WORLD
April 19, 2013 | By Mery Mogollon
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Nicolas Maduro, the handpicked successor of the late President Hugo Chavez, was sworn in to Venezuela's highest office Friday, despite refusal by a newly empowered opposition to accept defeat in a hotly contested election. Flanked by huge portraits of Chavez, “our eternal commander,” and Simon Bolivar, legendary liberator of Latin America, Maduro held a miniature copy of the Venezuelan Constitution during a ceremony with numerous heads of state in attendance.
OPINION
April 19, 2013 | By Charles Shapiro
Venezuela's National Electoral Council declared Nicolas Maduro, the handpicked successor of the late President Hugo Chavez, the winner in the presidential election Sunday. But it was a victory in a compromised system that tilted the table in his favor. FOR THE RECORD: Venezuela: The biographical information in an April 19 Op-Ed on the Venezuelan election misreported the name of an L.A. organization. It is the Pacific Council on International Policy, not the Pacific Council on International Affairs.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 11, 2013 | By Hector Tobar, Los Angeles Times
Deep into Marie Arana's wonderful new biography of Simón Bolívar, "the George Washington of South America," there's a deliciously unexpected pause in the action. It's 1816, and Bolívar has set sail from Haiti. He's on his way back to Venezuela, with an army set to take on the hated Spanish colonial authorities. At the island of St. Thomas, he ostensibly stops for "supplies. " In reality, his fleet of ships has anchored so that Bolívar can pick up his mistress, Pepita Machado.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 9, 2013 | From Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports
Victor Carranza, known as the "Emerald King" of Colombia, who built a near monopoly in trade in the precious gems and survived at least two assassination attempts along the way, died of lung cancer Thursday at a Bogota hospital. He was 77. Officials at the Fundacion Santa Fe hospital announced his death. A former prospector who became one of Latin America's wealthiest men, Carranza was never criminally convicted despite several prosecutions on charges that included kidnapping and sponsoring private militias as he battled for control of the mountainous emerald region.
WORLD
March 15, 2013 | By Vincent Bevins, Cecilia Sanchez and Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times
SAO PAULO, Brazil - In Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto tweeted an affectionate greeting for Pope Francis as he prepared for a last-minute trip to arrive in Rome in time for Mass at the Vatican on Sunday. Acting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro joked that Hugo Chavez, his predecessor who died last week, must have persuaded Jesus that the world was ready for a South American pope. And in Brazil, many people confessed a tinge of disappointment that a Brazilian papal candidate had been bypassed for a cardinal from their rival - and fellow soccer-mad nation - Argentina.
ENTERTAINMENT
February 28, 2013 | By David Ng
Los Angeles' primary election for mayor is Tuesday. In a recent survey conducted by Arts for L.A., a nonprofit group that promotes cultural funding, the candidates responded to a series of questions related to the arts and the creative industries. Their responses can be viewed in their entirety on the Arts for LA website . The survey dealt primarily with arts funding, but it included a question about the candidates' most meaningful cultural experience growing up. Councilman Eric Garcetti recalled a time when "my parents took me to my first concert at the Hollywood Bowl.