Latin America

Today marks the second anniversary of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people and created at least one million refugees.

While praised for his work with the poor, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — has long been dogged by accusations of his role during Argentina’s military dictatorship. We speak to Horacio Verbitsky, a leading Argentine journalist who exposed Francis’ connection to the abduction of two Jesuit priests.

The interim president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, denied today that he is homophobic or having made insinuations about the sexual orientation of his rival in the elections of April 14, Henrique Capriles.

The interim president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, said today that there are difficulties with embalming the body of the late president Hugo Chavez, and that the initial plan to putting him on display at a museum may be abandoned, reported dpa news.

News of the hunger strike at the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba first emerged last week, but appears to involve far more prisoners than thought. In a letter to his attorney, one detainee wrote: “We are in danger.

Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles on Tuesday rejected as “homophobic” a statement made by interim President Nicolas Maduro, who suggested his opponent was homosexual. Capriles said Maduro assertions are expressions of “fascism and the extreme right.”

For over 40 years, the women’s movement in Nicaragua has preserved from anonymity the women’s rebellions of the past, has contributed to forging a new consciousness of rights, has denounced the violations of our rights and has demanded changes that favor a true equality between women and men.

Japan stands at a crossroads over its reliance on nuclear power as the country marks the second anniversary of one of the world’s worst atomic disasters. On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami that struck Japan’s northeast coast, killing more than 20,000 and leaving at least 150,000 homeless.

Jorge Arreaza, son-in-law of Hugo Chavez, has been named the interim vice president of Venezuela by the interim president, Nicolas Maduro. The 39-year-old husband of Chavez’s eldest daughter Rosa Virginia, he has worked in the communications field since 2001, and by 2011 rose to become the minister of Science and Technology under Chavez.