MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Left crumpled in the gutter after an ill-fated visit to a seedy club in a rough part of Mexico City, the grandson of murdered U.S. civil rights leader Malcolm X lay dying engulfed in the stench of sewage and a blaring cacophony of Mariachi music.

He was beaten to death early on Thursday morning, police say, in an ignominious end to a short, tormented life flecked with tragedy.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The World Trade Organization can break a deadlock in global trade talks if it adapts to a flurry of bilateral trade initiatives and overhauls itself, Mexico’s finalist to head the body said on Friday.

Herminio Blanco, a former Mexican trade minister who played a key role in negotiations to create the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is facing off against Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo to become the first Latin American WTO director-general.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez may be dead, but his jailed opponents are still wrestling with his ghost and their relatives see little hope of freedom if the divisive socialist’s protégé wins the presidential election to succeed him.

A judge, a local police chief and a former army general who was once Chavez’s defense minister are among a host of opponents who fell foul of the socialist leader hailed as a champion by millions of poor Venezuelans but reviled by foes as a despot.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela will hold a presidential election on April 14, officials said on Saturday, as acting President Nicolas Maduro tries to benefit from an emotional outpouring for his late mentor, Hugo Chavez, and win his own term in office.

Maduro, a physically imposing former union leader who served as foreign minister and vice president under Chavez, has vowed to keep Chavez’s self-styled socialist revolution alive.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s new acting President Nicolas Maduro is pushing for a quick election, hoping to benefit from an emotional outpouring at the death of his charismatic mentor, Hugo Chavez, and step into his shoes.

Venezuela’s election commission could announce as early as Saturday a date for the election, which two recent polls have forecast Maduro would win comfortably.

CARACAS (Reuters) – As throngs of mourners pay homage to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, his opponents are praying his self-declared socialist revolution will die with him, and some are even breaking out the champagne.

Hiking in a leafy park in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Caracas, far from the emotional scenes where Chavez lay in state, retired documentary maker Cesar Caballero sighed with deep relief at the president’s demise.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Sobbing and shouting, a sea of Hugo Chavez’s supporters paraded his coffin through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday in an emotional outpouring that could help his deputy win an election to keep his socialist revolution alive.

Hundreds of thousands of “Chavistas” marched behind a hearse carrying the body of the flamboyant and outspoken president, draped in Venezuela’s blue, red and yellow national flag.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Shattered supporters of Hugo Chavez paraded his coffin through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday in a flood of emotion allies hope will help his deputy win an election due in the coming weeks and keep his self-styled revolution alive.

Tens of thousands of “Chavistas” marched behind the remains of the flamboyant and outspoken president, draped in Venezuela’s blue, red and yellow national flag.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – She was Mexico’s most powerful woman, feared by presidents and held the future of millions of school children in her hands, but the head of one of Latin America’s biggest trade unions now languishes behind bars on corruption charges.

With a penchant for plastic surgery, designer purses and luxury villas, Elba Esther Gordillo, the 68-year-old leader of Mexico’s main teachers’ union, has come to embody the abuse of power by the country’s political class.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A political pact forged with rivals and a couple of key laws already under his belt, Mexico’s new President Enrique Pena Nieto got off to a strong start, but he faces hurdles to push through deep economic reforms.

Armed with a wide-reaching agenda, the 46-year-old former state governor wants to overhaul Mexico’s tax system, state oil monopoly Pemex, a telecoms sector dominated by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, and competition regulations in a bid to modernize the economy and boost growth to 6 percent a year.