Brazil's historically poor northeast finally gets its boom

RECIFE, Brazil — The Brazilian state of Pernambuco was once known for its vast plains of parched dirt and roving bandits called ...

U.S. goes after ex-Mexican governor's Texas property

— The former governor of a Mexican state bordering Texas accepted millions in bribes from drug cartels and invested the money in Texas...

Colombia rebels' hostage recalls friendship with wild pig

BOGOTA, Colombia -- A little wild pig named Josefo, abandoned by his mother, helped keep Sgt. Jose Libardo Forero sane.

Arrest of alleged kingpin seen as blow to Sinaloa cartel

SAN DIEGO — Alleged drug kingpin Victor Emilio Cazares, among the most wanted trafficking suspects in the United States, has been...

Carlos Fuentes dies at 83; Mexican novelist

If Carlos Fuentes could have invented the perfect character to star in one of his novels, he might have come up with a protagonist named...

Dozens of bodies, many mutilated, dumped in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities responding to an anonymous tip discovered about 50 mostly mutilated bodies dumped on the side of a...

Corruption flows freely along U.S.-Mexico border

COLUMBUS, N.M. — From a small hill at a state park here, the border town of Palomas, Mexico, can be made out through the desert haze....

Disenchantment may keep Mexico's young voters on sidelines

MEXICO CITY — They areMexico's "democracy babies" — a generation that grew up just as the nation broke free of decades of all-...

Oldest known Maya calendar found in Guatemala

In the remote northeastern corner of Guatemala, archaeologists have found what appears to be the 9th century workplace of a city scribe,...

The man to beat in Mexico's presidential race

MEXICO CITY — Nearly two months remain before Mexico picks a new president, but it's increasingly difficult to envision a winner not...

Pittsburgh cafe offers cuisine from the U.S. conflict du jour

PITTSBURGH — Jon Rubin had an important question, and he knew where to find the answer: at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, which...

In Mexico, rising tension at shelter for migrants

TULTITLAN, Mexico — The travelers, with bloodshot eyes and sleep-wrinkled clothes, press around a man with a map of Mexico taped to...

Tomas Borge dies at 81; last living founder of Sandinista movement

MEXICO CITY — Tomas Borge, last living founder of Nicaragua's Sandinista movement and one of its most hard-line enforcers as it...

'Plumed Serpent' tracks the complex tale of a wandering deity

Over at the Getty Villa, a fantastic hybrid sculpture is holding court in a powerful exhibition that explores the ancient Mediterranean...

Republicans seek to hold attorney general in contempt over Fast and Furious

WASHINGTON — Republican House leaders have drafted a proposed contempt of Congress citation against Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in...

At 80, Colombian artist Fernando Botero has no plans to retire

BOGOTA, Colombia — Honored here on his 80th birthday last week with a congressional medal and dinner with the president, Colombia's...

Supreme Court may uphold part of Arizona immigration law

WASHINGTON —U.S. Supreme Court justices strongly suggested they would uphold a provision in Arizona's tough immigration law that tells...

Wal-Mart may pay millions to resolve Mexican bribery allegations

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars in legal expenses and penalties to resolve allegations of...

Argentina lawmakers expected to approve oil firm takeover

BUENOS AIRES — With public opinion in Argentina firmly behind President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's plan to nationalize the...

From a Mexican kingpin to an FBI informant

WASHINGTON — Police and federal agents pulled the car over in a suburb north of Denver. An FBI agent showed his badge. The driver...

Salvadorans hope dedication of square spurs more recognition

Under cloudless skies and a radiant sun, a couple of hundred Salvadorans dressed in white gathered early Saturday to name an intersection...

House Republicans back Homeland Security powers in border parks

House Republicans are backing legislation in Congress to give the Department of Homeland Security control of more than 50 national parks and...

A generational divide widens in Cuba

SANTIAGO, Cuba — The way Cesar Cruz and his buddies see it, the "revolution of our grandparents" just doesn't cut it anymore.

Toy company accused of laundering drug money

They were sellers of pastel-toned huggable plush toys with names like "Baby Frenz Forever" and "Jungle Pals." At the same time,...

Argentina moves to take control of nation's largest oil company

Argentina's government made official its plan to take control of the nation's largest oil company, YPF, provoking a diplomatic crisis with...

Obama clears way for Colombia free trade pact

CARTAGENA, Colombia — Despite strong opposition from his allies in the U.S. labor movement, President Obama said Sunday that he...

Misconduct inquiry targets 16 U.S. security team members

WASHINGTON — Eleven Secret Service agents and five members of the U.S. military working on a security team preparing for President...

