From late in the afternoon on March 7, 2019, large swaths of Venezuela were left without power, and millions of Venezuelans went many days without lights or water. The nationwide apagón came on the eve of massive marches in protest and support of the government of Nicolás Maduro. Maduro blamed a “cyber-attack” by the United

After his unsuccessful attempt to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela on February 23, 2019, self-declared Interim President Juan Guaidó went on a trip to visit his regional supporters in Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Ecuador. In doing so, he further defied the ban on leaving the country imposed by the Venezuelan Supreme Court on February

On Saturday, February 23, 2019, opponents of President Nicolás Maduro attempted to send truckloads of food and medicine across the Venezuelan borders with Colombia and Brazil. In response, the Venezuelan government ordered the closure of three border crossings. Supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela, clashed violently with members of the

A jury in New York City deliberated and found Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, guilty of a vast array of crimes committed while he was capo of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. The verdict was handed down on February 12, 2019, and his sentencing is scheduled for June, but he is likely

Ongoing concern about what the continuing collapse of the Venezuelan government and economy could mean for the region, along with growing fears over the possibility of a military intervention by the United States, has kept Latin American media outlets riveted on the situation in Venezuela. The political struggle between President Nicolás Maduro and the presumptive

After Juan Guaidó, president of the Venezuelan legislature, declared himself acting president of Venezuela in late January 2019, countries around the world began taking sides. On February 2, 2019, Venezuelans poured into the streets both in protest and in support of President Nicolás Maduro. Nations declared support for one or the other of Venezuela’s claimants

On January 23, 2019, Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela’s unicameral legislature, the Asamblea Nacional or AN, declared himself “presidente encargado” (“president in charge”) to serve as interim president of Venezuela based on provisions of the country’s constitution, with the goal of holding new presidential elections. He made his declaration on an historic and symbolic

The car bombing at a police academy in Colombia’s capital on January 17, 2019, reminded Colombians of deadly attacks carried out during earlier chapters of its guerrilla conflict in the 1980s and 1990s. The attack in Bogotá left 21 dead and 68 injured, and was the most lethal bombing in over a decade. The Ejército

On January 10, 2019, President Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated for a second term in office, after elections that were widely condemned as rigged and manipulated. The Organization of American States (OAS) voted not to recognize Maduro’s legitimacy, adopting a resolution supported by Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Canada, the United States, Paraguay, and Peru,

On New Year’s Day 2019, Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil’s 38th president. He promised to free his country from “socialism and political correctness,” while vowing to tackle corruption, crime, and economic mismanagement in Latin America’s largest nation. While he pledged to obey the Constitution and respect democratic norms, he later stood before a