Latin America

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro performs with the Vila Isabel Samba School during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

World News

In Rio, The Samba Parade Goes On Despite A Wardrobe Malfunction

6:41pm February 09, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro donned an elaborate, colorful costume to samba her way through Rio's Carnival parade competition — and recovered quickly after forgetting to tie a crucial double knot.

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Doctors are about to circumcise an Indonesian baby in Bandung, Indonesia, in 2013. Indonesia authorized medical personnel to perform the procedure in 2010, then revoked the authorization in 2014.

UNICEF Estimate Of Female Genital Mutilation Up By 70 Million

4:58pm February 08, 2016

by Diane Cole

And 60 million of the cases are in Indonesia, which was added to the survey for the first time — evidence that FGM goes far beyond Africa and the Middle East.

World News

NPR Brazil Correspondent Prepares For Debut In Carnival Parade

4:39pm February 08, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro dons a costume and participates in a Carnival parade in Brazil.

World Health Organization Focuses On Zika-Linked Microcephaly Cases

4:39pm February 08, 2016

NPR's Audie Cornish talks to David L. Heymann, chair of the World Health Organization emergency committee on the Zika virus, about what it's doing about the spread of the virus.

World News

Wish Our Correspondent Luck; She's In A Rio Samba Parade

5:13am February 08, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

The highlight of Brazil's Carnival are the Samba parades, where 12 teams — called schools — compete for the top prize in Rio de Janeiro Monday night.

Walter Thompson-Hernandez, son of an African-American father and Mexican mother, created the Instagram account Blaxicans of LA.

Now Counted By Their Country, Afro-Mexicans Grab Unprecedented Spotlight

5:44pm February 06, 2016

by NPR Staff

For the first time its history, Mexico announced it would recognize people of African descent on its official census. What does it mean for Afro-Mexicans themselves — and why has it taken so long?

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A city health worker and a Brazilian soldier point out potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes in the city of Recife.

Health & Safety

Brazilians Have To Learn To Think Like A Mosquito

10:27am February 06, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

That's the advice from a biologist as Brazil launches a war on the mosquitoes that are spreading Zika virus.

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World News

DEA Arrests Connect Hezbollah Militants To South American Cartels

8:28am February 06, 2016

Scott Simon asks scholar Matthew Levitt about links between South American drug cartels and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Mapping Zika: From A Monkey In Uganda To A Growing Global Concern

1:38pm February 05, 2016

by Marc Silver

The virus was first identified in 1947 in a rhesus monkey in the Zika Forest. Our maps show how it spread slowly at first, then last year began a rapid invasion of the Americas.

Which house does a better job keeping mosquitoes away? In this model set up by health workers to help prevent the spread of Zika, the one on the left appears to have less standing water, which is a magnet for mosquitoes.

Health & Safety

Carnival Gives Brazil Ideas About How To Fight Zika

7:45pm February 04, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Dancing mosquitoes, songs and free condoms are part of the events designed to raise Zika consciousness.

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