On April 17, 2019, Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez, who served in Peru’s congress and was twice president, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011, shot himself in the head when police attempted to arrest him at his home in Lima for alleged links to the Odebrecht corruption case. He was sixty-nine years

On April 11, 2019, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in the United Kingdom, and hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London after the government of President Len­ín Moreno revoked his seven-year asylum. The action possibly cleared a path for his extradition to the United States. Viewers around the world watched video of a

The blackouts that began in early March 2019 continued to plague Venezuela in early April, strangling its already faltering oil production, generating more water shortages, and sending people back into the streets in protest. Self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaidó, president of the Asamblea Nacional, continued to call for an end to the government of President

In late March and the first days of April, 2019, Venezuela continued to be plagued by an electricity crisis that had completely paralyzed work and school activities for at least ten days. The fluctuation of power also affected the supply of drinking water throughout the country, while telephone services and internet access suffered the consequences

On March 21, 2019, former Brazilian President Michel Temer was arrested for suspicion of corruption in the massive criminal investigation known as the Lava Jato, or “Operation Car Wash,” probe. The huge and ongoing effort began as an investigation into kickbacks to politicians and public officials. Since launching in March 2014, Operação Lava Jato has led

On Saturday, March 16, 2019, protests broke out once more in Nicaragua against the government of Daniel Ortega. When the opposition rejected Ortega’s efforts to restart talks because of what they labeled his obvious cynicism, they went back into the streets. The government responded, as it has repeatedly over the last year, with a violent

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