Suspected Colombian paramilitary leader Magaly Moreno captured in Venezuela

A woman described by Venezuelan authorities as an important leader of a Colombian paramilitary group has been captured, the justice minister said today.

Interpol had called for the arrest of Magaly Janeth Moreno Vega, who was wanted by Colombian officials on homicide charges, said Venezuelan Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami. He referred to the 39-year-old suspect as a paramilitary chief for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC.

Authorities said she was captured Thursday in Maracaibo, Venezuela. El Aissami said Moreno, nicknamed "The Pearl," deals with "extremely important information" for the paramilitary group.

El Aissami, who spoke on state television, accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of "institutional and moral decay" for his government's ties to paramilitary groups that "attack our people and threaten peace and order." 

Moreno previously worked as an investigator for Colombian prosecutors and was detained with her boss several years ago on accusations of aiding militias, according to news reports. Moreno was convicted on conspiracy charges tied to various crimes after she acknowledged working for paramilitary boss Jorge Ivan Laverde, who has said he participated in the killings of more than 2,000 people, the Associated Press reported.

Officials have said Moreno fled when prison officials granted her a temporary parole.

-- Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Los Angeles council members to make donations for El Salvador storm victims

Five Los Angeles City Council members this week pledged to donate $2,000 each to help storm victims in El Salvador.

Council Members Jose Huizar, Eric Garcetti (council president), Ed Reyes, Tony Cardenas and Richard Alarcon promised a donation totaling $10,000 to a local disaster relief agency focused on El Salvador. 

Torrential rains in the Central American nation this month triggered flooding and mudslides that left dozens of people dead and destroyed hundreds of homes, officials said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a press release that Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Salvadorans outside El Salvador and that his prayers are with the victims.

-- Paula Diaz / HOY

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

Salvador, Brazil — Brazil’s President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday joined visiting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in calling on Israel to stop building new settlements in areas claimed by Palestinians.

Bogota, Colombia — Six people, including two children, were killed when suspected Colombian FARC guerrillas stopped and set fire to a bus traveling in the south of the country, a state governor said.

Guatemala City — Guatemalan officials announced the resumption of international adoptions after a nearly two-year suspension prompted by the discovery that some babies were being sold.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras — A Honduran television station that backs deposed President Manuel Zelaya accused the de facto government of interfering with its broadcast signal, replacing news programs with cowboy movies.

Mexico City — Rising oil prices and increased exports are slowly dragging Mexico’s economy out of a severe recession, but the nation’s financial system still faces fundamental challenges, national leaders and experts said.

-- Times wire reports

Police in Peru say gang members killed people to drain their fat for cosmetics

Gang members in Peru face charges of killing people and draining their fat for use in cosmetics, police said today.

Police showed journalists two bottles of fat that authorities said were recovered from two suspects and a photograph of a rotting head believed to be of a male victim. The suspects allegedly told police the fat was worth $60,000 per gallon.

Police Col. Jorge Mejia said three suspects who confessed to five killings told authorities the fat was sold in Lima, the capital. One suspect said the gang severed body parts and then suspended the torsos, collecting  fat in tubs placed underneath, Mejia said.

Police named the group the “Pishtacos” after a Peruvian myth dating to pre-Columbian times of men who killed to extract human fat, quartering their victims with machetes, the Associated Press reported. The gang, which has several suspected members who are not yet in custody, allegedly operated in the Huanuco province, police said.

Several medical experts said fat has cosmetic uses, but the idea of an international black market for human fat was hard to believe.

 “I can’t see why there would be a black market for fat,” said Dr. Adam Katz, a professor of plastic surgery at the University of Virginia medical school, according to AP. “It doesn’t make any sense at all because in most countries we can get fat so readily and in such amounts from people who are willing and ready to donate that I don’t see why there would ever be a black market for fat, of all tissues.”

-- Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Movie has 2012 wrong, says Canadian archaeologist

Kenneth Turan reviews "2012," the latest disaster movie portraying the end of the world. The movie is directed by Roland Emmerich, who seems to be stuck on the same theme, after movies like "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Independence Day."

"2012" is based on a premise apparently laid out in an ancient carved monument found in the Mayan region, which covers the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and parts of Central America. The region has been home to the indigenous Maya people since 900 BC.

But Canadian archaeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor, who teaches at the University of Calgary, says in a statement that although the monument, called the Tortuguero Monument Six, refers to the date Dec. 21, 2012, it is not an end-of-the-world prophecy. She says the translation of the text essentially says that something will occur on Dec. 21, 2012 and that it will be similar to something that occurred on another date in the past.

"We don’t know what that past occurrence was or what the future occurrence will be. At no point do any of the Maya texts actually prophesize the end of the world," she said. Reese-Taylor says that the prophecy has never meant the end of the world among the Maya people and that it is North Americans who have created this interpretation.

