GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A shift in wind blew ash from an eruption at the Pacaya volcano over Guatemala City on Tuesday, and authorities closed the airport as ash coated planes and planes parked at the terminal.

The 8,373-foot (2,552 meter) volcano, just 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Guatemala’s capital, has been active since early February.

Civil Aviation Director Francis Argueta did not say how long the closure would last. Volcanic ash is highly abrasive and can damage airplane engines and other mechanical devices.

Tourists frequently hike up to visit Pacaya’s peak, but those trips have been temporarily cancelled.

So officials are cracking down, with nearly a dozen visitors arrested over the past six days.

They include three men from New York who were not wearing face masks and got into an argument with a teenager while visiting a popular beach on the island’s northeast coast, authorities said Tuesday. But most of the arrests have been been in the San Juan metropolitan area, and a couple of tourists remain in jail.

Charges range from assaulting police officers to lying on their traveler’s declaration form, which carries a punishment of three years in prison if found guilty.

The lies include falsely promising to honor the required quarantine if someone fails to present a negative coronavirus test upon arrival or agreeing to get tested after landing, said Damarisse Martínez, a spokeswoman for the island’s Justice Department.

An average of about 10,000 to 12,000 people have flown into Puerto Rico daily this month, and only about 30% have presented a negative test, according to statistics from the island’s health department.

By law, those who do not present a negative test have to remain in isolation for two weeks, until they get tested in a local laboratory and receive a negative result.

Last week, officials pledged to increase the number of police officers in popular tourist areas and allow access only to residents in certain neighborhoods as the midnight curfew approaches. That was in response to widespread anger over the behavior of some visitors who, like some local people as well, have flagrantly violated pandemic measures.

“After months of complaints, we finally see that action is being taken,” said Joaquín Bolívar, president of the board of directors of Puerto Rico’s Association of Hotels and Tourism.

While tourism represents only about 7% of the island’s economy, it was considered one of its strongest sectors prior to the pandemic, drawing a record number of cruise ship passengers. Puerto Rico never closed its main international airport amid the pandemic despite requests sent to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to bar flights from COVID-19 hotspots. The U.S. territory, however, did close all its other airports to better control and monitor incoming people.

Bars across Puerto Rico have remained closed for more than a year, though restaurants were recently allowed to increase capacity to 50%. Face masks are mandatory, and a midnight-5 a.m. curfew is in place. Beaches were reopened in September to everyone.

The island of 3.2 million people has reported more than 189,000 coronavirus infections and more than 2,000 deaths related to COVID-19. The island’s government recently relaxed health measures because the number of cases had been falling, although Health Secretary Carlos Mellado warned on Tuesday that there’s been an uptick.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Investigators have identified three people as the suspected masterminds of last week’s ambush slaying of 13 law enforcement officers in central Mexico, and a drug gang appears to have been involved, authorities said Tuesday.

The prosecutor’s office in the State of Mexico said 25 others have been detained in the case and are suspected of working for the Familia Michoacana drug gang.

Warrants have been issued for the three purported masterminds, but they apparently remain at large. Authorities offered a reward of about $25,000 each for information leading to their arrest.

Eight state police officers and five prosecution investigators died in a hail of gunfire in the March 18 attack on their convoy as they headed to establish a checkpoint. Prosecutors said they found a total of 672 spent shell casings at the scene.

The massacre was the country’s single biggest slaying of law enforcement since October 2019, when gunmen ambushed and killed 14 state police officers in the neighboring state of Michoacan.

The Familia Michoacana cartel moved a decade ago from that state into Guerrero and the State of Mexico, which lies on the outskirts of Mexico City. The gang has shown itself willing to openly attack police and army units in the past.

The attack presented a challenge for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has pursued a strategy of not directly confronting drug cartels in an effort to avoid violence.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil reported more than 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day for the first time Tuesday amid calls for the government and the new health minister to take action to stem the nation’s resurgence of coronavirus infections.

In recent weeks, Latin America’s largest country has become the pandemic’s global epicenter, with more deaths from the virus each day than in any other nation. Tuesday’s record toll of 3,251 deaths was driven by the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous, which recorded 1,021 new deaths, far above the previous high of 713 last July.

The pandemic has brought the health systems of Brazilian states to near collapse, with hospitals watching their ICU beds fill up and stocks of oxygen required for assisted breathing dwindle. Most of the states in recent days adopted measures to restrict activity, over the fierce resistance of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

In a 4-minute presidential address on TV and radio, Bolsonaro did not comment on the new record and said Brazilians will “very soon return to normal life.”

“We will make 2021 the year of the vaccination of Brazilians,” Bolsonaro said, as pot=banging protests against his government erupted in major cities. “That is the mission and we will accomplish it.”

Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the severity of the pandemic, insisting the economy must be kept humming to prevent worse hardship, and he has criticized health measures imposed by local leaders. On Friday, he appealed to the Supreme Court to invalidate curfews enacted by two states and Brazil’s federal district, though the top court previously ruled that governors and mayors have the power to adopt such restrictions.

Public health experts and economists have said Bolsonaro is presenting a false choice between preserving health and economic well-being.

On Tuesday, cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga was sworn in as health minister, becoming the fourth person to occupy the post since the beginning of the health crisis. He replaced active-duty army Gen. Eduardo Pazuello.

Queiroga’s swearing-in was delayed a week while he divested holdings in companies in the health sector and the government sought to find a suitable position for Pazuello, Brazilian media reported.

Carlos Lula, chairman of the national council of state health secretaries, said in a statement that the coronavirus crisis has been worsened by delays in acquiring vaccines and a lack of communication on the importance of preventative measures. He called on the new minister to collaborate with state and municipal governments.

“More than ever, the population needs national coordination to face COVID-19, with precise actions, based on science, that guarantee prevention of new infections, facilitate the timely diagnosis of sick people and provide assistance for all Brazilians,” Lula said in the statement.

Seven of Brazil’s 26 states have reported problems ensuring sufficient oxygen supply, the health ministry told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The agency said it plans to dispatch hundreds of oxygen cylinders and install oxygen plants.

Hundreds of Brazilian economists, including former finance ministers and central bank presidents, urged the Brazilian government in an open letter published Monday to speed up vaccination and adopt tougher restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus, including possible lockdowns.

“This recession, as well as its harmful social consequences, was caused by the pandemic and will not be overcome until the pandemic is controlled through competent action from the federal government,” the letter read.

“The controversy surrounding economic impacts of social distancing reflects the false dilemma of saving lives versus guaranteeing the sustenance of a vulnerable population,” it added.

Brazil’s total death toll is closing in on 300,000, the world’s second highest behind that of the United States, according to the tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.