screen during a presidential debate on Oct. 25. Credit: Reuters

35 miners have died in accidents in Chile this year

As of today, Oct. 15, 35 miners have died in accidents in Chile this year, reports the Chilean daily La Tercera (link in Spanish), two more than those rescued in the successful operation this week at the San Jose mine.

The paper cites data from Chile's geology and mining service, noting that the 35 deaths occurred in 32 accidents. In the latest, a miner died Thursday in a fall near Valparaiso.

The figure is a bleak counterpoint to the euphoria felt in Chile and worldwide over the 33 miners' spectacular rescue. La Plaza reported Thursday that dozens more have died in mining accidents across Latin America since 2006.

Meanwhile, La Tercera reported, the second miner rescued from the San Jose mine is undergoing a psychological evaluation. Mario Sepulveda had electrified global viewers with a jubilant "Chile!" cheer after emerging from the rescue capsule. Several miners have already been released from the hospital where they were being evaluated, The Times reports, and more are expected to be sent home today.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

A 'miracle' in Chile, but mining accidents are often tragedies across Latin America

 

If the remarkable rescue of 33 miners trapped in Chile for 69 days was a "miracle," as some have dubbed it, other mining accidents in recent years have had less happy endings, claiming dozens of lives in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

Though mining accidents are relatively rare in Chile, a 2007 collapse in the same San Jose mine where "Los 33" were trapped left a miner dead and forced the mine's temporary closure. At another mine in the Copiaco region, a truck collision in 2006 left two miners dead and 70 others trapped for several hours (link in Spanish).

As metal prices rise and companies continue to seek Latin America's rich deposits of minerals and coal, the industry grows faster than some countries can regulate it, says a Forbes report. There are regular conflicts with workers over pay and safety conditions, as well as numerous reports of illegal mining operations -- with hardly any safety oversight or regulations -- in so-called wildcat mines.

Here are some major recent mining accidents in Latin America:

* This month, five miners died in a collapse at a coal mine in northeast Colombia (link in Spanish).

* In August, while the 33 Chile miners were trapped underground, an explosion at a wildcat gold mine in a remote jungle in Venezuela killed six miners. Miners in the area said that the actual toll was 14 or 15.

* In June, an explosion at a coal mine in northwestern Colombia left 70 miners dead, one of the largest death tolls recorded in recent mining accidents worldwide.

* In February, eight miners died after an explosion at a coal mine in northern Peru.

* In 2006, 65 miners died after an explosion at a coal mine in northern Mexico (link in Spanish).

President Sebastian Pinera has vowed to overhaul safety regulations at mines in Chile, the world's top copper producer. Pinera announced the formation of a new commission to examine workplace safety in mines and fired the previous mining minister early in the rescue effort. But safety and regulatory issues remain a major challenge for the industry across the region.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Esteban Rojas kneels and hugs his wife after being the 18th miner rescued from the San Jose mine in Chile. Credit: Reuters

Trapped miners in Chile now arguing over who gets rescued last

Deprived of sunlight and fresh air since a shaft in their mine collapsed Aug 5., Chile's trapped miners are now so confident that their rescue from 2,300 feet underground is just days away that they are arguing over who will be lifted out last.

None of the miners wants to be first to hoisted up to the surface. "They were fighting with us yesterday because everyone wanted to be at the end of the line, not the beginning," Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich told reporters Sunday.

The two-month ordeal of "Los 33," as the trapped miners are known, has riveted Chileans and the world at large with its stark drama of human survival. The miners, a remarkably healthy and sometimes testy bunch, have at times argued with the surface crews over their requests for wine and cigarettes.

The Times' special correspondent in South America, Chris Kraul, has a recent update on the rescue effort, a delicate and unprecedented process that will see the 33 men lifted one-by-one in a narrow capsule through an escape hole.

Miners who emerge at night will be wearing sweaters because of the dramatic change in temperature they will experience, from 90 degrees in the mine to near freezing above on the Atacama desert. Those pulled to safety in the daytime will be wearing sunglasses.

The lift operations could begin as early as Wednesday. The L.A. Times photography blog Framework has a stirring gallery of images.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Trapped miners in Chile speak with rescuers via a video-conference feed. Credit: Government of Chile, via Framework

Former guerrilla Dilma Rousseff poised to be Brazil's first woman president

She's a former Marxist guerrilla who was jailed and tortured during her country's long military dictatorship. Now she is poised to be elected the first woman president of the economic powerhouse of Brazil. Dilma Rousseff, 62, is the chosen successor of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is barred from running for a third term and is leaving office with a sky-high approval rating.

Brazilians vote on Sunday  and a poll released Thursday suggests Rousseff could avoid a runoff with her top opponent, centrist Jose Serra, and win the presidency outright as the candidate of Lula da Silva's Workers Party.

Rousseff faces her opponents for a final televised debate Thursday night, where she will continue to cast herself as the torch-bearer of Lula's popular policies.

Born in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais state, Rousseff is the daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant and a teacher. After the military coup of 1964, Rousseff joined one of many underground student resistance groups at the time, where she handled weapons and coordinated resistance activities with comrades under the nom de guerre "Stella." But she was eventually arrested, imprisoned and tortured. After the regime ended in 1985, Rousseff finished academic work in economics and became a state's energy secretary, then federal energy secretary under Lula, and then his chief of staff.

The candidate, twice married and twice divorced, and a cancer survivor, worked largely outside the spotlight under her mentor Lula. The current president is credited with igniting Brazil's economy and capturing both the next World Cup and Summer Olympics for Brazil. Some 20 million Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty during Lula's presidency with his government's successful combination of social welfare and free-market programs, Reuters notes.  

Brazil, a robust oil producer, is Latin America's largest economy and the eighth-largest in the world.

If she wins, Rousseff would join a growing roster of women leaders in Latin America. Among them are Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, current and first-elected woman president of Argentina (Isabel Peron served briefly in the 1970s after the death in office of her husband Juan Peron), and Michelle Bachelet, the single-mother pediatrician who survived torture and exile during the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile and then served as Chile's first woman president between 2006 and March of this year.

Bachelet left office with high popularity and was recently named head of a new United Nations agency, U.N. Women. In May, Costa Rica welcomed its first woman president, Laura Chinchilla.

Rousseff's momentum has waned somewhat in the final stretch of the campaign due to a scandal surrounding the chief of staff who replaced her, but polls still show a strong leaning among voters who seek the continuity Rousseff represents.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: Brazilian presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff on the campaign trail. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency