Marisa Letícia, the wife of Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, died on February 3, 2017. She had been in intensive care since January 24 with a brain hemorrhage caused by a ruptured brain aneurysm. Doctors in São Paulo at Sirio-Libanes Hospital said “an absence of blood flow in the brain” caused her

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto cancelled a scheduled meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump after a dustup on Twitter, following Trump’s use of an executive order to demand the construction of a wall on the border (which he insists Mexico will pay for). The incident generated more discussion about the nature of the United States’

On the last full day of Barack Obama’s presidency, the Mexican government transferred the infamous drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Lorea, to U.S. custody. Pundits wondered at the timing of the transfer, while news outlets dug into the nature of the charges, his plea, his likely wealth, his new “tunnel-proof” home, and the meaning

Violent protests that erupted in December 2016 and early January 2017, in response to gasoline price hikes known as the “gasolinazo,” continue to reverberate in Mexico. Fuel prices that were long subsidized by the federal government will now be adjusted to international prices and governed by the law of supply and demand. President Enrique Peña

Latin Americans, Mexicans in particular, have begun the process of coming up with strategies to deal with Donald Trump, as well as the likely chaos he will bring in his wake. They contemplate his “wall,” and his demands that they pay for it, while trying to gauge the long-term impact on their economy and the

After the low turnout of the plebiscite in October 2016 produced a razor thin margin of defeat for the Colombian peace deal with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or FARC, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the guerrillas quickly hammered out a new deal. Santos, who in December was awarded the Nobel

On November 25, 2016 Fidel Castro died at the age of 90. The supreme leader of the Cuban Revolution, and the last of the great Cold War protagonists, he survived through the generally hostile atmosphere of eleven U.S. presidencies, weathered the collapse of the Soviet Union (his long-time benefactor), and lived to see the beginnings

As in the rest of the world, Donald Trump’s unexpected election on November 8, 2016, sent shockwaves throughout Latin America. Reactions ranged from incredulity, to horror, to recommendations to wait and see what happens.

On Sunday, November 6, 2016, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega won a fourth term, taking just over 72% of the vote, with his wife and first lady, Rosario Murillo, as his running mate. Observers noted that Murillo has long functioned as Ortega’s unofficial co-president. Yet the legitimacy of the entire election was called into question, given

The 25th Ibero-American summit took place in Cartagena, Colombia on October 28 and 29, 2016. It was the yearly meeting of the heads of state and government of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, along with Spain and Portugal, as members of the Organization of Ibero-American States. Many of the heads of state