Americas

The Treasury Department is moving to freeze the assets of two associates of the infamous drug lord Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán Loera.

All property and interests within U.S. jurisdiction belonging to Ines Coronel Barreras and Damaso Lopez Nunez will be blocked under 1999 legislation known as the “Kingpin Act,” Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced in a notice to be published in Tuesday’s Federal Register.

Coronel Barreras is the father-in-law of Guzman Loera, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, which is responsible for bringing multiple-ton shipments of narcotics from Mexico into the United States, according to OFAC.

Lopez Nunez, also known as “El Licenciado,” is considered the drug lord’s right-hand man and one of the cartel’s top lieutenants. He helped break Guzman Loera out of a Mexican federal prison, the same year the cartel boss – now Mexico’s most wanted man – was himself designated as a major drug trafficker under the Kingpin Act.

Democrats on Thursday questioned if Wal-Mart lied about when it first learned of foreign corruption charges.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

With Venezuela's Hugo Chavez missing his inauguration today because he's battling cancer, the Obama administration has been discreetly reaching out to his likely replacement, The Washington Post reports. Vice President Nicolas Maduro, however, has publicly said the talks were authorized by Chavez and not meant to signal a change of policy should he die. 

Baby please don't go: Afghanistan's leader Hamid Karzai meets today with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ahead of tomorrow's meeting with President Obama at the White House. The talks come as Afghan leaders are balking at U.S. advice to reduce their fledgling army's ambitions and warning of renewed civil war if the U.S. withdraws all its troops.

Vanishing freedoms: The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation released their 2013 index of Economic Freedom today, and the conclusions aren't pretty.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Wednesday that she is "thrilled to be back" at the State Department.

"I am also incredibly grateful to this fabulous team that I have here at the State Department, who never missed a beat for the time that I was away," Clinton said in her first public remarks since returning from a month-long medical leave.

When asked if she was back in the swing of things, Clinton responded, "I am back."

"She's looking forward to getting back to the office," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

A Clinton spokesman said doctors "are confident she will make a full recovery."

Hillary Clinton was seen leaving New York-Presbyterian Hospital with former President Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton on Wednesday.

Congressional lawmakers are banding together to secure the release of a jailed Marine in Mexico by Christmas, with one House Republican calling for a travel ban against the country until Mexican authorities hand over the Iraq and Afghan war veteran to U.S. custody. 

Freshman Rep. Jeff Duncan (R) has managed to carve out an influential niche on the House Foreign Affairs panel.

A New York businessman whose case was championed by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has been released from prison in Bolivia, the Associated Press is reporting.

Jacob Ostreicher was granted house arrest after waiting 18 months in jail without charge in an alleged money laundering scheme. Ostreicher had maintained he was being set up by corrupt Bolivian officials, and recent events appear to confirm his story: 10 Bolivian officials – including two prosecutors and the top legal adviser in Bolivia's Interior Ministry – have been arrested and accused of belonging to a shakedown ring, the AP reports.

Ostreicher became a household name on Capitol Hill after Smith, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs human rights panel, held a hearing on his case earlier his year. The congressman even visited Ostreicher in jail in Bolivia and accompanied him to a court hearing Smith said at the time was “beset by irregularities.”

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