LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Nicaragua sentences bishop a day after he declined to be expelled to U.S.

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Nicaraguan Catholic bishop sentenced to prison, stripped of citizenship MANAGUA - A Nicaraguan court sentenced Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez to a more than 26-year prison term, a day after the cleric and critic of President Daniel Ortega declined to be expelled to the United States as part of a prisoner release.

In addition to being convicted on charges of undermining national integrity and spreading false news, it was also announced that Alvarez would be fined and stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship. Spain offered citizenship to 222 political prisoners who were released Thursday and flown to the United States, after lawmakers loyal to Ortega voted to strip them of their Nicaraguan citizenship, in the first of two needed votes.

Biden and Lula project unity on democratic values and climate change WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden held talks at the White House with Brazilian leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a reboot of relations after the end of Donald Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro's stormy rule.

The two leaders opened their late-afternoon Oval Office meeting by telling the press about their shared values on fighting climate change and protecting democracy against a rise in authoritarianism. In a CNN interview earlier in Washington, Lula called his far-right predecessor Bolsonaro a "faithful copycat" of Trump and said there was no chance Bolsonaro would return to the presidency.

OAS members recommit to helping Haiti through gang violence The Organization of American States (OAS) passed a resolution to support Haiti on its path to long-delayed elections and help the Caribbean country manage widespread gang violence that is driving a humanitarian crisis.

The resolution proposed creating a working group of member states no later than Feb. 22 to address issues such as gun trafficking and a proposed multinational force to help police restore order, which Haiti's caretaker government requested five months ago. Earlier, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the international community to "urgently consider" sending a specialized support force to Haiti to combat the "living nightmare" of gang violence.

Ex-Honduras president bribed by prominent family, U.S. prosecutors say NEW YORK - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was bribed by the country's prominent Rosenthal family, which owned a "massive" group of businesses in the Central American country, U.S. prosecutors said.

Hernandez, a former U.S. ally who led Honduras from 2014 until January 2022, was extradited to the United States last April on charges of receiving millions of dollars from drug-trafficking organizations in exchange for protecting them from investigation and arrest. He has pleaded not guilty. In court papers filed on Friday, prosecutors said evidence at Hernandez's trial, currently scheduled for Sept. 18, will show that the former president "also received bribes from the Rosenthals as well as helped them obtain business contracts to launder money."

Suspect in Paraguayan prosecutor's murder arrested in Brazil RIO DE JANEIRO - A man suspected of ordering the murder of a top Paraguayan prosecutor last year has been arrested in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's federal police said on Friday.

Paraguayan Miguel Angel Insfran Galeano is accused of being involved in the assassination of organized crime prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, who was shot dead last May on the island of Baru, Colombia, while on his honeymoon. Insfran, known as Uncle Rico, was arrested in Recreio dos Bandeirantes, a neighborhood in the western part of the city, before being taken to federal police headquarters and then to a Rio de Janeiro prison.

Brazil police launch fresh raid to fight illegal mining in Yanomami lands SAO PAULO - Brazil's federal police said on Friday they had launched a fresh operation to fight wildcat mining in the Yanomami indigenous territory amid a humanitarian crisis blamed on illegal gold miners in the region.

The police operation adds to enforcement raids launched earlier this week by Brazil's environmental and indigenous agencies to expel thousands of wildcat miners from the country's largest indigenous reservation. (Compiled by Steven Grattan and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Leslie Adler)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)