Through genetic detective work, scientists have identified missing links in the tomato’s evolution from a wild blueberry-sized fruit in South America to the larger modern tomato of today.
A demonstrator protesting new austerity measures in Ecuador confronts armed police officers during clashes in Quito, Ecuador, Oct. 11, 2019.
AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa
A Chilean feminist anthem is being sung across the world in protest at violence against women.
In Rio de Janeiro, practitioners of the Afro-Brazilian faiths Candomble and Umbanda are increasingly under attack by evangelical crusaders.
AP Photo/Leo Correa
Robert Muggah, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
As evangelicalism spreads across Brazil, some of Rio de Janeiro’s most notorious gangs see minority religions as an affront to God. And they’re using guns to spread their gospel.
Many thought Bolivia had changed for good under Evo Morales – but perhaps that thinking was premature.
Clouds of smoke from burning cars mark the skyline of Culiacan, Mexico, during a 12-hour siege by the Sinaloa Cartel, Oct. 17, 2019.
AP Photo/Hector Parra
A series of brazen, highly visible attacks by Mexican drug cartels have killed at least 50 people in the past month, terrorizing citizens and making the government look weak on crime.
Protest music in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 12, 2019.
AP Photo/Esteban Felix
To quell weeks of protest over extreme inequality, Chile’s president has agreed to rewrite the country’s constitution, passed in 1980 under the deadly military regime of Augusto Pinochet.
Recent events in Bolivia represent both a military coup d'état and a moment of mass protest.
Bullet-riddled vehicles that members of the LeBaron family were traveling in sit parked on a dirt road near Bavispe, at the Sonora-Chihuahua border, Mexico, Nov 6, 2019.
AP Photo/Christian Chavez
Brazilian evangelicals are politically conservative, but they still believe in climate change. Turning them into climate activists, however, will be a challenge for the environmentalist movement.
Construction underway of a new port at Lamu, Kenya.
Michael Edward Walsh/flickr
Kirby Farah, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
It may sound like a solemn affair, but the Day of the Dead – which blends indigenous and Catholic ritual – is a convivial celebration that allows Mexicans to reconnect with deceased loved ones.
Argentina’s president-elect, Alberto Fernández (right), with his running mate, former president and first lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Reuters/Agustin Marcarian
Argentina has voted for change. Alberto Fernández, a 60-year-old lawyer, defeated President Mauricio Macri with a campaign emphasizing economic recovery, social inclusion and national unity.
Presidential candidate Alberto Fernández with his running mate, former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
JULIO GELVES
Hundreds of bishops, priests, missionaries and tribal leaders are at the Vatican for the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting focused on the environmental crisis threatening Amazonian peoples.
In Mexico, more than half of workers in the industrial and non-agricultural services sectors do not have access to social security.
Lunamarina / Shutterstock
Multinational corporations are increasingly vigilant about respecting human rights, but the case of Mexico tells us that they can indirectly encourage violations by local businesses.
Many of Latin America’s leftist ‘revolutions’ are now in crisis. But the left is resurging in some countries.
The Conversation / Photo Claudia Daut/Reuters
Progressives are leading in the presidential elections of Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, bucking the region’s recent rightward trend. But there are lessons in the failures of leftists past.
Sanctions are mounting against the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Rayner Pena/EPA
When the Rio Treaty was signed in 1947, an opportunity was missed to promote democracy in Latin America.
Venezuelans hoping to cross into Ecuador via Colombia amass at the Rumichaca border bridge in Tulcan, Ecuador, as new visa restrictions limiting migration took effect, Aug. 26, 2019.
Reuters/Daniel Tapia
Citing national security, Ecuador, Peru and Chile have all made it harder for Venezuelan migrants to enter the country, and xenophobia is rising across the region – even in more welcoming Colombia.
Visiting Scholar, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Centre, and Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford