A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

CARIBBEAN: Flooding from Tropical Storm Olga kills at least 14 in region

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Tropical Storm Olga triggered floods and landslides on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola Wednesday, killing at least 13 people and forcing thousands to flee their homes, authorities said. One person also died in Puerto Rico.

Hardest hit was the northern province of Santiago in the Dominican Republic, where heavy rains forced authorities to release water from a near-capacity dam into the already swollen Yaque river. The provincial governor said at least seven towns were completely flooded.

People complained on local radio that they were not warned of the water release from the dam, and officials acknowledged it might have caused some of the 10 deaths reported in the province.

"We have an emergency situation. It's a catastrophe," Gov. Jose Izquierdo said.

Olga weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday afternoon, but rain continued to fall from a system that forecasters said could bring as much as 25 centimeters (10 inches) to some parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola.

At least 11 people were killed and 5,000 evacuated in the Dominican Republic, said Ismael Matias, planning chief of the Dominican emergency operations center.

An elderly woman and a 3-year-old boy were reported killed in northern Haiti, where poor infrastructure could delay reporting on the storm's aftermath for days, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of Haiti's civil protection department.

The storm was also blamed for one death in Puerto Rico, where a rain-triggered avalanche buried an SUV.

GUANTANAMO: Internet group: US troops ridiculed Castro, defended prison camp in Web comments

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay called Fidel Castro a transsexual and defended the prison for terrorism suspects in anonymous Web postings, an Internet group that publishes government documents said Wednesday.

The group, Wikileaks, tracked Web activity by service members with Guantanamo e-mail addresses and also found they deleted prisoner identification numbers from three detainee profiles on Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that allows anyone to change articles.

Julian Assange, who led the research effort, said the postings amount to propaganda and deception.

"This is the American government speaking to the American people and to the world through Wikipedia, not identifying itself and often speaking about itself in the third person," Assange said in a telephone interview from Paris.

Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush, a Guantanamo spokesman, said there is no official attempt to alter information posted elsewhere but said the military seeks to correct what it believes is incorrect or outdated information about the prison.

Bush declined to answer questions about the Castro posting.

Assange said that in January 2006, someone at Guantanamo wrote in a Wikipedia profile of the Cuban president: "Fidel Castro is an admitted transexual," the unknown writer said, misspelling the word "transsexual."

The U.S. has no formal relations with Cuba and has maintained its base in the southeast of the island over the objections of the Castro government.

BAHAMAS: Inquest into death of Anna Nicole Smith's son adjourned until Jan 28

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — An inquest into the death of Anna Nicole Smith's son adjourned Wednesday until Jan. 28, while court officials seek testimony from witnesses including an ex-boyfriend of the late reality TV star.

The court, which cannot compel people to testify, will try to persuade Larry Birkhead, the father of Smith's 1-year-old daughter, and U.S. medical experts to travel to Nassau for the court proceeding, according to Neil Braithwaite, senior counsel in the attorney general's office.

Braithwaite told The Associated Press that officials also hope to enlist the testimony of at least one of the several people who performed toxicology tests on the remains of Smith's son. Daniel Smith collapsed and died Sept. 10, 2006 as he visited his celebrity mother at a Nassau hospital where she had recently given birth to a daughter, Dannielynn.

Officials also want to call California doctor Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed methadone to Anna Nicole Smith shortly before her own death on Feb. 8 in Florida, from an overdose of prescription drugs. The former Playboy playmate, 39, was later buried beside her son at a Nassau cemetery.

So far, 26 witnesses have testified at the inquest before a seven-member jury, which will formally determine what killed Daniel Smith and has the power to recommend criminal charges if it finds evidence of wrongdoing.

Police have said there is no evidence of homicide, and an autopsy found the likely cause of death was a combination of drugs, including the painkiller methadone and antidepressants.

GUYANA: Government says Venezuela will let mediator solve border dispute

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana and Venezuela agreed to let a mediator investigate the destruction of two Guyanese gold-mining dredges, following an explosion that renewed border tensions last month, a Guyanese official said Wednesday.

Guyanese Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally said a mediator would be nominated to the U.N. for consideration, but gave no further details. Venezuelan officials could not be reached for comment.

Georgetown claimed that 36 Venezuelan soldiers used helicopters and powerful explosives last month to blow up two unoccupied dredges on the Cuyuni River in western Guyana, where the neighboring nations have had a long-running dispute over mineral-, gas- and oil-rich lands.

