Central America

Conchita Cintron, who broke into the male-dominated sport of bullfighting at 13 and became one of the world's first famous female matadors, has died. She was 86. Cintron, who became known as "La Diosa Rubia," or "The Blond Goddess," died of a heart attack Tuesday in Lisbon, the Portuguese news agency Lusa said, quoting unidentified family members. She was buried Wednesday at a cemetery in Trajouce, near Lisbon, according to a funeral agency and local church.

Many people balk at the idea that North America had any substantial civilization before 1492, the moment that it is customarily believed this continent switched from prehistory to history. I remember being on a National Public Radio talk show and a caller accused me of making an unwarranted upgrade when I said there was civilization in the ancient Southwest.

Ada Marlen was 17 and already the mother of two children when she set out from her home in Honduras to seek work in the United States. That was in 1989; her family hasn't heard from her since. "Nineteen years ago my daughter started her journey, in search of her American dream, and to this day I don't know anything about her," said her mother, Emeteria Martinez.

Dole Food Co., Chiquita Brands International Inc. and four other companies face new lawsuits by more than 2,000 Central American farmworkers who say they suffered injuries from a pesticide used on banana plantations. Dole, Chiquita and Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. continued using the pesticide, dibromochloropropane, in Central America after 1979 when the Environmental Protection Agency banned its use in the U.S., a group of Honduran workers said in a complaint filed Monday in state court in Los Angeles.

Apparel maker Hanesbrands Inc. said it would close nine plants across five countries and cut about 12% of its workforce as it cuts costs. The moves will eliminate the jobs of about 8,100 workers in the U.S. and Central America, while the company plans to add 2,000 jobs in Asia. Hanesbrands, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., has about 50,000 employees in 25 countries. The maker of Hanes and Champion apparel said it was expanding production in Asia and consolidating into larger plants in lower-cost countries.

Robbers with machetes hacked a U.S. tourist to death and seriously wounded his wife aboard the couple's sailboat in northeastern Guatemala, the woman said Sunday. In a telephone interview from her hospital bed, Nancy Dryden, 67, said her husband, Daniel Perry Dryden, 66, was killed by four men who boarded their boat late Saturday while it was anchored in Lake Izabal.

Donald White, a former schoolteacher and social activist who helped organize and coordinate dozens of initiatives involving human rights in Central America and antiwar efforts around the world, has died. He was 71. He died of an apparent heart attack June 19 at his home in Los Angeles, said Blase Bonpane, a longtime friend. White, who was born in 1937 in Mount Vernon, Wash., studied political science at the University of the Pacific in Tacoma, Wash.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was an orphan who made his way to the U.S. from the streets of Guatemala City as a teen. Army Sgt. 1st Class Tung Nguyen, born in Vietnam, was 11 and living in a refugee camp in Thailand when his mother placed him on a rickety boat with the goal of reaching America. Of the nearly 500 Californians who have lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least 59 were immigrants, The Times has found in an analysis of their obituaries. Dozens more were first-generation Americans whose parents made their way to the U.S. from China, Mexico, Central America, Russia and elsewhere to seek a better life.

There is no shortage of good things to eat in the open-air Wholesale Market here in Nicaragua's capital. Canvas sacks groan with rice and lentils. White eggs are stacked neatly, 30 to a box, fresh from the hens that laid them. But talk to merchants and shoppers and they'll tell you stories of want, not bounty. The fallout from exploding global prices for grains and fuel has landed hard on this impoverished Central American nation of 5.7 million people.

A counselor for a children's home was scheduled to be arraigned today on charges of sexually molesting six boys in his office while they were phoning their families abroad. Victor Salazar, 26, of Santa Ana is accused of molesting the 15- and 16-year-old boys while working at Florence Crittenden Home on Harbor Boulevard, a shelter for children living in the U.S. without parents either because the parents have been deported or the children entered the country alone. Between May 25, 2007, and February 5, 2008, prosecutors allege, Salazar fondled or orally copulated each boy while he was making a personal call to his family in South or Central America.