LATIN AMERICA

Photo Credit: Agustin Marcarian / Reuters

Some 5,000 people disappeared behind its walls. Many were never seen again.

Now, Argentina’s Navy School of Mechanics (ESMA) — a military school turned secret detention centre — has been named a United Nations World Heritage site in an effort to preserve its grisly history.

“The Navy School of Mechanics conveyed the absolute worst aspects of state-sponsored terrorism,” President Alberto Fernández told the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in a video message on Tuesday.

He thanked UNESCO for designating ESMA as a heritage site. “Memory must be kept alive,” Fernández said, referencing the “horrors” experienced at the former school.

In 1976, a military group overthrew President Isabel Perón, beginning a period of dictatorship that stretched through to 1983.

Photo Credit: LAPRESSE

In a perplexing turn of events, former NFL player Sergio Brown, who had gone missing after his mother's tragic death in Illinois, has seemingly emerged in Mexico. The startling revelation came through a bizarre video posted on Instagram, where Brown claimed to have believed his mother was on vacation and alleged that he had been kidnapped by law enforcement.

Sergio Brown, a 35-year-old former New England Patriots player, had been missing, leaving friends and family concerned for his well-being. However, recent developments suggest he may no longer be considered missing, albeit surrounded by a cloud of confusion.

Sergio Brown's cryptic Instagram video

Photo Credit: Luis Echeverria/Reuters

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned of the “risk of coup” in Guatemala during an address to the United Nations General Assembly, prompting a rebuke from the country’s outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei.

Speaking from the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, Lula voiced concerns that the result of Guatemala’s 2023 presidential elections could be overturned.

“In Guatemala, there is a risk of a coup, which would impede the inauguration of the winner of democratic elections,” Lula said during the General Debate, an event that allows world leaders to speak on whatever topics they choose.

But hours later, it was Giammattei’s turn to take the podium — and he pushed back against Lula’s allegations.

“Contrary to the supposed truths we’ve heard from this podium today, I will hand over power to the person who was elected in the elections,” Giammattei said.

Photo Credit: Alexandria Adult Detention Center

The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was released from federal custody on Wednesday after completing a three-year sentence for helping him run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.

Photo Credit: Alberto Roque / Reuters pool

A United Nations panel warned that the human rights situation in Nicaragua has worsened in the six months since it concluded that crimes against humanity had been committed in the Central American country.

“Today, the overall human rights situation has aggravated,” Jan-Michael Simon, the panel’s chair, wrote in a statement. “We observe an escalation of persecution of dissent by the government.”