Latin America

New Jack Rio

Six years ago, crack cocaine was virtually unheard of in Brazil. Now it's out of control.

BY KRISTINA ROSALES, TAYLOR BARNES | SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

Slim Pickings

Mexico is the most staggeringly unequal society on the planet -- but it doesn't have to stay that way.

BY CHARLES KENNY | AUGUST 22, 2011

This Week at War: Outsourcing the Drug War

Can U.S. private contractors turn the tide in Mexico's violent drug war?

BY ROBERT HADDICK | AUGUST 12, 2011

Gold Rush

With markets in a panic and investors fleeing to gold, Colombia's armed groups are making out like bandits.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | AUGUST 9, 2011

The Last Pilgrims to Havana

Visiting Fidel Castro used to be a proud rite of passage for Latin American leftist leaders like Peru's Ollanta Humala. Now it's an act of charity.

BY YOANI SÁNCHEZ | JULY 27, 2011

Here Comes the FARC

The once-dead guerrilla war returns to Colombia.

JULY 26, 2011

What Was at Stake in 1962?

A closer look at the nuclear stockpiles of the world's two superpowers as the Cuban Missile Crisis began.

BY RACHEL DOBBS | JULY 17, 2011

The World's Most Dangerous Borders

Thirteen places you don't want to be stuck at.

BY PHILIP WALKER | JUNE 24, 2011

Legalizing Drugs Won't Stop Mexico's Brutal Cartels

Like all good multinational businesses, they've diversified.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JUNE 22, 2011

Gorby, the Man Who Changed the World

Life in the limelight for the West's favorite Soviet.

BY EDMUND DOWNIE, SOPHIA JONES | JUNE 20, 2011

You Can't Always Get What You Want

What Amazon.com and Netflix can teach us about fighting poverty.

BY DEAN KARLAN, JACOB APPEL | MAY 31, 2011

Interview: Álvaro Uribe

Colombia's former president tells FP how his country came back from the brink, why he's staying in politics, and why it's dangerous (but worth it) to be on Twitter.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | MAY 17, 2011

Comeback City

From narco-ville to architectural miracle, a look at the evolution of Colombia's notorious Medellín.

APRIL 27, 2011

A Market for Good

Why American workers need the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.

BY MAX BAUCUS | APRIL 22, 2011

A Bad Trade

Obama has swapped smart policy for the same-old job-crushing trade deals.

BY TODD TUCKER | APRIL 18, 2011

Stiff Upper Lip

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have shaved off his mustache, but it's going to take a whole lot more than that to convince the world that he's not a dictator. FP investigates the whiskers that autocrats wear.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | MARCH 30, 2011

Boomtown 2025: A Special Report

By 2025, 136 new cities -- all from the developing world -- will take their place among the world's leading urban centers. But these new engines of global economic growth hold some surprises.

BY RICHARD DOBBS, JAANA REMES, CHARLES ROXBURGH | MARCH 24, 2011

In Rio, There's Much to Celebrate

BY DENNIS BRACK | MARCH 18, 2011

Caught in the Crossfire

Caught between prosecutors and the defense in the trial of famed anti-Castro militant, Luis Posada Carriles, a storied reporter -- now, the Justice Department's "star witness" -- feels the pinch.

BY ANN LOUISE BARDACH | MARCH 15, 2011

Let Us In

Why Barack Obama must support Brazil's drive for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

BY CELSO AMORIM | MARCH 14, 2011

The Trouble With the BRICs

Why it's too soon to give Brazil and India permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.

BY JORGE G. CASTAÑEDA | MARCH 14, 2011

Identification, Please

In the developed world, high-tech personal IDs are the stuff of Orwellian dystopia. But for everyone else, they could be a path to a happier, healthier, less precarious life.

BY JAMIE HOLMES | MARCH 8, 2011

Corps Concerns

In an age of globe-trotting American college kids, ubiquitous Internet access, and cell phone networks that reach even sub-Saharan cattle herders, does the world still need the Peace Corps?

BY CHARLES KENNY | FEBRUARY 22, 2011

The Ghosts of Duvalier

Baby Doc's return to Haiti is a potent reminder that his legacy of poverty and corruption lives on.

BY ELIZABETH ABBOTT | JANUARY 19, 2011

Big Is Beautiful

Financial access is key to helping the world's poor -- and tech-savvy big banks, not microcreditors, are our best hope for providing it.

BY CHARLES KENNY | JANUARY 18, 2011

Dial Red for Recovery

Two cell-phone companies in Haiti have outshone the government, the NGOs, and the international community in reconstructing post-earthquake Haiti. How -- and why -- did they do it?

BY AMY BRACKEN | JANUARY 11, 2011

Why Does Now Look So Much Like Then?

A look at Haiti, one year after the earthquake.

JANUARY 11, 2011

The Stories to Watch in 2011

For every totally out-of-the-blue crisis that seizes the international agenda, there are some that everyone should have seen coming. Here are five foreign-policy stories to watch in 2011.

BY CAMERON ABADI | DECEMBER 30, 2010

Next Year's Wars

The 16 brewing conflicts to watch for in 2011.

CAPTIONS BY INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP | DECEMBER 28, 2010