Latin America

President Nicolas Maduro's government hasn't solved food shortages or ended high inflation. It's been more effective in cracking down on the opposition, filing legal charges against many mayors.

The White House imposed targeted sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials in March. It also issued an executive order that described Venezuela as a threat to national security.

As the 51-year-old civil war in Colombia winds down, efforts to find and destroy the many mines are underway.

Battles between rival drug gangs are flaring in the northeastern Mexican city of Matamoros. Kidnapping is increasingly being used by the narco-traffickers as an income generator.

Tens of thousands of people are suffering after losing their jobs in the wake of wide-scale corruption at Brazil's state oil company. Scores of politicians and executives have been implicated.

For a decade, Venezuela sold oil at subsidized payment rates to 13 neighbors, including Cuba. But tumbling oil prices have hit Venezuela's economy hard, forcing it to trim those subsidies.

Violence has descended on the once laid back tourist town of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas. From mechanics to Twitter users, residents are feeling the effects of a turf war.

Some of Mexico's most infamous drug traffickers, including El Chapo Guzman and Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal, have written a letter to the country's National Human Rights Commission.