South Florida sees upswing in family trips to Cuba

South Florida has seen a surge in trips to Cuba as new U.S. policies toward Havana take shape.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. miilitary presence in Colombia could irk neighbors

A plan to increase the American military presence on at least three military bases in Colombia, Washington’s top ally in Latin America, is accentuating Colombia’s already tense relations with some of its neighbors.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Iran's invisible Nicaragua embassy

For months, the reports percolated in Washington and other capitals. Iran was constructing a major beachhead in Nicaragua as part of a diplomatic push into Latin America, featuring huge investment deals, new embassies and even TV programming from the Islamic republic.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Kirchner resigns as party leader in Argentina

Néstor Kirchner, the former president of Argentina, resigned his post as leader of the Peronist Party on Monday, a day after he and his supporters suffered a crushing defeat in national congressional elections.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Sanford admits affair with woman in Argentina

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford acknowledged Wednesday that he was carrying on an affair with a woman in Argentina when he disappeared from his office last week, only to resurface Wednesday morning.

Where was GOP's Sanford? Argentina, not Appalachia

Gov. Mark Sanford said he left for Buenos Aires on Thursday night from Columbia, S.C., and had originally planned to come back Thursday. The governor said he cut his trip short after his chief of staff told him his absence was gaining a lot of media attention.

MERCOPRESS

Arturo Valenzuela to head US diplomacy for Latin America

President Barack Obama named Tuesday Arturo Valenzuela, a US-Chilean citizen and former member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, as the new head of hemispheric affairs in the State Department

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Paternity makes punch line of Paraguay president

Fernando Lugo, the former priest who is now Paraguay's president, shocked the nation last month by admitting to fathering one child — and possibly more — before the Vatican had returned him to layman status. Now, the baby jokes just keep coming.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Payments grow for victims of Guatemala's civil war

Since President Álvaro Colom took office in January 2008, Guatemala has stepped up payments to survivors of the estimated 200,000 people who died in the 36-year civil war. Begun in 2003, the program had compensated 3,000 survivors by 2007, according to its directors. But under Colom, the state has handed out 10,477 checks.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

In Mexico, Obama's words do for now

Even before he sat down to a gala dinner of shrimp and roasted cactus, President Obama had charmed much of Mexico, with his repeated use of the word "partner," assurances of shared responsibility in the drug war and promises to reform immigration policy.

THE WASHINGTON POST

In Peru, Fujimori's lengthy trial nears end

After more than 15 months and more than 70 witnesses, the often tedious, sometimes riveting and always live-televised judicial proceeding that is known here as the "mega-trial" has entered its final stages. Attorneys for former president Alberto Fujimori, accused of human rights violations involving state-sponsored killings and kidnappings, plan to present concluding arguments this week

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Nafta’s promise unfulfilled

Fifteen years after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect, only part of its promise has been realized.

AFP

U.S. Senator slams Bolivia's ouster of US diplomat

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican, Richard Lugar, condemned on Tuesday Bolivia's latest expulsion of a US diplomat, as the White House kept mum on the issue.

Another top Cuban official fired

Yet another member of Cuba’s political elite has been ousted: Fernando Remírez de Estenoz, former chief of the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington and most recently head of the Cuban Communist Party’s Foreign Relations Department.

The faces of El Salvador's gangs

Along with other aspects of Salvadoran life, Ethan James photographed hundreds of gang members and gang crime victims, which amounted to a small fraction of the more than 7,600 people murdered during his time there as a news photographer

THE WASHINGTON POST

Colombians Snap Up Hostages' Memoirs

In a new book titled "Out of Captivity," three Americans describe being chained at the neck by rebel guards during five years of imprisonment in Colombia's jungles, and reveal tensions among themselves and their fellow hostages.

New Miami Herald section for Cuba's Critical Voices

The Miami Herald's online Cuba page now displays a special Dissident Voices section contains reports from non-government sources on the island.

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Mexico downplays rebels' threats, but some worry

Against a backdrop of escalating drug violence, a self-described armed rebel group has announced its presence in northern Mexico and is threatening to generate chaos by subverting the government from within and forcing out foreign investors.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Ecstasy ensnares upper-class teenagers in Brazil

Drug trafficking in Brazil has become increasingly demonized in the eyes of the law , and the country’s elite is not being spared. Just last week, police arrested 55 people in a nationwide investigation focused on upper-middle-class youths who the police said were smuggling Ecstasy, LSD and other synthetic drugs into Brazil