Category: Dispatches

The Roots of Colombia’s Peace Talk Crisis

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The ongoing peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, could end more than 50 years of internal armed conflict. […] Read More >

Colombia’s Peace Process: Shaken, Not Dead

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, called off on Friday a unilateral ceasefire in effect since Dec. 20, after an air raid by the Colombian […] Read More >

“We Have to Construct a Taboo Around Killing”: Antanas Mockus On Colombia’s Peace Process

Antanas Mockus is one of the most influential figures in Colombian politics. He has been mayor of Bogotá twice, and a presidential candidate three times. He is mostly remembered for […] Read More >

Migrants on Activist Pilgrimage Dodge Police, Gangs Across Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Ciudad Tecún Umán is sweltering. All of the town’s households and its handful of ramshackle cantinas still use wood-burning stoves, their sweaty attendants braving the compounded afternoon […] Read More >

Violentology: An Interview with Photojournalist Stephen Ferry

Stephen Ferry is an American photographer who has captured dangerous and tragic scenes of the Colombian armed conflict for twelve years. Ferry published a collection of his and his Colombian […] Read More >

In Nicaragua, A Conflict Over Mining Near the World’s Second-Largest Rainforest

RANCHO GRANDE, Nicaragua — Father Pablo Espinosa looks down pensively, taking his time to think as he speaks. “In the history of Nicaragua there is not one town that has […] Read More >

Argentina Lags Behind in Signing Landmark Anti-Tobacco Treaty

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – As countries worldwide move toward reducing tobacco use among their citizens, Argentina remains one of seven U.N. member states — and the only one […] Read More >

Colombia Halts Air Raids on FARC Rebels, But Steps Remain on Path to Lasting Ceasefire

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — In a fifteen-minute long speech delivered on Tuesday evening, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that the country’s armed forces will stop, for the next month, their […] Read More >

The Fight for Mexico City’s Future

MEXICO CITY — Around the corner from two taco stands and a small cantina, in an otherwise nondescript section of Mexico City’s Doctores neighborhood, there is an unmarked storefront known […] Read More >

José Mujica: The “World’s Poorest President” Set to Safeguard His Legacy of Change

COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO, Uruguay — Colonia del Sacramento underwent turbulent change in its early history. A strategic port founded by conquistadors at the mouth of the world’s widest river, the […] Read More >