Latin America

Ecuador's president declares a state of 'internal armed conflict'

5:13am January 10, 2024

by Jorge Valencia

Gang violence in Ecuador has escalated to alarming levels as armed gunmen took over a TV station during a live broadcast, and a wave of gang related chaos threatens to engulf the country.

Soldiers patrol the perimeter of Inca prison during a state of emergency in Quito, Ecuador, on Tuesday in the wake of the apparent escape of a powerful gang leader from prison.

World News

Armed men are arrested after storming an Ecuador TV studio during a live broadcast

7:08pm January 09, 2024

by The Associated Press

The men armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite entered the set of the TC Television network. Prosecutors say the 13 arrested will be charged with terrorism.

World News

Ecuador in state of emergency after notorious gang leader escapes prison

4:43pm January 09, 2024

Ecuador's President declares a state of emergency as a massive search is underway to find one of the country's most notorious drug lords, who recently escaped from prison.

A student at Professor Lourdes Heredia Mello Municipal School in São Paulo enjoys an apple for dessert after lunch. Brazil's school lunch program, enshrined in its constitution, is a pillar of the country's anti-poverty efforts.

The pandemic sent hunger soaring in Brazil. They're fighting back with school lunches

2:41pm January 08, 2024

by Jill Langlois

Free school lunches, a pillar of Brazil's anti-poverty efforts, are now one of its main weapons against surging post-pandemic hunger. And that's not the only benefit.

World News

Argentina's newly-elected right-wing president proposes massive reforms

8:10am January 07, 2024

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Daniel Politi, freelance journalist based in Buenos Aires, about the massive reform packages proposed by Argentina's new President Javier Milei.

How Nicaragua is weaponizing immigration to the U.S.

4:13pm January 04, 2024

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Inter-American Dialogue's Manuel Orozco about whether Nicaragua's president has weaponized immigration regulations to dig at the Biden Administration and sanctions.

A view from a migrant caravan where thousands had hoped to make it to the U.S.

5:07am January 04, 2024

As Republican members of Congress were touring the U.S. southern border, Mexican authorities were breaking up a migrant caravan at that country's southern border.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, center, arrives at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 17 for negotiations on a border security deal.

As GOP moves to impeach Mayorkas, he urges Congress to fix a broken immigration system

12:07pm January 03, 2024

by Rachel Treisman

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spoke with NPR about the crisis at the southern border. He called the immigration system "broken" and urged Congress to pass legislation to fix it.

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British actor Alex Cox, Mexican actress Blanca Guerra and Ana Ofelia Murguía (center), Mexican film director Arturo Ripstein and Mexican actress Patricia Reyes Spíndola pose as part of the 47th Cannes Film Festival in 1994. Murguía died Sunday.

Acclaimed Mexican actor Ana Ofelia Murguía, voice of Mama Coco, dead at 90

6:00pm January 02, 2024

by Andrew Limbong

Murguía was a lauded actor with a decades-long career in film, television and theater. She's best known in the U.S. for voicing the elderly matriarch in Coco.

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National

Republicans want to limit migrants entering the U.S. Will it affect asylum-seekers?

7:25am January 02, 2024

NPR's A Martinez talks to Kennji Kizuka of the International Rescue Committee about what proposed Republican changes to immigration policy could mean for asylum-seekers.

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