On March 9, 2015 U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order that declared Venezuela a national security threat to the United States, and also ordered sanctions against seven specific current or former officials under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.  According to the White House, the move was meant as a measured response to target people

While Venezuela’s economic situation seems to teeter closer to the edge, its highly antagonistic political atmosphere also continues to worsen.  As President Nicolás Maduro’s approval numbers have fallen into the low twenties, he has repeatedly blamed the nation’s troubles on international conspiracies (largely originating in the United States) linked to the domestic political opposition.  He

In Mexico the coerced disappearance of persons is occurring throughout the country’s territory, and in many cases these crimes are committed by public servants. This was the conclusion of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), which argued that all levels of the Mexican government must move with deliberate speed to address the problem, most

Alberto Nisman was the prosecutor whom former President Néstor Kirchner’s administration tasked with investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA).  The attack, which killed 85 people, is generally believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah operatives with connections to Iranian intelligence.  Nisman recently

Shortages and long lines have sparked violence and arrests in Venezuela.  Consumers now spend hours in lines for a chance to buy basic necessities, but there are no guarantees about what will be available.  The opposition continues to call for peaceful demonstrations and point to the failure of government policies, while international accrediting agencies warn

In a bold move that could dramatically alter the United States’ relationship with Latin America, on December 17, 2014 Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro agreed to prisoner exchanges and a resumption of full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba.  Cuba released American aid worker Alan Gross after five years in prison, as

Roberto Gómez Bolaños, the Mexican comedian who created, wrote, and played the iconic television characters “El Chavo del Ocho” and “El Chapulín Colorado,” died on November 28, 2014 at the age of 85. Gómez Bolaños got his nickname, derived from the Spanish pronunciation of “Shakespeare” (“Chespir”) with the common diminutive “ito” added to the end,

Since the September 26, 2014 attack on students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College of Ayotzinapa in Guerrero, in which 6 were killed, 25 were wounded, and another 43 were disappeared in Iguala, the state capital (120 miles south of Mexico City), Mexico has seen massive protests and Mexicans in general have participated

The largest and smallest countries of Spanish and Portuguese speaking Latin America (in terms of population) voted in presidential elections on October 26, 2014.  In Brazil the second round confirmed the reelection of President Dilma Rousseff of the leftist PT or Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party), while Uruguay’s first round set the stage for what

In the weeks before Brazil’s first round of elections on October 5, the smart money seemed to be on a runoff between President Dilma Rousseff of the PT (the Workers Party) and Marina Silva of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), former members of the ruling coalition.  It didn’t work out that way.  Silva lost steam