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Zelaya asks U.S. to explain policy
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Ousted President Manuel Zelaya is asking the Obama administration to explain why, after pressing for his reinstatement, U.S. officials say they will recognize the forthcoming Honduran elections even if he is not returned to power first.In a letter sent to the State Department on Wednesday, Zelaya asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'etat has been changed or modified."
His request came after Washington's top envoy to Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told CNN en Espanol that the United States would recognize the Nov. 29 elections even if the Honduran Congress decided against returning Zelaya to power.
The United States has repeatedly pressed for Zelaya's reinstatement. But the U.S.-brokered deal between Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti's interim government leaves reinstatement in the hands of the Honduran Congress. - AP
Amazon tribe hit by swine flu virus
CARACAS, Venezuela - Swine flu has appeared among Venezuela's Yanomami Indians, one of the largest isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon, and a doctor said yesterday that the virus was suspected in seven deaths, including six infants.The deaths happened in forest villages near Venezuela's border with Brazil over the last 21/2 weeks, said Raidan Bernade, a Venezuelan doctor on a team working to contain the outbreak and treat the ill. He said the victims had fever and coughing at first, and suffered complications from pneumonia.
The deaths were reported yesterday by the London-based indigenous-rights group Survival International, which warned that if not properly contained, the virus, known as H1N1, could spread and cause more deaths among people who are particularly susceptible to disease due to their limited contact with the outside world. - AP
Military chiefs fired in Paraguay
ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo fired his military chiefs yesterday, a day after denying he had worries about a coup amid calls for his impeachment.In a statement given to journalists at the presidential palace, Lugo named new commanders for the army, air force, and navy without explaining his reasons. The new chiefs will assume their posts today, said the statement signed by the president. The new military commanders must be approved by the nation's Senate.
The shuffling in the military command came only one day after Lugo, a left-leaning former Roman Catholic bishop, publicly dismissed speculation about a possible coup as he struggles with Congress over implementing economic and social reforms. - AP
Elsewhere:
A gang of gunmen killed six men and wounded another in a bar early yesterday in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, and four other men were found dead on a sidewalk in another part of town. The bloodshed raised to 30 the number of homicides in Ciudad Juarez in just four days.
