LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Taiwan told to 'pack up and leave' Honduras after ties severed

Torres was jailed on corruption charges in 2019, but freed last November after the judge determined there was insufficient evidence to convict her. Venezuela's Maduro suspends PDVSA restructuring committee after minister quits CARACAS - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro suspended a committee he had appointed to restructure state oil firm PDVSA under the supervision of Tareck El Aissami, the oil minister who resigned last week amid an expanding anti-corruption probe into the company and the judiciary. The country's official gazette on Monday said Maduro ended the 2020 decree that had created the committee last week.

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Taiwan told to 'pack up and leave' Honduras after ties severed TEGUCIGALPA - Taiwan must vacate its embassy in Honduras within 30 days, a senior Honduran official said, after President Xiomara Castro severed ties with Taiwan in favor of China in a bid for more investment and jobs from the Asian giant.

Castro's main conservative opposition later announced it would reverse the opening to China if it regains power and would enshrine allegiance to Taiwan in the country's constitution. Late on Sunday, Vice President Salvador Nasralla, who split from Castro early 2022, also criticized the move, alleging the country risked becoming a "battleground" between China's navy and the United States, which holds a military base in Palmerola.

Guatemala sets lineup for presidential vote as critics slam disqualifications GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's presidential race kicked off after the electoral authority finalized its approved candidate lineup for the June election, even as critics blasted decisions to disqualify some candidates while allowing others to run.

Polls point to Zury Rios, a 55-year-old conservative former congresswoman who was banned from participating in the previous election due to the country's constitutional prohibition on children of ex-dictators as candidates, as a leading candidate. The other leading contender is former first lady Sandra Torres, 67, who finished second in the last two elections. Torres was jailed on corruption charges in 2019, but freed last November after the judge determined there was insufficient evidence to convict her.

Venezuela's Maduro suspends PDVSA restructuring committee after minister quits CARACAS - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro suspended a committee he had appointed to restructure state oil firm PDVSA under the supervision of Tareck El Aissami, the oil minister who resigned last week amid an expanding anti-corruption probe into the company and the judiciary.

The country's official gazette on Monday said Maduro ended the 2020 decree that had created the committee last week. The probe has led to 10 officials and 11 businessmen being arrested and 11 more wanted. It is linked to PDVSA's heavy losses in recent years, when tankers left the country with cargoes that had not been paid for in full, officials have said.

Cuba calls national election a 'home run,' opposition groups cry foul HAVANA - Cuba said voters had elected all 470 candidates for the National Assembly on the ballot over the weekend, calling the results a "home run," while opposition groups critiqued the elections as a farce.

Election officials said Monday the initial turnout was 75.9%, topping participation in municipal elections in November and a referendum on the Cuban family code, which legalized gay marriage, in September. Colombia risks losing U.S. support in fight against drugs -attorney general

BOGOTA - Colombia risks losing U.S. support in its fight against drug trafficking because of rising coca output and a bill that could allow criminal gangs to surrender and possibly be pardoned, the attorney general told Reuters. The bill, backed by leftist President Gustavo Petro, is part of the government's efforts to end the role of criminal groups in Colombia's internal conflict, which has run for almost six decades and has killed than more than 450,000 people. (Compiled by Steven Grattan and Sarah Morland; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Chris Reese)

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