GUATEMALA
Massacre work of Mexico drug gang Zetas
GUATEMALA CITY | The Guatemalan government Monday blamed the Mexican drug gang, the Zetas, for a massacre of 29 ranch workers in a rural province near the Mexican border.
Interior Minister Carlos Menocal said the style and manner of the killings implicates the Mexican-based gang, which has been fighting local drug gangs for territory in northern Guatemala.
Most of the 29 bodies were decapitated. A message in blood on a wall said the killers were after ranch owner Otto Salguero.
Mr. Menocal said Monday that authorities are investigating Mr. Salguero, whose whereabouts is unknown.
HAITI
Martelly wants business leader as prime minister
PORT-AU-PRINCE | Haiti’s new president wants a business leader to serve as his prime minister.
President Michel Martelly said he intends to nominate Daniel-Gerard Rouzier to be the country’s No. 2 official.
Mr. Martelly, a charismatic pop star known as “Sweet Micky,” was sworn in Saturday in back-to-back ceremonies at a makeshift Parliament and on the lawn of the National Palace, which collapsed in last year’s crippling earthquake.
Parliament still must ratify Mr. Rouzier’s appointment.
CANADA
Wildfire forces whole town to evacuate
SLAVE LAKE, ALBERTA | Wildfires blazing through a northern Canadian town have forced the evacuation of nearly 7,000 people.
Police say nearly one-third of buildings were destroyed when strong winds suddenly turned the flames on Slave Lake.
The fires kept raging Monday.
All residents were ordered to leave Sunday afternoon, but evacuation proved difficult as smoke and fast-moving flames blocked some highways.
Some fled to a town 80 miles away.
No deaths or injuries have been reported. The fire covered about 3.5 square files, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
About 70 firefighters were dispatched to Slave Lake from Edmonton, 150 miles to the south.
PERU
Conservative Fujimori has edge on leftist Humala
LIMA | Right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori’s lead over leftist Ollanta Humala appears to be growing ahead of Peru’s June 5 presidential run-off, according to a new poll by survey firm Ipsos CPI.
The nationwide poll, published in the newspaper El Comercio, showed Miss Fujimori getting 51.1 percent of the vote and Mr. Humala with 48.9 percent.
CHILE
Former Foreign Minister to lead UN mission to Haiti
UNITED NATIONS | The United Nations on Monday named former Chilean Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez as new special representative to Haiti to help guide the impoverished nation to stability after a devastating earthquake.
Mr. Fernandez, 66, will take over as head of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti from Edmond Mulet, who took the post temporarily after the January 2010 earthquake that killed about 220,000 people.
Mr. Fernandez was Chile’s Foreign Minister in 2009 and 2010 and earlier served the Chilean ambassador to the United States and Britain. He was in exile in Germany during the 1974-82 military dictatorship.
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