On December 1, 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO as he is universally known, solemnly recited the oath of office and received the Mexican presidential sash from outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto. AMLO is the first leftist president of Mexico since the 1930s, and since his party controls both houses of Congress, he began

In the second half of November 2018, thousands of migrants from Central America, men, women, and children, trekked to the United States-Mexico border, with a large portion streaming into Tijuana. They came seeking asylum in the U.S., fleeing violence, poverty, and discrimination in their home countries. After President Donald Trump repeatedly denigrated them, and asserted

On November 8, 2018, Valeria Cruz Medel, 22, was killed as she worked out in a gym. The news of her killing was relayed by phone to her mother, Carmen Medel, on the floor of the Mexican Cámara de Diputados during a legislative session. Medel, a deputy for Veracruz from the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional party, or

On October 31, 2018, Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori and leader of the right-wing Fuerza Popular party, was ordered to return to jail for her involvement in the massive corruption scandals currently jarring the higher reaches of power in Peru. Fujimori had been arrested on October 10 and released a week

On October 28, 2018, Brazil held the second round of its presidential election, and as the polls had predicted, Jair Bolsonaro of the Partido Social Liberal (PSL) won handily. Bolsonaro, a retired army captain and undistinguished 27-year member of the lower house of the Brazilian congress, has repeatedly praised the Brazilian military dictatorship of 1964-1985,

In mid-October 2018, a so-called “caravan” of thousands of Hondurans began a trek through Guatemala towards Mexico, with the ultimate goal of seeking asylum in the United States. Along the way, they were joined by Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Guatemalans. Though many were held up at the Mexican border, others were able to cross (legally and

Archbishop Óscar Romero was assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. On October 14, 2018, Pope Francis officially recognized him as a saint, three years after his beatification. Though originally recognized as a conservative cleric, Romero became an outspoken critic of the increasing political violence tolerated by El Salvador’s government at that time,

On October 7, 2018, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, just missed winning the presidency outright in the first round. He also led his formerly obscure party, the Partido Social Liberal or PSL, to the front of a crowded field in the race for Congress to become a national juggernaut, as voters in Latin America’s

On October 1, 2018, the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, ruled that Chile cannot be forced to negotiate with Bolivia over “sovereign access” to the Pacific Ocean. The ICJ, the United Nations’ venue for resolving disputes between nations, found that despite a long history of talks, Chile has never bound

On September 19, 2018, the Peruvian Congress, controlled by the Fujimorista opposition, bowed to President Martín Vizcarra’s demands for a vote on his package of reforms and constitutional changes. After months of congressional stonewalling, Vizcarra had threatened to dissolve congress and call elections if they refused any longer. Vizcarra took over as president in March