World Briefing

GUINEA

Coup leader vows to wipe out corruption

The leader of Guinea's coup declared a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, warning that anyone who embezzles state funds will be executed.

"For the person who embezzles money, there won't be a trial. They'll be killed," Capt. Moussa Camara said as the crowd went wild. "I was born in a hut. I walked to school. . . . Money means nothing to me."

Guinea is the world's largest producer of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and also produces diamonds and gold. Yet its mineral wealth has enriched only the country's longtime ruling clique.

The West African nation has been ruled by just two people since gaining independence from France half a century ago. Dictator Lansana Conte died Monday, and the junta led by Camara declared the coup a day later.

BOLIVIA

Morales admits coca is diverted

President Evo Morales acknowledged for the first time in his nearly three years in office that a portion of coca grown in the country is used to make cocaine.

Morales, who remains the leader of Bolivia's coca-growing unions, also said that his government is aware that some farmers are violating a law that limits each family to planting a little less than half an acre of coca for medicine and food.

"Not all of our coca goes to legal markets," Morales told union leaders during a speech broadcast on government radio Patria Nueva.

"Unfortunately, because of an illegal problem -- drug addiction in some countries -- our coca gets diverted into illegal markets." He did not say how much of the coca is diverted to make cocaine.

Bolivia is the third-largest coca producer after Colombia and Peru.

MEXICO

Drug arrest costs her pageant title

A Mexican beauty queen detained on suspicion of drug and weapons violations has been stripped of her crown in the Hispanoamerican Queen pageant, organizers said.

Laura Zuniga, 23, was stripped of first-place honors for "failure to comply with the regulations of the title she represents," Bolivia-based pageant organizing company Gloria Promociones said in a statement. She beat more than 19 contestants from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States to win the title in October.

Runner-up Vivian Noronha of Brazil will receive the crown.