“The idea of a Maya prophecy emerged in the 1970s when North American journalists and writers began to cherry-pick ideas from the Maya, Aztec and Hopi cultures and created what they now call the Maya prophecy.”

Looks like Hollywood's creative license is at work again.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

YouTube partners with Univision to offer Spanish-language programs; creates citizen journalism service

The largest Hispanic media company in the United States has agreed to feature short and full-length programs on YouTube, including new and archived programs from the Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision networks, Reuters and AFP report.

The agreement is the latest in several YouTube ventures with major entertainment partners, reports the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Revenue will come from ads featured around the programs, and Univision will receive most of it, Reuters says.

YouTube has also created a citizen journalism tool, YouTube Direct, which allows news organizations to request and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from users. You can read about it here on the YouTube blog.

Read more on this story here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Hondurans in Los Angeles prepare to vote in presidential election

Members of the Los Angeles-area electoral board that will oversee local voting in the Nov. 29 Honduran presidential election have been sworn in by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Honduras. There are 10 people on the board, with representatives from six Honduran political parties.

“We’re working to organize the entire election process in Los Angeles,” said Zulma Gutierrez, president of the board and a member of the Christian Democratic Party. “Currently we’re passing out ID cards to people who applied for them more than two months ago."

The tribunal gave the board 1,029 identification cards for the upcoming election.  Gutierrez said Hondurans are particularly interested in voting in this election "because they want change.”

Honduran national Noemi Xiomara Sabillon, who came to the board’s office in downtown Los Angeles to pick up her registration card, said, “I’m very happy to have this because ... it gives me a voice in my country. We need to return peace and democracy to Honduras.”

The Central American country has been plagued by unrest since the June 28 coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Polling places in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Orleans and Washington will be open to Hondurans registered to vote.

--Paula Diaz/HOY

Photo: Noemi Xiomara Sabillon receives her voter identification card from a member of the Los Angeles-area electoral board.  Credit: Paula Diaz

To read the full story in Spanish this Friday, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

Peru says air force officer confessed to spying for Chile

Peru today pressed accusations that Chile is assaulting its sovereignty, saying an air force officer has confessed to passing national security secrets to its South American neighbor.

The proof of espionage includes an Internet address allegedly used by the Peruvian officer to provide information to Chile and money transfers, Peru's chief Cabinet Minister Javier Velasquez told America Television. Chilean military officers are among others suspected in a spy ring, Velasquez said.

The Velasquez comments followed those by Peruvian President Alan Garcia, who on Monday said Chile was buying national security secrets.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet responded today by calling Garcia's comments "offensive and haughty" and saying they "do not contribute to the integration and cooperation that neighbors should enjoy," according to Reuters.  The Chilean government has denied any involvement in the alleged spying.

Late last week, a judge in Peru ratified charges against Victor Ariza, 45, and an unidentified member of the air force for allegedly revealing national secrets, espionage and money laundering, according to media reports.

— Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Marriage license granted to gay couple in Argentina

A gay couple received a marriage license in Buenos Aires today, a victory in their legal battle to become "man and man" during World Aids Day on Dec. 1.

A judge ruled last week that a ban on gay marriage violates Argentina's constitution and then granted the couple, Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre, permission to wed.

“On December 1st we will become man and man,” a teary-eyed Di Bello said as a clerk gave him the documentation, according to the Associated Press.

Freyre and Di Bello sued the city after they were denied a marriage license earlier this year. Judge Gabriela Seijas ruled that the nation's provisions for equality may not be violated by restrictions allowing only heterosexual marriages.

World Aids Day features efforts around the globe to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

-- Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to join airborne scientists seeking rain

Venezuela's efforts to combat severe drought conditions may include President Hugo Chavez going airborne with scientists as they try to generate rain from clouds.

Chavez has said a team of Cuban scientists are in Venezuela to fly aircraft with special equipment designed to influence weather patterns, specifically to bring on much-needed precipitation.

“I’m going in a plane; any cloud that crosses me, I’ll zap it so that it rains,” Chavez said late Saturday, according to Reuters.

Though Chavez did not explain what method would be tried in Venezuela, many countries have attempted to influence weather through what is often referred to as cloud seeding. The practice involves shooting substances into clouds, such as silver iodide, salts and dry ice, that bring on the formation of large raindrops, triggering a downpour. 

Meteorologists in China actually used similar "weather modification" techniques to try to prevent rain during the 2008 Summer Olympics by reducing the size of raindrops and delaying any rainfall.

The drought in Venezuela has resulted in water rationing and government calls for residents to do whatever they can to save water, including taking shorter showers.

-- Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Photo: Venezuelan President Chavez greets supporters at a recent protest in Caracas against installation of U.S. military bases in Colombia.  Credit: Reuters