Mario Fuentes Destarac observed in El Periódico of Guatemala City that “shortness of breath is the pressing, urgent feeling of losing the ability to inhale,” and that there are parallels between the breathlessness of an individual and the severe dysfunction afflicting Guatemalan democracy. 

In mid January Pope Francis tapped 19 bishops to be Cardinals (they will be officially elevated at the next consistory ceremony on February 22, 2014)

Semana Magazine of Bogotá wrote that about 170 archaeologists and workers have been digging over the last year for artefacts left by Colombia’s Herrera culture, dating from 900 BCE, located in the municipality of Soacha, south of Bogotá. 

According to Robert Solomón in El Faro Magazine of San Salvador, “it must be said” that in El Salvador there is now “high energy” in the theatrical realm. 

Ariel Espinoza wrote in ABCColor of Asunción about Pedro Martínez and his contribution to Paraguayan music and folklore. 

El Espectador of Bogotá wrote that the CBERS -3, the satellite that China and Brazil recently launched, has cameras for remote monitoring that can significantly improve observation of the deforestation process in the Amazon. 

In Colombia Reports of Medellín Andrew Wight reported that the European Union has pledged $410,000 for a biodiversity project promoting a Colombian “natural treasure.” 

Inside Costa Rica of San José wrote that the peccary, a pig-like mammal known locally as a “chancho de monte,” is a species that lives in Costa Rica and which,

Maria López Conde wrote in The Rio Times of Rio de Janeiro of torrential rains that have “wreaked havoc in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, flooding streets, metro stations and closing airports.

Javier Salinas Cesareo wrote in La Jornada of Mexico City that at least 30 illegal homes have been demolished in the ecological reserve of the Sierra de Guadalupe, municipality of Ecatepec, Mexico State.