So wrote Susana González in La Jornada of Mexico City.  The basket of 28 basic food products, whose prices rose 14% last year, rose 7.38% in a month, going from 880 to 946 pesos in Mexico City and its metropolitan area, according to the Federal Consumer Prices watchdog (PROFECO).   

In mid January self-defense groups organized by individual communities in the Mexican state of Michoacán clashed, yet again, with the forces of Los Caballeros Templarios, or Knights Templar, drug cartel.  The communities, which have been terrorized for years, have lost faith in the ability (or even inclination) of local, state, and federal government officials to

Dina Fernández wrote in El Periódico of Guatemala City that Guatemalans “live in a time capsule” dominated by the ghosts of the Cold war.  This year marks 60th anniversary of the overthrow of Jacobo Árbenz, over half a century that includes 36 years of civil war and nearly two decades of attempts at peace. 

Jorge Fernández Díaz wrote in La Nación of Buenos Aires of the “furiously roaring volcano of Peronismo.”  Down in its interior one can “hear the sounds of the large pool of magma, fragmented, but boiling.” 

María Elvira Samper observed in El Espectador of Bogotá that the question of Mayor Gustavo Petro’s future continues to fester as Bogotá drifts in a sea of instability and uncertainty.  Yet despite the institutional mess, the case underlines “at least two certainties.”  

In La Jornada of Mexico City John Saxe-Fernández said he felt a chill after reading an interview with Rogelio Cárdenas, Secretary of Agriculture, and seeing that the “the objectives of reform” are meant to benefit the “giants of banking, agribusiness, mining and energy.” 

Paul Cádiz wrote in La Tercera of Santiago that the future government spokesman of the second administration of President Michelle Bachelet, the Socialist Alvaro Elizalde, stressed that “the need for a new Constitution” will be one of the main focuses of the government of the New Majority. 

Semana Magazine of Bogotá reported that 2013 was a good year for the economy in Colombia. 

Latin American Herald Tribune of Caracas reported that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will call for Puerto Rican independence and incorporation into the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). 

Juana Téllez wrote in El Espectador of Bogotá about short, local trips, or “small tourism.”  Despite its appeal, it can be plagued by crowds and traffic jams.