Today in Latin America Top Story — Two days after the arrest of Mexican drug figure Edgar Valdéz Villarreal, also known as “La Barbie,” more news has come to light about his alleged links to drug traffickers in Colombia. Colombian police arrested 11 people allegedly linked to Valdez Villarreal in cities of Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, [...]
LIMA, Peru — Antiestablishment, “chavista,” ethnic nationalist—these are some of the terms that people have used to stigmatize him. But Ollanta Humala, the most likely presidential candidate for the Peruvian Nationalist Party, shuns these epithets. He wants a new economic system and to change the Constitution. He says all the other possible candidates represent “fujimorismo” [...]
An Afro-descendant community in northern Colombia is in danger of being displaced to make way for gold exploration, according to reports from Washington-based advocacy organizations. The community at La Toma, in northern Cauca, faces eviction in accordance with a permit for mining exploration ceded by the Colombian government to a private individual in 2000. The [...]
Today in Latin America Top Story — The Colombian Constitutional Court suspended Tuesday the proposed deal that would allow U.S. troops greater access to Colombian military bases and sent the agreement back to newly inaugurated President Juan Manuel Santos. Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe signed the deal last year and it would permit the U.S. to [...]
Today in Latin America Top Story — A car bomb exploded outside a prominent radio station early Thursday morning in Bogotá, Colombia, in what authorities suspect was a terrorist attack. No one was killed in the bombing, but at least nine people were injured and several buildings were damaged along the capital’s 7th avenue, a [...]
Today in Latin America Top Story — The presidents of Venezuela and Colombia agreed Tuesday to reestablish diplomatic relations at a meeting in the city of Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez pledged to keep Colombian rebels out of his country and the two countries will establish joint committees to study [...]
Today in Latin America Top Story — Juan Manuel Santos took office as Colombia’s president in a ceremony on Saturday, pledging to renew ties with Venezuela and pay more attention to social issues and human rights, The Washington Post reports. Santos inherits the popularity of the outgoing conservative Álvaro Uribe administration, which is credited with [...]
Today in Latin America Top Story – A meeting of Mercosur, the South American regional trading bloc, has become the latest forum for a feud between the governments of Venezuela and Colombia. Mercosur began at two-day meeting Monday in San Juan, Argentina, with the purpose of addressing trade issues and to sign a free trade [...]
NEW YORK — The Organization of American States asked the U.S. State Department last week to reconsider its rejection of Colombian journalist Hollman Morris’ visa, the Colombian press reports. Hollman Morris, a journalist whose investigative reporting on the connections between paramilitary violence and politics in war-torn Colombia has earned him and his family repeated death [...]
Today in Latin America Top Story — The Venezuelan government cut diplomatic ties with neighboring Colombia Thursday, as the dispute between the two countries escalated. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez made the annoucement shortly after Colombia accused Venzuela of harboring 1,500 Colombian guerillas, during a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington D.C. “We [...]
Ollanta Humala, “Neither Left, Nor Right” — An Interview
Rancher’s Murder Highlights Complicated Immigrant-Crime ConnectionAfro-Colombian Community Faces Eviction To Make Way For Gold Exploration
Oil Prospects in Cuba Have Some Rethinking U.S. Trade Embargo
Immigration Enforcement By Local Police Is Ineffective and Misuses Authority, Report Says
Nixon Administration Advocated Use of Death Squads in Uruguay, New Documents Indicate
Film Spotlights Child Immigrants’ Lonely Journey North