Venezuelan Ambassador Dario Morandy has denied any use of force, and on Wednesday said soldiers stationed along the border had been expelling illegal miners from Venezuela at the time of the explosion.

Venezuelan officials had asked for more time to investigate the dispute but failed to issue an official report on the incident.

Insanally vowed Dec. 10 to ask the U.N. to intervene, and said he received an explanation from Venezuela the next day. Venezuela "did not appear to contest that the incident had occurred in Guyana," he said. "Things happen on the frontier, but we want to put systems in place to ensure that they don't occur again."

SURINAME: Police say 6 Guayanese arrested on suspicion of piracy

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — Authorities said Wednesday they have arrested six people for armed robberies at sea — one week after neighboring Guyana urged Suriname to crack down on pirates who launch attacks from its territory.

Three armed suspects were captured off Suriname's coast last week, and questioning led to three more arrests over the weekend, police from the South American country said in a statement. All six suspects are Guyanese, the statement said.

Police declined to give details about the alleged crimes. Guyana's foreign ministry last week complained that armed pirates based in Suriname have stolen fish, nets and vessels from Guyanese fishermen nearly a dozen times this year.

PUERTO RICO: Protesters clash with police at disputed luxury development site

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Protesters clashed with police Wednesday at the planned site of a luxury villa project in Puerto Rico's capital that activists claim is ecologically harmful and was approved without proper permits.

Eight demonstrators were arrested after a small group struggled with scores of police in riot gear at the Paseo Caribe development in a beachfront area between San Juan's colonial district and the Condado tourist zone.

Assistant Police Superintendent Jose Caldero said officers had been trying to clear protesters away to allow construction trucks to pass when the melee erupted.

"They were kicking and throwing punches, and that is not civil disobedience," Caldero said. "We are here doing a job and will continue to do so until given other instructions."

Osvaldo Burgos, a former director of Puerto Rico's civil rights commission, denounced what he described as an "excessive display" of force by police.

Demonstrators have camped at the controversial site for weeks, cutting off much public access to a historic fort that once helped protect San Juan from seafaring privateers.

The dispute over the construction project has made headlines in Puerto Rico for months, raising political controversy because a portion of the villas are due to be built on public land.

Shortly after the clash, Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila ordered all Paseo Caribe permits suspended for 60 days, but his order can't halt construction until the city's planning board and permit administration weigh in.

PUERTO RICO: FBI raids seek more than 100 drug suspects

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities conducted raids in two Puerto Rican cities Wednesday with arrest warrants for 121 drug suspects who are also linked to nearly two dozen killings, the FBI director for the U.S. Caribbean territory said.

The warrants issued Tuesday by a U.S. grand jury represent the largest group ever indicted at once by federal authorities on the island, according to FBI special agent Luis Fraticelli.

The raids began before dawn in Rio Piedras and Aibonito south of the capital, San Juan. FBI agents and local police had arrested at least 61 people by Wednesday afternoon.

The suspects were all wanted on charges related to drug trafficking, and the FBI said those arrested include leaders, sellers and lookouts for a drug ring that controlled narcotics sales in residential subdivisions.

"It's a very, very violent organization," Fraticelli said.

The killings linked to the suspects include the highly publicized shooting of a lawyer and his two teenage daughters who were caught in the crossfire on a highway two years ago, Fraticelli said.

Two of the suspects still at large are also wanted for the March killing of Wally Rivera, the secretary of a union that represents employees at the state utilities company, he said.

Authorities have blamed the majority of the island's homicides on drug traffickers seeking control of the marijuana, heroin and cocaine trade.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Cleveland Indians pitcher moved out of intensive care unit, shows improvement

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Cleveland Indians reliever Juan Lara is recovering well from injuries suffered in a vehicular crash and has been moved out of the intensive care unit, Dominican health officials said Wednesday.

Lara is taking food through his mouth, his fractured spine has stabilized and the severity of his brain trauma has lessened, said Dashira Martinez, spokeswoman for the Plaza de la Salud Hospital in Santo Domingo.

"Juan was transferred to a regular room and is lucid, but he has limited movement in his left arm," she said, adding that doctors have not said whether he might be paralyzed.

Lara was driving in his native Dominican Republic last month when he was hit by a motorcycle in an accident that killed both the bike's driver and passenger.

The 26-year-old left-hander pitched in one game for Cleveland last season.