Central America

"Conservative Bad Girl" Ana Sol Alliegro Might Be Hiding in Nicaragua

Where in the world is Ana Sol Alliegro? We've heard joking answers from the bottom of the Everglades to St. Tropez, but there hasn't been an actual report on David Rivera's shady lady friend until now. According to sources who spoke to América TeVé, she may be in Nicaragua.

FSU Campus Wi-Fi Users Redirected to "Meat Spin" Shock Site by Hacker

On March 1, students who tried to log on to the Internet using the free Wi-Fi network on Florida State University's Panama City campus found themselves automatically redirected to an infamous Internet shock site called Meatspin.com. In case you're unfamiliar, the site does not feature a 24-ounce por ... More >>

Haiti Correspondent Recalls Adventures With Graham Greene, Horrors of Duvalier Regimes

Graham Greene is a literary legend, famous for best-selling spy novels like Our Man in Havana, The End of the Affair, and The Quiet American. But the writer was as mysterious as his characters: secretive and prone to bouts of bipolarism. Few people really ever got to know him.Surprisingly, one of th ... More >>

Last-Minute Gifts from Sushi Samba and Schnebly's

We're so close to Christmas the countdown is about to switch from days to mere hours. If you're one of those who gets shopping done early, pre-Thanksgiving early, then give yourself a pat on the back and get out of our sight. You're making us feel guilty.For the rest of us scrambling to check off th ... More >>

Replacing Hugo: Which Latin American Leader Is Next On America's Sh*tlist?

Earlier this week, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that he'll be undergoing cancer surgery for the fourth time in less than two years. Chavez, who has held power in Venezuela since 1999, apparently isn't too optimistic about his chances; he's already named a successor to take his position ... More >>

Bloom in Wynwood Needs Polishing

Wynwood Brewing Company and Estancia Culinaria Combine Powers to Host Superhero Beer Dinner

Like Batman and Robin, Kirk and Spock, or Quixote and Panza, Estancia Culinaria and Wynwood Brewing Company are combining their powers Saturday, September 29, to throw down a party for charity in the countryside. The party is called Bites, Beats and Brews (BX3), and it's a seven-course dinner prepar ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain Names Club Deuce a Favorite Bar: Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Recap

First off, congratulations to Mac's Club Deuce for being named one of Anthony Bourdain's five favorite bars in the world. See Also:Best Dive Bar 2012: Mac's Club DeuceIn Food & Wine, Tony makes a case for the smoke-filled cash-only dive bar in the middle of Miami Beach's flashy nightlife scene, ... More >>

Report: Mitt Romney Founded Bain With Money From Miamians With Death Squad Ties

Nowadays, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has got plenty of money. More than $200 million of it in secret accounts around the world, in fact. But when he launched Bain Capital in 1983, Romney had trouble raising the cash for the private equity project. So he turned to super-wealthy Centr ... More >>

Miami Performance International Festival: Work You Can't Hang Over Your Couch

U.S. Customs Nabs $7.3 Million in Cocaine at Miami Seaport

What can $7.3 million buy you nowadays? How about 459 pounds of cocaine?That was the amount seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on May 29 at the Miami Seaport. CBP officers discovered 169 bricks of coke in eight cardboard boxes in a shipping container. The container came off a ship that had ... More >>

Southeast Financial Center Janitors Protest for Unpaid Wages

Most days, Juana Reyes stays past 10 pm to pick up the half-eaten lunches and crumpled printouts left behind by bankers and traders at the Southeast Financial Center, which houses heavy hitters like Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. But for the last four years, the 60-year-old Nicaragua native says ... More >>

Mad Man Jack's BBQ: Alabama 'Cue Meets Miami Sazon

It's a funny thing finding a barbecue joint in Miami. You never know what you're gonna get.Enter Mad Man Jack's BBQ, a newborn to Miami. It's been open for just over two months, peddling solid Alabama-style 'cue from an unassuming location.Walk in and notice the quintessential "Southern" vibe most b ... More >>

Miami Rum Renaissance Returns For Fourth Annual Edition

​For Robert, Robert Jr. and Robin Burr, rum isn't just a type of liquor, it's a way of life."[Rum] is an incredible spirit," said the elder Robert, the family's patriarch and founder of Miami's Rum Renaissance, which takes place April 16-22. "And now it's experiencing a renaissance of appreciation ... More >>

