Latin America

Why Bolivia and Colombia want coca leaf, cocaine's main ingredient, legalized

8:15am March 13, 2023

by Carrie Kahn

Two of the world's biggest cocaine suppliers, Colombia and Bolivia, want the U.N. to remove the coca leaf from its list of dangerous drugs. They argue the leaf has many uses unrelated to narcotics.

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A small line of cars waits to cross the Cordova Bridge of the Americas at the United States-Mexico border in 2020. On March 10, Texan officials advised against spring break travel to Mexico, citing the dangers of violent crime.

World News

Texas officials have told residents Mexico is too dangerous to visit for spring break

11:44am March 12, 2023

by Kaitlyn Radde

The advisory follows the kidnapping of four Americans earlier this month in the city of Matamoros. The state's Department of Public Safety said "cartel activity" made trips to Mexico a "serious risk."

Rocks retrieved from a mine in Muzo, Colombia, show some of what makes the country the biggest producer of high-value emeralds.

World News

Inside the emerald mines that make Colombia a global giant of the green gem

9:54am March 11, 2023

by John Otis

NPR ventures into a Colombian emerald mine — which used to be more dangerous, with potential explosions inside and gunfights outside. The CEO, a former U.S. diplomat, says he wanted to change that.

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National

New York City says it has too many migrants and plans to send some elsewhere

5:11am March 10, 2023

by Jasmine Garsd

Months after arriving in New York by bus, migrants without work permits struggle to carve out new lives as they wait for their asylum cases to be heard.

Mexican soldiers are seen preparing for a search mission for the kidnapped U.S. citizens in Matamoros earlier this week. Two of the Americans were killed, and Mexican authorities returned their bodies to the U.S. on Thursday.

World News

The bodies of 2 Americans who were kidnapped in Mexico have been returned to the U.S.

8:20pm March 09, 2023

by Eyder Peralta

Their companions are recovering in a U.S. hospital. So far, only one arrest has been made in relation to the kidnapping.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro signed a new executive document Wednesday night that will allow open access to emergency contraception.

Honduran president ends ban on emergency contraception, making it widely available

4:13pm March 09, 2023

by Bill Chappell

President Xiomara Castro, the country's first female leader, announced the policy shift in the final hours of International Women's Day.

A scandal in Brazil involves an ex-president, jewels and the Saudi government

5:19am March 09, 2023

by Carrie Kahn

A scandal is unfolding in Brazil over millions of dollars in jewels that the Saudi government gave to former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Medical tourism numbers are on the rise in Mexico, after the practice was curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions. Here, foreign patients are seen at the hospital Oasis of Hope in Tijuana in, 2019, in Mexico's Baja California state.

The 4 kidnapped Americans are part of a large wave of U.S. medical tourism in Mexico

5:55pm March 08, 2023

by Bill Chappell

Before the pandemic halted travel, some 1.2 million American citizens visited Mexico for health care. The number is rising quickly again, with border restrictions eased.

Photographed through a fence, an armored truck is surrounded by police tape at the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday. An airport shootout killed a security officer and an alleged robber in what authorities say was an attempted heist of more than $32 million in cash aboard a plane from Miami.

World News

An attempted airport heist of $32 million in Chile leaves 2 people dead

5:38pm March 08, 2023

by The Associated Press

An airport shootout in Chile's capital killed a security officer and an alleged robber. The cash, aboard a plane from Miami, was being transferred to an armored truck.

Medical tourism in Mexico isn't new, but the recent tragedy put it in the Spotlight

5:03pm March 08, 2023

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with David G. Vequist, who runs the Center of Medical Tourism Research at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, about medical tourism in Mexico.