The Tico Times

GUATEMALA CITY – A Guatemalan court indicted former President Otto Pérez Molina on corruption charges Tuesday, days after he resigned over a customs fraud scandal that has stoked outrage in the Central American country. Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez granted prosecutors' request to try Pérez Molina on charges of customs fraud, racketeering and bribery. He then ordered the former president held in preventive prison pending an investigation, calling the retired general a "flight risk."

Colombia maintains that since the border crisis started, 14,000 Colombians living in Venezuela had been displaced including at least 1,443 Venezuela deported. The rest fled in fear, often with just a backpack or the clothes on their backs.

"Mexico needs to resolve the case as soon as possible, not only to solve this crime, but also to prove to the world that there is a light at the end of the tunnel of impunity in Mexico," El Universal newspaper said in an editorial.

Brazil will welcome Syrian refugees with "open arms," President Dilma Rousseff said Monday, amid a tidal wave of people fleeing the war-torn country.

Province: Alajuela. Hacienda Los Reyes Guácima, Alajuela. Construction: 574m2. Land: 1153m2. Bedrooms: 5. Bathrooms: 3. Parking: 3

Bodhi Surf School in Uvita, Costa Rica is offering a contest for lovers of surf, yoga, and nature. If you can explain an action you're taking to better the environmental, you could win a free trip to Bodhi's surf and yoga camp.

Three people from the U.S. were attacked and seriously injured last week by a mob near the Liberia airport protesting government fishing rules.

GUATEMALA CITY – A comedian whose shtick was playing a simpleton cowboy who almost becomes president emerged Monday as the man to beat in Guatemala's presidential race amid disgust over a corruption scandal that felled the outgoing incumbent.

Comedian-turned-politician Jimmy Morales, 46, currently is in the lead to become Guatemala's next president by a wide margin. But in a surprise for many, former First Lady Sandra Torres – who for much of the campaign polled in a distant third place – was neck-and-neck with Líder party candidate Manuel Baldizón for a second-place spot in an Oct. 25 runoff election.

In a practice known as acarreo, political parties or candidates shuttle poor residents to various districts to vote in exchange for money or food. This year's general election on Sunday was marked by several allegations of acarreo, intimidation, and in some cases, violence.