67. Tres Leches at Havana 1957

It's that time of year again when we count down to New Times' Best of Miami 2012 issue in June. Until then, Short Order will serve up 100 of our favorite dishes in the 305. If you have any nominations of your own, please send them to cafe@miaminewtimes.com.​67. Tres Leches at Havana 1957 The na ... More >>

Heroin Lollipops Seized From Sweaty Guatemalan at Airport

​When Rafael Quinones Jimenez arrived in Orlando on a flight from his native Guatemala on Friday, U.S. Customs inspectors noted that he was "very nervous and was sweating profusely." For good reason. When they searched his luggage they found seven pounds of heroin disguised as candy lollipops.So h ... More >>

Bosco Enriquez was beaten and raped after helping Miami cops bust Latin gangs

Read Part 2 of Bosco Enriquez's saga.

Luis Posada Carriles Could Be Extradited to Panama for Allegedly Plotting to Kill Fidel

​Former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles may have beaten charges in Texas last year, but the aging anti-communist operative ain't in the clear just yet.A Panamanian lawyer requested his extradition today on charges that he plotted to kill then-Cuban president Fidel Castro while in Panama back in 200 ... More >>

Occupy Miami's March On Brickell In Pictures

Jacob KatelCaribbean Vendetta​Hundreds gathered in Jose Martí Park yesterday in Little Havana, tromped east on Calle Ocho into Brickell then paraded through downtown Miami in a protest march that heard just as many "Sak ap fets?" as "Que bola aseres?" alongside chants of "End The Fed," and "If yo ... More >>

Florida Man Uses Fake KKK Cross Burning to Try to Save His Marriage

​The flames of hate rarely relight a dimming flicker of love, but L.B. Williams of Panama City decided to stage a fake KKK-style cross burning in his front yard as a last-ditch effort to get his wife to call off their planned divorce. Instead, the bizarre romantic scheme ended with Williams b ... More >>

Nicaragua Stays Left, Guatemala Goes Right in Central American Elections

Otto Perez MolinaDaniel OrtegaA leftist former guerrilla retains his grip on power while an ex-general promising mano dura sweeps into office.Yesterday was election day in two Central American countries. In Nicaragua, early results show Hugo Chavez ally and current president Daniel Ortega easily win ... More >>

Eight Reasons Why Florida is a Real-Life Horror Movie

photo by Logan FazioLincoln Road zombie walks got nothin' on real life in Florida.Time for a little Halloween honesty: Florida is terrifying. Serial killers Ted Bundy and Gary Ray Bowles have stalked our towns. Prehistoric, sharp-fanged creatures circle our swamps and oceans, hungry for blood. Real- ... More >>

Man in Redneck Riviera Tries to Run Over Wife, Crashes Into Waffle House Instead

via NWF Daily News​So a man crashed his pickup truck into a Waffle House after trying to run over his wife. Of course, it happened in Florida. And, of course, it happened in Panama City Beach, the crown jewel of the Redneck Riviera. PCB, baby!

"The Prince of Salsa" Luis Enrique's Miami Home Burglarized

​Nicaragua-born musician Luis Enrique, hailed as the Prince of Salsa, returned to his Miami home earlier this week after promoting his latest album in Puerto Rico only to find that his home had been ransacked and burglarized. A window had been broken, and furniture in the home had been moved."It' ... More >>

Vote Yes On Question #56 And Fight Public Corruption

Norman Braman's advice to voters notwithstanding, there is a measure on the ballot that deserves a resoundingly emphatic YES! And that is the question asking voters to make the Miami-Dade Inspector General's office a permenant part of the county's home rule charter -- in effect our local constitutio ... More >>

Juán Ramón O'Farrill, Popular Anti-Castro Priest, Accused of Sexually Abusing Boy in '80s

NE Second Street between First and Second Avenues is named after Father O'Farrill​Padre Juán Ramón O'Farrill's sermons against Fidel Castro and the communism that had taken root in his native Cuba were so passionate that when he died, a stretch of NE 2nd St. was renamed in his honor. But a lawsu ... More >>

Miami Ranked 10th Most Dangerous Spring Break Destination

​It's that time of year when college students across the country take a break from their busy schedules of binge-drinking in hoodies and sweatpants in dorms and frat houses to change it up and binge-drink in bikinis on beaches. Yes, it's spring break. As always, South Florida attracts its fair sha ... More >>

