Plea deal reached in El Nuevo standoff

The man who barricaded himself inside the newsroom of El Nuevo Herald in November pleaded no contest to assault and burglary charges and received two years of probation Wednesday.

José Varela, a freelance cartoonist for the Spanish-language newspaper, caused a tense 3 ½-hour standoff before surrendering peacefully on Nov 24.

Wearing a black polo shirt with ''FBI'' printed on the back, Varela walked into The Miami Herald building, gave a Cohiba cigar to the lobby security guard and took the elevator to the sixth-floor newsroom. He often dropped off his cartoons at El Nuevo's newsroom, and security guards say they never saw a weapon.