News and reports from North, Central and South America.
Bezerra da Silva, the sambista dubbed the godfather of gangsta rap and unofficial spokesman of Rio de Janeiro’s slums, has died aged 77. For 30 years Bezerra da Silva’s controversial brand of samba provided the soundtrack for the city’s favelas and enraged the country’s politicians, often the victims of his sharp tongue. His music, which […]
Continue ReadingAt least 175 people died and 700 were injured when a flare thrown from the audience started a fire at a concert in a Buenos Aires nightclub. Most of the victims were aged between 15 and 20. They had been watching a performance by the rock group Los Callejeros at the Republica Cromaqon nightclub in […]
Continue ReadingForty-one days after her dramatic abduction, Marina Lima de Souza, the mother of Brazil’s brightest footballing star, has been freed. Following a week of speculation that her release was imminent, the 43-year-old was ushered into her Santos apartment in a Golf with tinted windows at 13.20 local time. Her head, shaved by the kidnappers, was […]
Continue ReadingPreparations for Rio de Janeiro’s dazzling carnival have been tainted by the murder of one of its organisers over his choice of parade queen. Behind the flamboyant costumes and deafening drumbeats lurks a murky world. Many of the samba schools are controlled by mafia-style bosses. In the past nine years, 14 people linked to samba […]
Continue ReadingProtesters have descended on Rio’s legislative assembly opposing state proposals offering to bankroll the psychological "conversion" of homosexuals. The controversial plans, which suggest using public funds to treat the "illness", have already been approved by three committees despite widespread condemnation. The act will be voted on today by state deputies. "This is not just an […]
Continue ReadingThe kidnapping of a national football star’s mother shows the dark underbelly of Brazil’s beautiful game and its ransom-fuelled snatch squads. This should have been the happiest of weeks for Dona Marina. Her footballer star son – dubbed the new Pele by many – was on the verge of a multi-million pound transfer to Real […]
Continue ReadingThe assassination of a renowned Rio drugs lord throws Brazil’s tourism capital into further violence with some areas on a war footing. Sweltering in the Friday afternoon heat a 300-strong crowd are bringing carnival to a suburban graveyard in Rio’s west. The group is singing a samba. Their king – one of Rio’s most notorious […]
Continue ReadingSteven Macpherson Watt, the lawyer battling the Bush administration over the detainment of ‘enemy combatants’ at Guantanamo Bay, speaks about his uphill fight for justice. The view from Steven Macpherson Watt’s lower Manhattan office doesn’t compare to the rural idyll of his former home just north of Inverness, Scotland – but he doesn’t have time […]
Continue ReadingParadise isn’t what it used to be. There’s a dark side to America’s 50th state that tourists seldom see, but the growing pains are all too obvious to its inhabitants. After three decades of economic growth and prosperity, Hawaii took a downturn 15 years ago and the Aloha state has never fully recovered. In most […]
Continue ReadingPrisoners are beheaded and burned as violence from warring drug factions spreads across Rio de Janeiro’s prisons. A state of emergency has been declared in Rio de Janeiro’s prisons, after a blood bath in one jail triggered a wave of rebellions across the city. Rio’s governor, Rosinha Matheus, made the decision last week after a […]
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