At Americas summit, Obama says no to legalizing drugs

CARTAGENA, Colombia — President Obama sought Saturday to emphasize the robust economic relationship between the United States and...

At Latin America summit, Obama to face push for drug legalization

CARTAGENA, Colombia — President Obama will highlight trade and business opportunities in Latin America at a regional summit in...

Secret Service agents accused of misconduct removed from summit

CARTAGENA, Colombia — As many as a dozen Secret Service agents have been sent home from the Summit of the Americas here this weekend...

Mexico presidential race leaves voters dismayed

MEXICO CITY — Elections can be times of great promise and hope for the future. But as Mexican voters prepare to choose a new president...

Brazil wins the gold medal in gridlock

SAO PAULO, Brazil — If you plan to fly somewhere in Brazil on a busy weekend, you'd better be prepared to wait. At some airports, up...

Miguel de la Madrid dies at 77; former president of Mexico

MEXICO CITY —Former Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, who led the country amid economic meltdown and natural disaster in the...

Northeast Brazil has its own distinct Carnaval

The Victorious Lion troupe, a collection of middle-aged Brazilian men wearing unwieldy and colorful costumes, banged their drums to the...

Tracking down Colombia's missing manhole covers

The clue that cracked the case of Bogota's vanishing manhole covers came from a GPS chip embedded in one of the strangely coveted items.

Trying to get back to the only life he knew

The freight train slowed through downtown and screeched to a stop in front of Luis Luna. He scrambled under a boxcar and climbed onto narrow...

Ricardo Legorreta dies at 80; Mexican modernist architect

Ricardo Legorreta, the architect who introduced Mexican modernism to a global audience and who brought his crisp, brightly colored aesthetic...

Will the year 2012 be an apocalyptic game-changer?

There are years that are remembered for changing the course of human history:1492. 1776. 1945.

Fast and Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer's home

High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the...

Suspicion in Mexico's Sinaloa cartel

Last of four parts

Mexico still waiting for answers on Fast and Furious gun program

Last fall's slaying of Mario Gonzalez, the brother of a Mexican state prosecutor, shocked people on both sides of the border. Sensational...

FBI report at odds with ATF claim on weapons

The claim by senior ATF officials that none of the weapons lost in the botched Fast and Furious sting operation were used in the shooting of...

ATF sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show

Two days after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was killed in December, the top ATF supervisors in Phoenix said in internal emails...

Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants

Congressional investigators probing the controversial "Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at...

'Magú' Luján dies at 70; influential Mexican American artist

Gilbert "Magú" Luján — a painter, muralist and sculptor whose whimsical, slyly humorous art works, frequently evoking a...

U.S. to require more gun-buyer information in border states

As a backlash mounts over the government's failed Fast and Furious gun-tracing operation, the Justice Department will begin requiring...

Argentine singer killed in Guatemala ambush

Reporting from San Salvador and Mexico City -- Argentine songwriter and singer Facundo Cabral, an icon of Latin American folk and protest...

Leonora Carrington dies at 94; a leading figure of the Surrealist movement

Reporting from Mexico City -- She painted eerie rituals with cloaked figures in forests, dancing deer with trees growing from their backs,...

U.S. AK-47s linked to Mexican attorney's slaying

A congressional investigation into a controversial federal gun-running surveillance operation is moving to Mexico this week amid new reports...

Mexican priest alleges mass kidnapping of Central American migrants

A Roman Catholic priest who has long championed the cause of migrant workers denounced on Monday what he said was another mass kidnapping of...

In Mexico City, crowds protest drug violence

Bearing white balloons and fake bloodstains, tens of thousands of demonstrators crowded Mexico City's historic downtown Sunday to call for...

Al Schwimmer dies at 94; founder of Israel's aerospace industry

Al Schwimmer, a former aircraft engineer who smuggled American planes to Israel for its 1948 war of independence, founded its aerospace...

Rene Emilio Ponce dies at 64; Salvadoran general blamed for killing of six priests during civil war in 1989

Reporting from San Salvador and Mexico City -- Rene Emilio Ponce, the once-powerful army general blamed for one of the most egregious...

Mexican president wants to do away with local police

Amid a bloody war against drug cartels, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that he was sending Congress a plan to overhaul the...

In Mexico, a dividing line on 'El Infierno'

It doesn't take long for Benjamin Garcia — "El Benny" — to get sucked into hell.

Determined federal prosecutor targets the Tijuana cartel

There's no plan in sight for Haiti's homeless

Reconstruction of this earthquake-crippled nation hangs on a simple, potentially explosive question: Who owns the land?

Successful Tijuana security chief's job at risk

He is the rare Mexican lawman feared by organized crime. Tijuana's secretary of public security has chased out major drug traffickers,...

Unraveling Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel

First of four parts