South America

Chained in the Colombian Jungle

The FARC's most famous hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, tells FP what six-and-a-half years of captivity in the jungle felt like.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

The Permanent Slum

The residents of Buenos Aires's Villa 31 have been shunted to the side for as long as they can remember. Now, they're looking to assert their identity in an unfriendly city.

BY JORDANA TIMERMAN | SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

How to Ruin OPEC's Birthday

The Middle Eastern oil cartel celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. Here's how to keep it from running our lives for another half-century.

BY GAL LUFT | SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Latin America's Shift to the Center

One of the most ideologically charged regions of the globe is turning to pragmatism.

BY MICHAEL SHIFTER | AUGUST 6, 2010

Colombia Kicks Over the Negotiating Table

Is President Álvaro Uribe trying to prevent his successor from making peace with Venezuela?

BY BERNARDO ÁLVAREZ | JULY 29, 2010

Blood on the Tracks

Photos from the dangerous journey to El Norte.

PHOTOS BY FELIPE JÁCOME | JULY 23, 2010

Soccer Explains Nothing

Stop looking to the World Cup for history lessons. It’s just a game and, frankly, that’s good enough.

BY SIMON KUPER | JULY 21, 2010

The Long Emergency

Barack Obama's administration is taking an expansive, ambitious approach to global health. Does that mean giving up on combating HIV/AIDS?

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JUNE 25, 2010

Stealing Colombia's Criminals

How extradition is ruining Latin America's courts, robbing victims of justice, and undermining the drug war.

BY MICHAEL REED-HURTADO | JUNE 18, 2010

Ahmadinejad's Sugar Daddy

How Brazilian ethanol could help Iran outwit American sanctions.

BY GAL LUFT | JUNE 3, 2010

The Twilight of the Western Oil Majors

A deal in Brazil between China and Petrobras suggests that Western Big Oil may be on its way out.

BY LISA VISCIDI | APRIL 27, 2010

The Big Thirsty

From contamination to droughts to just going without, images from the world's water crises.

MARCH 22, 2010

Cristina Gets Her Handshake

But it won't do her any good. Why the Clinton visit isn’t enough to bolster Argentina's sagging president.

BY ANNA PETHERICK | MARCH 4, 2010

Uribe Checks Out

Washington's most reliable ally in Latin America, the Colombian president, is on his way out. That's a good thing.

BY ADAM ISACSON | MARCH 4, 2010

How Did Chile Estimate the Earthquake Damage So Fast?

High-tech guesswork.

BY ANNIE LOWREY | MARCH 2, 2010

Adios, Amigos

How Latin America stopped caring what the United States thinks.

BY MICHAEL SHIFTER | MARCH 2, 2010

Olympic Outliers

Forget the Jamaican bobsled team. This year, there’s a pack of Olympic underdogs from countries that aren't well known for cold-weather sports.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT | FEBRUARY 10, 2010

Noriega's Revenge

Twenty years after the U.S. invasion of Panama, America's ambassador to the United Nations at the time considers it an important stepping stone to the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq.

BY JORDAN MICHAEL SMITH | DECEMBER 18, 2009

Latin America's New Cold War?

Venezuela's and Colombia's ambassadors to the United States tell their sides of an increasingly tense story.

BY BERNARDO ALVAREZ HERRERA, CAROLINA BARCO | DECEMBER 8, 2009

Take the R Out of BRIC

What on Earth is Russia doing on the list of top emerging economies?

BY ANDERS ÅSLUND | DECEMBER 2, 2009

Democracy Loses the Honduran Election

It's an abomination that Sunday's presidential vote came without consequence for the country's coup-makers.

BY KEVIN CASAS-ZAMORA | DECEMBER 1, 2009

Calm Down, Chávez

War-mongering Venezuela is stirring up trouble down south again. But will he really go to war with Colombia this time around?

BY MICHAEL SHIFTER | NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Planet Slum

Norwegian photojournalist Jonas Bendiksen spent six weeks living in the slums of Nairobi, then Caracas, Mumbai, and Jakarta. His remarkable panoramic images take us inside slum families' lives, revealing the profound human impulse to fashion not only shelter but a home.

BY JONAS BENDIKSEN, CHRISTINA LARSON | NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Honduras Is An Opportunity

And the United States shouldn't squander it.

BY OTTO J. REICH | OCTOBER 27, 2009

Why Brazil Won

How Lula brought the Olympic Games to his rising power.

BY EDUARDO J. GÓMEZ | OCTOBER 2, 2009

How to Save Lives by Breaking All the Rules

How former U.S. Global AIDS coordinator Mark Dybul ditched the bureaucracy, stopped intergovernmental turf wars, pushed for results, and helped create an anti-poverty machine that actually works.

BY MARK DYBUL | SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Revenge of the Rivers

A summer of severe storms has left much of the world underwater.

BY MICHAEL WILKERSON | SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

How High Will It Go?

How the price of oil might superspike once again.

BY THE MCKINSEY GLOBAL INSTITUTE | SEPT. / OCT. 2009

Who's Lobbying for the Coup?

How a Washington split on Honduras policy came to be.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | AUGUST 4, 2009

Aiding the Future

Does U.S. foreign assistance really work?

BY MICHAEL WILKERSON | JULY 20, 2009