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Bolivian leader says assassination plot foiled

Bolivian police Thursday foiled a plot to assassinate President Evo Morales, the country’s vice president and other top government officials, Morales said in Venezuela, where he is attending a summit. The plot involved Irish and Croatian nationals as well as Bolivians, Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said at a separate news conference in La Paz. When police moved in to arrest the five suspects at a hotel in the eastern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, they became embroiled in a 30-minute gun battle, Morales said

Brazil’s Lula: A Bridge for Obama to Latin America’s Left?

The problem facing President Barack Obama in Latin America is that under the peevishness and negligence of his predecessor, the continent saw a stunning expansion of the anti-U.S. left. The solution to that problem may be Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who on Saturday becomes the first Latin American leader to visit the Obama White House — an invitation that all but anoints him as President Obama’s liaison to the region

Stanford saga prompts run on banks

Politicians and banking regulators across Latin American and the Caribbean called for calm Wednesday after panicked investors pulled their money from banks owned by the Stanford Group, whose owner is accused in a multibillion dollar investment and sales fraud scheme.

Ex-presidents of Latin America urge legal marijuana

Former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and a change in tactics on the war on drugs, a Spanish news agency said. Ex-presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil made their announcement at a meeting in Brazil of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, the EFE news agency said.