Colombia police tear-gas pyramid scheme clients

Police tear-gassed protesters Thursday as a crackdown on illegal investment schemes exposed class divisions...

THE AMERICAS

U.S. trade accords face change

NICARAGUA

Protests imperil Nicaragua's democracy

Post-election violence in Nicaragua could continue after upcoming elections in Venezuela, experts said.

Venezuela's Hugo Chávez has live soundtrack

Sunday's elections in Venezuela will be a key test for President Hugo Chávez a year after voters def...

Crisis in paradise: Meltdown leaves ghost resorts in Caribbean

Peru's hot economy wracked by growing conflicts

Peru's president is seizing every opportunity at this week's Pacific Rim economic summit to sell his countr...

THE WASHINGTON POST

In rampant crime, political danger for Hugo Chávez

For the first time in years, Venezuela's political opposition is poised to break President Hugo Chávez's ne...

Full coverage of Americas Conference

Click here for The Miami Herald's full cover...

Vodou shrub is alternative fuel

For generations, Vodou practitioners in rural Haiti have sworn by the mystic qualities of Jatropha, an indi...

Paquita la del Barrio sings of the wrongs that men do

The titles of her songs speak volumes: Wicked Men, Low Blow, Pure Pain and Hypocrite. Then there's her mega...

CHAVEZ'S GRAND CRUSADE | PART 1 OF 4

Latin America's Money Man

With oil enriching Venezuela's coffers, President Hugo Chávez is lavishing billions on other countries, boo...

CHAVEZ'S GRAND CRUSADE | PART 2 OF 4

PART II | Chávez rides on tide of Venezuelan oil, but will it ebb soon?

What happens to Venezuela's state oil company will ripple through Latin America and South Florida -- and co...

CHAVEZ'S GRAND CRUSADE | PART 3 OF 4

PART III | Nicaraguans wary of Chávez's largess

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has promised billions in aid to Nicaragua, but some question whethe...

CHAVEZ'S GRAND CRUSADE | PART 4 OF 4

PART IV | Chávez works on U.S. image

In an apparent effort to directly reach Americans, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is helping the p...

2 players thrown off Cuba baseball team for `indiscipline'

Cuba said Friday that right-hander Yadel Martí, who was named top pitcher at the inaugural World Bas...

Cuban activists say they have 20,000 signatures

A women's group presented thousands of signatures Thursday petitioning Cuba's parliament to close the gap i...

SOUTH FLORIDA

Cuban man's family kept on island, despite U.S. visas

A Cuban man who lost both of his arms -- after he tried to escape from prison following a failed attempt to...

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

Open travel, remittances best course for Cuba

On Jan. 1, 2009, the Cuban Revolution marks its 50th anniversary. Three weeks later, Barack Obama will step...

CUBA

Family reveals secret in Cuba hijacking

The relatives of Edmundo Ponce de Leon say he was one of the hijackers of a Miami-Cuba flight in 1958 that ...

AFP

Fidel Castro serenades Chinese president

China's President Hu Jintao made a landmark visit to Cuba Tuesday, bearing millions of dollars in aid and p...

THE WHITE HOUSE

Obama may tap Elián players for White House roles

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 31, AMERICAN HERITAGE 28

Late FG is the difference as Archbishop Carroll wins

Archbishop Carroll made a 19-yard field goal with 3:18 remaining and withstood a last-minute drive to defea...

CYPRESS BAY 29, N. MIAMI BEACH 20

Cypress Bay finally advances

The Lightning rode its ground attack to a big victory and reached the regional semifinals for the first time.

GULLIVER 40, N. BROWARD 35

Gulliver delivers final shot

Gulliver Prep raided the home of the Eagles and left with the victory Friday night, beating North Broward P...

NORTHWESTERN 21, COLUMBUS 6

Defense carries Northwestern past Columbus 21-6

Northwestern's offense didn't miss a beat without its leading rusher, and it ousted Columbus from the playo...

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 35, COCONUT CREEK 7

Surge late in the first half lifts Aquinas into semifinals

St. Thomas Aquinas played its Region 4-5A quarterfinal game against Coconut Creek on Friday night like it w...

Cayman interim police chief quits unexpectedly

The Cayman Islands is apparently no paradise for the new interim police chief. Royce Hipgrave decided he di...

Jamaica warns of 'many' layoffs from meltdown

Jamaica's unemployment rate is about to get worse. The country already has had nearly 12 percent unemployme...

Venezuela vote a key test for Chavez

President Hugo Chavez faces a critical test of his grip on power against an energized opposition in state a...

VENEZUELA

Chávez makes himself issue in Venezuela's local elections

President Hugo Chávez, with his grip on Venezuela's political system at stake, has been campaigning ...

