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By Tom Metcalfe The peaceful, easy feeling derived from a mix of hallucinogenic drugs and alcoholic drink may have been a key to political power in coastal Peru a millennium ago, according to a study published in the journal Antiquity. Archaeologists have long...
Chileans overwhelmingly voted against a proposed new constitution on Sunday, rejecting what would have been one of the world's most progressive charters. While nearly 80% of Chileans voted to draft a new constitution in 2020, nearly 62% of voters rejected the new text...
By Steve H. Hanke and Caleb Hofmann El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, may be Bitcoin’s most visible publicist. Since Bukele assumed the presidency on June 1, 2019, his first-mover, grandiose plans for Bitcoin in El Salvador have generated buzz — and a litany of...
By Mauricio Olmedo-Perez When I was mugged by a gang of teenagers in Panama City it was a surprisingly civil transaction, and it was all over in less than a minute. I was a tour guide and had worked throughout Latin America for a number of years, traveling to some...
By Matthew Bristow Colombia, the world’s biggest producer of cocaine, is rethinking the war on drugs which it has waged for decades backed by US military aid. Minutes after taking office last month, leftist President Gustavo Petro called for a new approach, saying in...
By Michael Stott and Lucinda Elliott Uruguay sells itself to investors as the Switzerland of Latin America. Many business people hail it as a beacon of sound government in a region beset by corruption and turmoil. Indian mining tycoon Pramod Agarwal describes that...
By Riley MacKenzie The female condor was brought out again, and her legs were bandaged and lashed to the back of a black bull. The bull set off bucking across the ring, the startled condor flapping her wings and pecking at the bull’s back. The bull, racing...
By Maeve Campbell Lithium extraction fields in South America have been captured by an aerial photographer in stunning high definition. But while the images may be breathtaking to look at, they represent the dark side of our swiftly electrifying world. Lithium...
By Rebecca Dzombak Photos By Sofia Lopez Mañan The world’s largest bird of prey is in trouble, and locals are working to save it. The Andean condor, a massive South American cousin of the California condor, once soared along the full length and breadth of the Andes...
Argentina's inflation rate is soaring amid a severe economic and financial crisis. Consumer prices climbed 71% in July year-on-year, the country's statistical office Indec said on Thursday. In July alone, prices increased by 7.4% compared to the previous month as peso...
Gustavo Petro, a former member of Colombia's M-19 guerrilla group, was inaugurated the country's first leftist president on Sunday at a ceremony in the capital, Bogota. Some 100,000 people, including Spanish King Felipe VI and at least nine Latin American presidents,...
By Eric Parrado Burdened with inflation, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the fallout from the pandemic, the region of Latin America and the Caribbean is at a critical juncture. Without reforms, it could return to a lacklustre pre-pandemic growth rate of...
By Julie Turkewitz, Mitra Taj and John Bartlett In Chile, a tattooed former student activist won the presidency with a pledge to oversee the most profound transformation of Chilean society in decades, widening the social safety net and shifting the tax burden to the...
By Stefano Pozzebon South American countries are bracing for an autumn of discontent, as spiking global fuel prices threaten to provoke more protests in the upcoming months. Rising fuel prices have already brought about protests in Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and Panama....
By Geraldine Garcia The Colombian city of Cucuta is counting down the days until the full reopening of the border with Venezuela, a campaign promise of leftist President-elect Gustavo Petro that he is expected to fulfill after taking office on Aug. 7. The capital of...
By Peter Aitken The commander of U.S. Southern Command has raised concerns that the U.S. is not matching China’s grand strategy in Latin America. "Flying along the Panama Canal and looking at all the state-owned enterprises from the PRC on each side of the Panama...
By Matt Spetalnick The U.S. State Department on Wednesday added dozens of current and former officials, lawmakers, judges and business people from Central America to a list that names those the U.S. government considers "corrupt and undemocratic" actors in the region....
By Jim Wyss The historian carefully leafs through pages of a 400-year-old, leather-bound book until she finds the shaky signature. It’s a faint scrawl that has consumed Tamara Estupiñan for more than 30 years, led her to find forgotten Inca ruins and sparked an...
Panamanian protesters are intensifying their anti-government strike, demanding the government stop rising inflation and corruption. Across the small Central American nation, thousands of protesters blocked roads and airports and stopped trucks from delivering food and...
By Shafik Meghji After cresting the 4,800m Cumbre pass, the trufi (shared taxi) plunged into a cloud of swirling mist. Inside the vehicle it felt strangely peaceful, as if we were trapped in a bubble, which was perhaps for the best given we were travelling along the...
