In brief: Body of drug lord found after raid on his camp

Bogota, Colombia – Ending a years-long manhunt, troops in Colombia have found the corpse of Pedro “the Knife” Guerrero, one of the country’s top right-wing paramilitary leaders and drug traffickers, President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday.

Guerrero, nicknamed after the weapon he favored while terrifying peasants whom he suspected of aiding leftist rebels, was believed to have been mortally wounded in a gun battle Christmas morning when 120 helicopter-borne commandos of the special Junglas anti-narcotics police force raided his camp near the remote town of Mapiripan in Meta state.

Two police officers and one of Guerrero’s bodyguards were killed in the shootout, in which his forces fought back with high-caliber machine guns. Seven members of Guerrero’s inner circle were captured.

Cuba stops subsidy for soap, toothpaste, other basics

Havana – The cost of cleanliness will rise in Cuba after its cash-strapped, communist government announced Wednesday that soap, toothpaste and detergent will be slashed from monthly ration books.

Cuba’s official Gazette said that effective Jan. 1, “personal cleanliness products” will join a growing list of products cut from the ration books that islanders have come to rely on for a small but steady supply of basic goods.

Cubans currently pay about 25 centavos, or about a penny, for a rationed bar of soap. They’ll soon have to fork out four to six pesos, according to the Gazette.

The list of products available with the ration books has shrunk in recent months. Cigarettes, salt, peas and potatoes have been cut.

NATO fights insurgents in mountainous Tora Bora

Kabul, Afghanistan – Fighting between NATO forces and insurgents has erupted in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora, best known as the rugged labyrinth where Osama bin Laden evaded U.S. capture nine years ago.

The Western military and Afghan officials said Wednesday that the district of Pachir Agam, in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar near the Pakistan border, had become a staging ground for Taliban and other fighters preparing attacks on NATO and Afghan troops.

At least five Taliban fighters were killed in a NATO airstrike.