■ Venezuela
`Bishop' nabbed with coke
A 67-year-old Spaniard disguised as a Roman Catholic bishop was arrested in a Venezuelan airport with nearly 9kg of cocaine under his cassock, authorities said on Saturday. Angel Velasco Padilla was arrested this week at Maiquetia international airport near the capital Caracas as he tried to board a flight to Spain. The suspect was carrying 7.9kg of cocaine in his belt plus 12 drug packets in his underwear, police said. Velasco told authorities he was a member of a Dutch archdiocese and had been in Venezuela for a week to attend a meeting.
■ United Kingdom
Briton involved in Iraq abuse
An official was involved in drafting the rules that allowed extreme interrogation methods to be used at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib detention center -- the heart of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, a newspaper reported yesterday. The government has been forced to retract claims that no British military officer had seen or been involved with the document permitting prison guards to use such techniques as dogs, sleep deprivation and stress positions in breach of the Geneva Conventions, The Observer said.
■ Panama
Blacks reenact slave escape
Panamanian blacks descended from escaped African slaves re-enacted on Saturday the winning of their freedom in a pageant considered vital to preserving the identity of the tiny, impoverished community. In a medieval fort in Portobelo on Panama's Caribbean coast, the 1,000 "Congo" blacks, known as Congos, told the story of their ancestors' escape from slave masters 450 years ago. Men dressed as gaudy devils wielding whips and representing Spanish colonial masters entered the San Geronimo fort attempting to carry away beautiful women, or queens, who represent the enslaved Africans. Congos in jeans worn inside out fought back to the accompaniment of hypnotic drums until the devils were captured and baptized, symbolizing victory over Spanish slave owners.
■ Mexico
Bodies of Americans found
The bullet-riddled bodies of two US citizens have been found in the central Mexican state of Michoacan, US and Mexican authorities said Saturday. The Americans were among four bodies found on Friday near Tacambaro, about 240km west of Mexico City. Family members identified the US victims as Omar Chavez and Alejandro Munoz, of Dallas, said US Embassy spokeswoman Diana Page. Munoz was a US Army reservist. The bodies of Mexicans Mariano Perez and Delfino Perez also were recovered, said Ignacio Roque, spokesman for the Michoacan state attorney general's office.
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