Jose Miguel Insulza

Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza was elected Monday to a five-year term as secretary-general of the Organization of American States. Insulza, 62, is a lawyer and former foreign minister who spent 10 years in exile in Mexico and Italy while Chile was ruled by a military government. Insulza received 31 votes, with Mexico and Bolivia abstaining and Peru casting a blank vote. He will be sworn in May 25.

The U.S. secretary of Labor and a former Chilean president were named Sunday to a commission to monitor the creation of a power-sharing government in Honduras, under a U.S.-brokered agreement to end the nation's 4-month-old political crisis. Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and ex-President Ricardo Lagos would arrive in the Central American country Tuesday, accompanied by high-level OAS officials.

The U.S. secretary of Labor and a former Chilean president were named Sunday to a commission to monitor the creation of a power-sharing government in Honduras, under a U.S.-brokered agreement to end the nation's 4-month-old political crisis. Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and ex-President Ricardo Lagos would arrive in the Central American country Tuesday, accompanied by high-level OAS officials.

Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza was elected Monday to a five-year term as secretary-general of the Organization of American States. Insulza, 62, is a lawyer and former foreign minister who spent 10 years in exile in Mexico and Italy while Chile was ruled by a military government. Insulza received 31 votes, with Mexico and Bolivia abstaining and Peru casting a blank vote. He will be sworn in May 25.

Spain announced that it will allow prosecutors to seek former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's extradition from Britain. Chile immediately protested the move by recalling its ambassador from Spain. The approval in Madrid by the Spanish Cabinet leaves Pinochet's legal fate in the hands of Britain, where the former general was arrested on a Spanish warrant Oct. 16. The English High Court ruled that Pinochet's arrest was illegal because he is entitled to immunity as a former head of state.

Citing the "historic" nature of the case, a judge Friday gave Britain's government nine extra days to decide whether to allow Gen. Augusto Pinochet's extradition to Spain to face charges including genocide. The 83-year-old former Chilean dictator will learn his fate when British Home Secretary Jack Straw announces his decision at a Dec. 11 court appearance.

The Organization of American States finishes up its annual meeting in Bolivia on Tuesday. The normally humdrum assembly of 35 nations is turning out to be one of the most controversial gatherings in years, thanks to an effort by a handful of countries to weaken one of the OAS' most important and autonomous bodies: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Those efforts began early this year when Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, sought to prevent the commission's special rapporteur for freedom of expression from doing her job effectively.

To no one's surprise, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is upset with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a watchdog group that has pushed to protect indigenous leaders, journalists and civil society organizations in the Western Hemisphere from abuses. And the feeling appears to be mutual. The commission has rightly denounced Correa's efforts to curb freedom of expression and jail critics of his administration. It also dared to weigh in on Venezuela's attempt to ban an opposition candidate from running for office against President Hugo Chavez.

Under heavy police guard, Gen. Augusto Pinochet was spirited out of a London hospital on Tuesday and driven to a country estate to await a government decision on whether to extradite him. An ambulance carrying the former Chilean dictator swept through the gates of Grovelands Priory as demonstrators shook their fists and chanted "We want justice!"

Reporting from Caracas, Venezuela, and Quito, Ecuador -- Protests broke out in Venezuela on Monday after cable companies dropped transmission of a popular channel that the government declared had broken telecommunications laws by not broadcasting President Hugo Chavez's speeches. Government critics and supporters of Radio Caracas Television took to the streets of Caracas, the capital, and several other cities after companies dropped RCTV's programming under threat of losing their licenses.

Here's the rundown on guests and topics for the weekend's public-affairs programs: TODAY "Saturday Journal": Eamon Javers, The Hill, 5 a.m. C-SPAN. "Today": Marriage mentors; Jessica Lange ("A Thousand Acres"); Kim Basinger ("L.A. Confidential"); amateur inventors competition; low-fat penne pasta; the Stylistics perform, 5 a.m. (4)(36)(39). "Evans & Novak": William Daley, Secretary of Commerce, 2:30 p.m., repeats Sunday 7 a.m. CNN.

The man who replaced President Manuel Zelaya in a coup said Thursday that he would be willing to hold elections ahead of schedule if that would ease the standoff, which has left Honduras badly isolated. The offer from Roberto Micheletti came on the eve of a high-level visit by a delegation of the Organization of American States aimed at sealing Zelaya's return to office -- or deciding on sanctions to punish the impoverished nation.