Latin America

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during Costa Rica's presidential election, on Sunday.

Costa Rica Votes For A New President, With Same-Sex Marriage Rights At The Forefront

2:41pm February 04, 2018

by Emily Sullivan

Thirteen candidates are up for election. If no candidate tops 40 percent in the vote, the first two finishers advance to a runoff scheduled for April.

World News

Ecuador Votes On Presidential Term Limits

8:07am February 03, 2018

by John Otis

Voters in Ecuador go to the polls Sunday to vote on a referendum that would reinstate presidential term limits. If it's approved, it would buck the authoritarian trend creeping across South America.

Davi de Oliveira Moreira, known as "Sereio" (merman in Portuguese), poses in costume at Arpoador Rock on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last May.

World News

'Mermaids' And 'Mermen' Of Brazil Refuse To Be Tamed

8:00am February 03, 2018

by Philip Reeves

Tail-costumed swimmers in the South American nation say they will not bend despite official safety warnings.

A photo from 2002 shows Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart (right), with his father, Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the Havana Book Fair opening.

World News

Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, Oldest Son Of Cuban Leader, Takes His Own Life

11:00am February 02, 2018

by Scott Neuman

Known as "Fidelito" or "Little Castro," he largely stayed out of the limelight. Cuban state media says he was being treated for depression at the time of his death.

Line workers sort freshly cut avocados at Frutas Finas packing plant in Tancitaro. Forty-five percent of the world's avocados come from Mexico. Eighty percent of avocados consumed in the U.S. come from Mexico, the majority from the small mountain town of

World News

Blood Avocados No More: Mexican Farm Town Says It's Kicked Out Cartels

10:17am February 02, 2018

by Carrie Kahn

Americans will mash up and scarf down millions of the fruits in one day — Super Bowl Sunday. According to authorities in Mexico, at least one town grows what you might call "conflict-free avocados."

Queue Listen Now

A volunteer from the non-profit Accion Solidaria organizes imported medicines alphabetically, in a store room in Caracas, Venezuela, last April. The Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela estimates the country is suffering from an 85 percent shortage of m

Venezuela's Health Care System Ready To Collapse Amid Economic Crisis

3:21pm February 01, 2018

by Samantha Raphelson

The Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela estimates the country is suffering from an 85 percent shortage of medicine amid an economic crisis also marked by severe hyperinflation and food scarcity.

Peruvian authorities are pursuing charges against a truck driver who damaged the ancient lines at Nazca on Saturday. Here, an aerial view of the geoglyph known as the Guarango Tree at the site in 2014.

World News

Truck Driver Plows Over Peru's 2,000-Year-Old Nazca Lines, Leaving 'Deep Scars'

8:21pm January 31, 2018

by Laurel Wamsley

The driver reportedly said he didn't know the area because he had never traveled there before and that he left the road owing to a mechanical problem. But some think he was trying to avoid a toll.

U.S. Border Patrol agent Nicole Ballistrea watches over the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Nogales, Ariz., in Dec. 2014.

Border Patrol Faces Backlash From Aid Groups Over Migrant Deaths

3:49pm January 30, 2018

by Samantha Raphelson

While humanitarian groups argue Border Patrol is intentionally funneling migrants into dangerous sections along the U.S.-Mexico border, agents say smugglers are the real culprits.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has suspended peace negotiations with the nation's last rebel group after a series of deadly bomb attacks.

World News

Colombian President Pauses Peace Talks With Rebel Group, ELN

7:53pm January 29, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

It is the second time this month negotiations have been put on hold after insurgents launched a series of bomb attacks on police targets. It is unclear when negotiations will resume.

A FARC supporter waves a banner during the launch of Timochenko's presidential campaign in Bogotá, Colombia, on Saturday. The word for "liberty" in Spanish is stamped on his tie.

World News

A FARC Rebel Commander Runs For President. Many Colombians Aren't Ready To Forgive

3:32pm January 29, 2018

by Manuel Rueda

After more than 50 years of insurgency, Colombia's most notorious leftist militant group has handed over its guns and formed a political party that's now fielding its first election candidates.