At least 8 killed in Venezuela flooding, mudslides

Heavy rains unleashed flooding and mudslides in Venezuela that killed at least eight people, including four...

Venezuelan oil falls to lowest price in 22 months

Prices for Venezuelan oil reached their lowest level in 22 months Friday as fears of a global recession sta...

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel lives his dream

With long sideburns and black curly locks hanging over his ears and collar, Gustavo Dudamel looks more like...

Venezolanos donaron más de $4 millones a damnificados cubanos

Al menos nueve muertos por lluvias en Venezuela

Nueve fallecidos y unas 300 familias damnificadas dejaron las precipitaciones que azotaron la capital, el c...

THE AMERICAS

U.S. trade accords face change

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Ground crews a bigger part of Colombia's cocaine battle

Aerial spraying is still the preferred method of coca eradication in Colombia, but the use of manual labore...

THE MIAMI HERALD

Opinion: Last chance for Colombia trade pact

Obama, Democrats should support deal with close ally

VERBATIM

Rights advocates aren't the enemy

Below are excerpts from Amnesty International's 2008 report on the state of human rights in Colombia. In Co...

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

Colombia inches toward justice in paramilitary killings

For months the sometimes headless bodies, cut up by chain-saws, washed up on the banks of the muddy Cauca R...

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Body-count scandal mars Colombian victories

Inquiry finds the Colombian army killed slum dwellers, then said bodies were those of guerrillas

NEWSDAY

Alleged Colombian drug trafficker flown to U.S. for arraignment

A Colombian man, believed to be a major narcotics trafficker who threatened the lives of federal law enforc...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Asians' enrollment at U.S. colleges dwarfs Latins'

If you think that recent U.S. economic infatuation with Asia is a product of the pre-crisis U.S. consumptio...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Central American crime is a growing U.S. problem

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- One of the first issues President-elect Barack Obama's transition team will lo...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Obama's top Latin American advisors are mostly centrists

The big question in Washington's Latin American diplomatic circles is who will be the Obama administration'...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

To Mr. Obama: Great opportunities await

Congratulations, President-elect Barack Obama! Now that you are moving swiftly to put together your Cabinet...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Will Obama cozy up to Chávez, Castro? Not likely

Andres Oppenheimer aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com One of the biggest questions about President-elect Barack O...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Obama won big among Hispanics -- with GOP's help

One of the big surprises of Tuesday's elections: Florida's Hispanic population voted heavily for Democratic...

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Obama would govern best with modest win

Here are two scenarios of what could happen if the polls are right and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama wins Tu...

THE WASHINGTON POST

Bolivia's Evo Morales in diplomatic, defiant visit to D.C.

Evo Morales, the charismatic but controversial president of Bolivia, this week came to Washington for the f...

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Vote fraud allegationsagainst Nicaragua's Sandinistas

One of the main gains of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua nearly 30 years ago was a system of free an...

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

Open travel, remittances best course for Cuba

On Jan. 1, 2009, the Cuban Revolution marks its 50th anniversary. Three weeks later, Barack Obama will step...

MONTREAL GAZETTE

Castro's curious conversion

The aging former leader of Cuba has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church. It gets worse. As Castro writes, ...

THE WASHINGTON POST

Cuba overture best left to Obama

President Bush has stymied a strong push by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to engage Iran and Cuba mor...

THE WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL

Calling the Empire

Unlike his close allies in Moscow, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez dispatched a cheerful message to Barack Obama af...

WORLD POLITICS REVIEW

Obama's Latin America policy must reflect 'new reality'

On the same day that American voters elected Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States, Bolivian...

Asesinan a empresario italiano en Brasil

Dos pistoleros mataron a un empresario italiano frente a su fábrica en el sureste de Brasil, inform&...

Lula: Debe ponerse fin a aranceles al etanol

El presidente Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dijo que los aranceles al etanol son una contradicción y deb...

Guatemala: presupuesto del 2009 es de 6,6 millones de dólares

El Congreso aprobó un presupuesto general de ingresos y egresos de unos 6.630 millones de dól...

Mercados bursátiles bajan en toda América Latina

Las acciones cerraron con pérdidas el viernes en todas las bolsas de América Latina despu&eac...

EEUU elogia a Uribe por despedir militares por DDHH

La forma en que el presidente colombiano Alvaro Uribe recientemente cesó a varios militares se&ntild...

Detienen cubanos con helicóptero en Honduras

La Policía decomisó el viernes un helicóptero que ocho hombres armados, tres cubanos y...

México: Fallas en permisos de pilotos de avión caído

La autoridad mexicana que investiga el desplome del pequeño jet en el que murió el secretario...