RSS Feeds
Buenos Aires
Patrick J. McDonnell, Bureau Chief
Patrick J. McDonnell has covered elections from Chile to Bolivia to Brazil, roamed Patagonia and examined the legacy of dictatorship in Argentina. As the Baghdad bureau chief, he covered the capture of Saddam Hussein, walked with the Marines into Falluja, and was on the streets of Baghdad for the country's first post-invasion election. Before Iraq, he covered the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration issues in California. He came to The Times from the Dallas Times Herald. McDonnell was an 1999-2000 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He began as a copy boy at the New York Daily News. McDonnell is native of the Bronx, N.Y. EMAILA national referendum endorses socialist President Evo Morales but it also buttresses the positions of governors in states seeking autonomy.
Unofficial results show the president will retain his post after recall referendum. Two opposition governors are ousted, results indicate.
Army troops deployed in Providence Hill are accused of turning three young men over to thugs in a rival favela. The event has left Brazil stunned.
The vice president casts the deciding vote against the new export tax, already in effect and causing protests. The initiative would have prevented court challenges and forced farmers to comply.
While the nation celebrates the recent rescue of 15 captives, families of 700 others taken by the same rebel group are left waiting.
An official says it did so to avoid a possible 'no' from America, which had the last say in any such effort. The U.S. was told only a week before, after its intelligence officials suspected a move.
Farmers fighting a grain tax find allies among the middle class, and the government turns to the poor for support. Political stability and economic growth are at risk.
The country is a key producer of ethanol. Many of those cutting the sugar cane used to make the fuel are said to endure primitive conditions.
SOUTH AMERICA
Feverish imports by China and India in particular are boosting the continent's producers of soybeans, sugar cane and meat.
Vaccine is in short supply amid the country's first outbreak in 34 years. As residents protest, officials scramble to secure supplies from abroad.
Thousands with limited opportunities at home are lured by pay; but for some who are injured or disabled, the cost his high.
COLUMN ONE
The Tierra del Fuego city, which bills itself as the End of the World, cashes in as thousands flock to its relatively untouched terrain.