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

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) held its 68th World Congress of News Media in Cartagena, Colombia from June 12 to June 14, 2016, with the support of the Asociación Colombiana de Editores de Diarios y Medios Informativos.  Hundreds of journalists and editors descended on the beautiful, walled, colonial city on the

On June 5, 2016 Peruvians voted in the runoff presidential election between Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (known as “PPK,” as is his party, Peruanos Por el Kambio) and Keiko Fujimori of the Fuerza Popular or FP.  Fujimori came out on top in the first round with 39.85% of the vote.  And while the majority of Peruvians

In late May 2016, journalists Salud Hernández, Diego D’Pablos, and Carlos Melo were abducted by armed men in the Catatumbo region of the department of Norte de Santander, Colombia.  It immediately became apparent that they were taken by members of Colombia’s second largest guerrilla group, the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional). Though they were quickly

As economic collapse and political breakdown loom in Venezuela, with the opposition-controlled Asamblea Nacional pushing a recall referendum to oust President Nicolás Maduro, the president decreed special powers that will run into 2017.  Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who narrowly lost the last presidential election to Maduro, has called on the military to “uphold the Constitution”

The administration of President Mauricio Macri and its allies in the Argentine Congress from the PRO and Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) parties initiated a legal process that resulted in an indictment against President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015) and former members of her Frente para la Victoria (FpV) government.  She and her former ministers stand