LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Venezuela's Maduro commiserates with Putin after drone attack

* Nicaragua arrests 40 opposition figures in latest round-up

* Mexico president defends son after report alleging corruption

* Argentina seeks US, Brazilian support for faster IMF payouts

* Spain to study removing ELN from EU's terror list, Petro says

* Latam election influence operation linked to Miami firm

(.) May 4 (Reuters) -

The latest in Latin American politics on Thursday: Venezuela's Maduro commiserates with Putin after drone attack

CARACAS - Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro said he had spoken by phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to "express all the support of the Venezuelan people after the terrorist attack on the Kremlin." Russia has accused the U.S. of being behind what it says was a drone attack on Moscow's Kremlin citadel intended to kill Putin, an assertion the U.S. called "ludicrous."

Maduro and Putin also discussed deepening their countries' bilateral cooperation, Maduro said on Twitter. Nicaragua arrests 40 opposition figures in new round-up of critics

Police have arrested 40 political opponents of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and charged them with crimes including conspiracy and treason in a new round-up of government critics, according to relatives of five of the detainees. The opposition figures were detained on Wednesday night, taken to the capital Managua to be charged, then transferred back home to be placed under house arrest, the relatives told Reuters.

The charges against the 40 were registered in the country's online judicial database. Mexico president defends son after report alleging corruption

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican president has defended one of his sons against corruption allegations, rejecting a media report that his son used his position to help friends win millions of dollars worth of contracts. This week Mexican news outlet Latinus published a report alleging that Andres Lopez Beltran, a son of the president, had helped friends snare public contracts worth over 100 million pesos ($5.6 million).

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged family friends had won government contracts, but said they posed no conflicts of interest. Argentina seeks US, Brazilian support for faster IMF payouts, sources say

BRASILIA/BUENOS AIRES - Argentina is seeking new easing of targets in its $44 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund and faster payouts and is pushing to get the United States and Brazil, both key IMF members, to support it, government officials said. The country is expected to return to talks with the IMF over amending the deal, which has come under strain amid a historic drought that has battered the country's key cash crops soy and corn, a senior economy ministry official said.

Spain to study removing ELN from EU's terror list, Colombian leader says MADRID - Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Spain will look at removing the left-wing Colombian guerrilla group known as the National Liberation Army (ELN) from the European Union's list of designated terrorist organizations during the upcoming Spanish presidency of the EU Council.

At a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid, Petro said Spain would "study the possibility" of removing the ELN from the list to make progress towards a truce or ceasefire in Colombia's six-decade conflict with rebels and crime gangs. Latin American election influence operation linked to Miami marketing firm

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON - A Miami-based digital marketing firm was behind a series of covert political influence operations in Latin America over the last year, Facebook-owner Meta said this week, a rare disclosure of an apparent U.S.-based misinformation-for-hire outfit. Predictvia, which is registered as a business in Florida, says on its website that it stands on the "front line of the fight against misinformation" and combats "coordinated efforts to manipulate public discourse."

(Compiled by Brendan O'Boyle and Steven Grattan; Editing by Paul Simao and Josie Kao)

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