Articles written by joshua goodman
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 59
Sources: US stops ex Colombia warlord's deportation to Italy
MIAMI (AP) — The Trump administration has blocked the scheduled removal of a former Colombian paramilitary boss to Italy and now intends to deport him to his South American homeland, where he's been found responsible for hundreds of war crimes....
Spread of coronavirus fuels corruption in Latin America
MIAMI (AP) — Even in a pandemic, there's no slowdown for swindlers in Latin America. From Argentina to Panama, a number of officials have been forced to resign as reports of fraudulent purchases of ventilators, masks and other medical supplies...
Sources: US investigating ex-Green Beret for Venezuela raid
MIAMI (AP) — A former Green Beret who has claimed responsibility for an ill-fated military incursion into Venezuela is under federal investigation for arms trafficking, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials. The...
Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela's Maduro
MIAMI (AP) — The plan was simple, but perilous. Some 300 heavily armed volunteers would sneak into Venezuela from the northern tip of South America. Along the way, they would raid military bases in the socialist country and ignite a popular...
AP: DEA agent accused of stealing PPE from agency warehouse
MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a telecommunications specialist are accused of stealing personal protective equipment, toilet paper and other supplies from an agency warehouse in Florida amid shortages caused by the...
AP Sources: Shipping tycoon helps Venezuela in quest for gas
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — With gas lines across Venezuela growing, a controversial shipping magnate has stepped in to prevent the country from running out of fuel amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press has learned. The fuel shortage, i...
AP Exclusive: DEA agent accused of conspiring with cartel
MIAMI (AP) — A once-standout U.S. federal narcotics agent known for spending lavishly on luxury cars and Tiffany jewelry has been arrested on charges of conspiring to launder money with the same Colombian drug cartel he was supposed to be...
Songbirds silenced as Colombia fights wildlife trafficking
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The metal doors of a shoebox-sized cage open up and a bird tagged #811 launches into a giant aviary. The palm-sized finch performs a midair pirouette, lands on a willow branch and curiously twitches its saffron-colored head...
Venezuela talks in the balance as US ups pressure on Maduro
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — For weeks, representatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his would-be successor, opposition leader Juan Guaidó, have been shuttling back and forth to Barbados trying to agree on a common path out of the...
AP Exclusive: Imprisoned supercop's escape from Venezuela
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the last rays of sunlight faded into the Caribbean Sea, political fugitive Iván Simonovis was speeding toward an island rendezvous with freedom. Three weeks earlier he had fled house arrest in the Venezuelan capital, rappellin...
Venezuela's Guaidó promises to persevere despite crackdown
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is looking to jumpstart his movement to oust Nicolas Maduro in the wake of last week's failed military uprising, promising to persevere in the face of a deepening crackdown. In an...
AP Exclusive: US missed chance to woo Venezuela generals
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Around May 2017, an unusual request from a prominent Venezuelan general made its way to the White House: Gen. Ivan Hernández, head of both the presidential guard and military counterintelligence, wanted to send his...
After 7 long years, Assange's capture happened quickly
Huddled at a home in Ecuador's capital, President Lenin Moreno's aides anxiously awaited word in the middle of the night on an operation that would soon make headlines around the world: the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the...
Red Cross regains entry to Venezuela jails, military prisons
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross has regained access to prisons in Venezuela, including highly guarded military facilities where dozens of inmates considered political prisoners are being held, as President Nic...
Aid wars: US-Russia vie to ease Venezuelan crisis
MOSCOW (AP) — Call it the aid wars. The Trump administration is accusing President Nicolas Maduro of starving Venezuelans by blocking tons of American-supplied humanitarian aid stored next door in Colombia. In Russia, the Kremlin sees the...
AP Interview: Maduro reveals secret meetings with US envoy
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A month into Venezuela's high-stakes political crisis, President Nicolas Maduro revealed in an AP interview that his government was in secret talks with the Trump administration and predicted he would survive an...
Trump pressed aides on Venezuela invasion, US official says
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening...
Backchannel with 'Dracula' helped free Utah man in Venezuela
WASHINGTON (AP) — A secret backchannel led by a veteran Republican Senate staffer and a flamboyant Venezuelan official nicknamed "Dracula" broke through hostile relations between the two governments to secure the release of American prisoner...
American jailed in Venezuela for 2 years arrives in US
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joshua Holt, who traveled to Venezuela from Utah in 2016 to marry a Spanish-speaking Mormon woman but soon found himself jailed and later branded the CIA's top spy in Latin America, was set free by the anti-American Maduro...
Texas Republican made secret peacemaking trip to Venezuela
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Texas Republican congressman Pete Sessions quietly visited Venezuela this week and met with President Nicolas Maduro at the invitation of the socialist government in a peacebuilding mission that has raised some eyebrows in...
Peru's president offers resignation amid political turmoil
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Embattled President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski offered his resignation Wednesday ahead of an impeachment vote, seeking to put an end to a fast-moving political drama playing out just three weeks before the Andean nation is set to host...
Venezuela-linked trust sues foreign oil traders for bribes
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A trust linked to Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has filed a lawsuit against major international energy trading firms for their alleged role funneling bribes to corrupt company officials in exchange for rigged oil...
US lawsuit: Venezuela cheated of billions by rigged oil bids
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A trust linked to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has filed a lawsuit against Glencore, Lukoil and other energy trading firms for their alleged role funneling bribes to corrupt company officials in exchange for rigged...
Houston firm sues ex Venezuelan oil czar Ramirez over bribes
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Venezuela's former oil czar Rafael Ramirez was sued Friday by a Houston company that alleges he was behind demands for at least $10 million in bribes to sign off on deals to sell its energy assets in the South American count...
Official: US says ex-Venezuela oil czar took bribes
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — U.S. prosecutors say Venezuela's former oil czar received bribes as part of a major graft scheme that allegedly took place in the OPEC nation's oil industry, an American official familiar with the probe said. Rafael Ramirez,...