The Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), also known as the Sandinistas, won the bulk of Nicaragua’s mayoral offices in its municipal elections on November 5, 2017. The FSLN, former guerrillas who prevailed in the 1979 Revolution and ruled Nicaragua until 1990 under President Daniel Ortega, has been Nicaragua’s dominant political force since Ortega returned

Accused yet again of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, on Oct. 25, 2017, Brazilian President Michel Temer found his political fate once more in the hands of the Chamber of Deputies, which had to vote on whether or not to accept the charges against him. For Brazil’s Supreme Court to investigate the president, 342 of

President Macri’s Cambiemos coalition won in Argentina’s top five population centers, including the city of Buenos Aires, and the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fe, and Mendoza. The comprehensive victories by the president’s allies strengthened his position in Congress, and seemed to cast doubt on the idea of a national-level political comeback by his

On October 15, 2017, President Nicolás Maduro’s government said it had won a landslide victory in the closely watched election of state governors. The outcome shocked many experts amid claims by the opposition of fraud, manipulation, and official intimidation. Many international observers called the official results “suspicious.” Maduro’s supporters claimed to have won the governorships

El Che, as he is known, was a comrade in arms of Fidel and Raúl Castro during their guerrilla struggle in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra that overthrew the bloody dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. And though he died in Bolivia in 1967, fifty years ago this month, in Latin America he remains a figure of

President Michel Temer has earned the dubious honor of becoming the most unpopular president in Brazilian history. In a recent poll, his approval rating stood at 3%, which is the lowest for any president since the beginning of modern polling. Worries about the economy and anger over his role in corruption scandals stand out as

On September 19, 2017, exactly thirty-two years after the devastating earthquake of 1985, a powerful quake shook central Mexico. The 7.1 magnitude quake crumpled many buildings into huge clouds of dust, killed hundreds, and sent thousands fleeing into the streets. In densely populated parts of Mexico City, mounds of rubble were all that was left

On September 8, 2017, Mara Fernanda Castilla Miranda, a 19-year-old college student in the city of Puebla, Mexico, left a party and caught a ride from a Cabify driver. On September 15, her body was discovered in a Puebla motel. Soon thereafter, massive demonstrations erupted throughout the country in which women demanded justice in the

From the 6th to the 11th of September 2017, Pope Francis toured various Colombian cities where he was met by enormous crowds of the faithful. The stated purpose of his visit was to inspire peace and promote reconciliation in the deeply polarized country, and the motto of his tour was “Let’s Take the First Step.”

Latin America’s longest-lived guerrilla army, Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Ejército del Pueblo (Las FARC-EP), has become La Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (La FARC). In keeping its old initials, La FARC angered many, but demonstrated continuity with its past struggle. Political odds makers debated its possible strengths and weaknesses as a political party,