Federal prosecutors in Brazil filed corruption charges against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his wife, Marisa Leticia da Silva. Lula, as he is known, served as president from 2003 to 2010, and became an icon of working class struggle and a powerful political force in Brazil. The prosecutors allege that the former

Forty-three years after the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973, societal divisions were on display as Chile looked back on its own September 11th anniversary. In the dramatic attack on Chile’s presidential palace, President Salvador Allende died at his own hand rather than surrender. Commemorating the event, President Michelle Bachelet pointed

It was a political death foretold, but shocking nonetheless. After her dramatic last speech before the Brazilian Senate on August 29, 61 senators voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office on August 31, 2016. It was the final act in a year-long drama that had paralyzed Latin America’s largest country. Rousseff, Brazil’s first female

Colombia’s government and its biggest rebel group, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or the FARC, reached an historic accord that hopes to end the world’s longest running conflict. The South American nation has endured seven continuous decades of armed struggle carried out by the FARC and its predecessors. Now the agreement must still be

President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico has had a rough ride of late, along with his party the PRI, though Mexicans are feeling negatively about politicians and political parties across the board. Polls show very high percentages of Mexicans see politicos as corrupt and inept, unable to confront violent crime and drug trafficking, and powerless

On August 9, 2016 the huge majority of Brazil’s Senate voted to approve a report calling for the permanent removal of President Dilma Rousseff, sending her impeachment process into its final phase, the impeachment trial.  It is expected to open around August 25, just four days after the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and to

Like in all countries around the world, coverage of the Olympic Games by Latin American media outlets focused on their own countries’ athletes, and interpreted events through the prism of their own concerns.  But given that these were only the second games ever held in Latin America, coverage ranged well beyond questions of sport, and

On June 23, 2016 the government of Colombia and the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) took one of the final steps in the peace process going on since 2012. They signed a ceasefire and prepared for the Colombian people to accept or reject their efforts. During July Colombians wondered whether

On June 23, 2016 the United Kingdom held a referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union. Voters narrowly chose, 51.89% to 48.11%, to embrace “Brexit” and leave the EU.  Latin Americans across the region reacted to the news with worries over how their individual countries could be affected, as well as

On June 23, 2016 the member states of the Organization of American States met at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C. in the guise of its Permanent Council to discuss Secretary General Luis Almagro’s invocation of the OAS Democratic Charter in the case of Venezuela.  Almagro wanted to sanction the government of President Nicolás Maduro