Chino y Nacho at La Covacha October 29

Calling All Niñas Bonitas: Chino y Nacho Jack It Up at La Covacha This Friday

​If you think all reggaeton comes from Puerto Rico, you're dead wrong. To begin with, the genre sprouted from the seeds sown by Panama's dembow. Beyond that little history lesson, though, one need only check today's charts to see non-boricuas leading the movement. Somewhere near the top, you'll ... More >>

Florida Cities Dominate List of "Divorce Capitols;" Miami is Number 26

​Florida's constitution strictly forbids gays from marrying, but what about the Sunshine State's straights? They're obviously doing such a fine job of upholding the sanctity of marriage, right? Apparently not so. The Daily Beast has compiled a list of "the 50 cities with the worst divorce rates," ... More >>

When Cultures Converge

Latin American dictators love South Florida

An Immigrant's Heart: To survive the ordeal of escaping Guatemala, Julia Amparo-Alvarado needed a big heart — but not this big

A Nicaraguan Breakfast at Pinolandia

Jacob KatelFried cheese front and center, and sweet plantains, chorizo eggz, rice and hot sauce clockwise from there.​Pinolandia is a 24-hour Nicaraguan fritanga in Miami's Little Havana. It takes its name from pinol, the Nica national beverage of ancient mesoamerican origin made from a rough powd ... More >>

Tacontento Coming to South Beach in June

Coming Soon!​Arriving in South Beach early next month will be Tacontento, a fast/casual full service Mexican restaurant. Tacontento translates to be happy, and if the slogan, "The best tacos... period," comes anywhere close to being true, we will be. Tacontento started in the late '90s as a taco s ... More >>

Oil Spill Reactions From Miami Seafood Chefs and Owners

via U.S. Coast Guard​A shark can smell a single drop of blood in one million drops of water.Twenty-nine days later, and oil continues to flow from a hole 5,000 feet below the ocean's surface. BP's actions continue to threaten the Gulf and maybe the Atlantic's commercial fishing industry. Today, th ... More >>

Miami Free Times: Harry Potter for Grown-ups, Gringo Nightmares, and Literary Art

The history of pill-pushing is at Advertising for Health.​Miami's $15 cocktails are hard to swallow. Here's a list of six free things to do this week so you can leave your ATM card sheathed in your wallet. Monday: Think naïve Harry Potter could use a dose of the real world? Tonight, at Books & ... More >>

Biggest Cheese Bust in Memory in Miami

Alex Izaguirre​Two Hondurans were busted Monday for illegally selling diseased cheese to more than 30 people in Miami.The pair -- Francisca Josefina Lopez, 40, and Jorge Alexis Ochoa Lopez, 34 -- was nailed for importing $322,000 of the stuff from Nicaragua and then illegally reselling it. Mo ... More >>

Dumb Spring Breakers Flock to Pompano, Smart Spring Breakers Choose Miami

​Who comes to Miami during spring break? Driving around the beach the past two weeks would suggest it's mainly dumb post-pubescent kids in furry boots and microscopic bikinis. But maybe we're being too hard on our vacationers. The Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages announced earlier this wee ... More >>

Venezuela Murder Rate Has Quadrupled Under Hugo Chávez

One person is murdered every two hours in Venezuela, according to new statistics released by the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence.The murder rate in the South American country has more than quadrupled since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999. There were 54 homicides per 100,000 people ... More >>

Colombian urban fusion act Choc Quib Town makes its Miami debut at Kukaramakara

Shows at the Freedom Tower and the Moore Space explore strife and displacement

Redland Summer Fruit Festival This Weekend, Get Fresh, Local, Tropical

image via fruitandspicepark.org Tomorrow and Sunday at Fruit and Spice Park, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. Life's a mango, dig in at the Redland Summer Fruit Festival where exotic varieties of the plentiful bounties intrinsic to our tropical paradise will be featured and showcased on the ... More >>

Culinary Travels in Costa Rica: Part 1

A view of Volcan Arenal from a hiking trail that traverses old lava flow from its 1992 eruption. Arenal is the third most active volcano in the world. We hiked through rainforests and gasped at volcanoes, lounged on white sand beaches and wound our way around perilous mountain passes. Oh yes, we al ... More >>

Burger King Pitches Penny To Tomato Pickers

The View from the Top

Hate Shack, Not Where It's At

The new, not-entirely-improved lifeguard shacks are making South Beach locals cringe

Magic Primeval

Don't tell archaeologist Bob Carr that the mysterious Miami Circle is just a bunch of holes in the ground. He knows better than that.

The Size of Their Toys

COPEX separates the men from the boys