Four months after the beginning of the protests by university students on April 18, 2018, against the government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, thousands of Nicaraguans returned to the streets of Managua on August 18, despite police and paramilitary intimidation. Protesters also gave the lie to the Ortega administration’s insistence that things in Nicaragua are,

After months of intense debate, churning societal tension, and successful passage of the Chamber of Deputies, legislation that would have decriminalized abortion during the first 14 weeks of gestation failed when a majority of Argentina’s senators voted against it in the early morning hours of August 9, 2018. Thousands of Argentinians, divided into the “green”

The Brazilian Workers Party, Partido dos Trabalhadores or PT, held its national convention on Saturday, August 4, 2018. As expected, the PT nominated its jailed founder, former President Lula, as its candidate for the October 2018 presidential election. They willfully ignored the fact that since he is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption, he will

On Sunday, July 1, 2018, Mexicans elected Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO as he is known, as their next president. AMLO is universally viewed as the most left-leaning candidate to be elected president since Lázaro Cárdenas in the 1930s. Throughout July, commentators, analysts, and partisans wrestled with what his election means and what it

During the final weeks of June 2018, repression of demonstrations against the government of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua (ongoing since April 19) took a bloody turn when paramilitary groups loyal to Ortega opened fire on protesters. Church-backed talks about political transition also collapsed. Ortega sympathizers and police units moved to dismantle roadblocks by protesters

On June 17, 2018, Iván Duque, the candidate for Colombia’s rightwing Centro Democrático Party, took 54% of the vote in Colombia’s second-round presidential election, decisively defeating the candidate of the imperfectly united political left, Gustavo Petro, who received 42% of the votes cast. The pro-business and anti-guerrilla protégé of former President Álvaro Uribe, Duque has

On June 3, 2018, Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego began a series of eruptions that left over one hundred people dead and hundreds more missing. In the week that followed, popular anger swelled over government inaction and blatant incompetence. Commentators across the political spectrum condemned efforts by President Jimmy Morales’ administration to respond to the crisis

At the end of May 2018, the months-long process by the United States, Mexico, and Canada to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, broke down because of last minute demands by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. When the United States subsequently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, the Mexicans and

On May 27, 2018, close to 20 million Colombians voted in their nation’s first-round presidential election. It was the highest turnout for an election in 20 years, and the most peaceful day of voting in over half a century. The contest trimmed the field down to two candidates, the rightwing protégée of former President Álvaro

On May 20, 2018, Venezuela went through with its presidential election, despite calls from around the world for its postponement and reorganization. President Nicolás Maduro stood for re-election in a country consumed by a deep economic, social, and political crisis. Labeled “illegitimate” by the fractured opposition, many elements of which called for abstention, the election’s