CORRESPONDENTS

Tyler Bridges

Zelaya can't return to office, Honduras leader says

Honduras' interim president told McClatchy on Monday that he won't agree to any proposal to resolve his country's political crisis that would allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to power. | 08/17/09 19:03:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Zelaya may return to Honduras even if he faces arrest

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya's closest collaborators here are advising him to return to Honduras even if that means that the de facto government now in power will arrest him immediately. They say that Zelaya's return would dramatically scramble the political landscape in this small Central American country, where Zelaya's replacement, President Roberto Micheletti, seems intent on withstanding widespread international pressure to step aside. | 08/15/09 15:33:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Time running out for Arias mediation in Honduras?

The month-old mediation effort by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to resolve Honduras' political crisis is foundering under the near-universal opposition of Honduras' top leaders to permitting deposed President Manuel Zelaya to return to power. | 08/13/09 19:04:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Honduran police seize school after 2nd day of violence

Thousands of protesters calling for the return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya clashed with police Wednesday for the second day in a row, but Honduras' de facto government showed no willingness to allow Zelaya to return.seven protesters were injured Wednesday by police clubs. Police said they arrested 43 people on Tuesday and another 18 on Wednesday. | 08/12/09 20:37:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Police, protesters clash in Honduras for 2nd day

Honduran capital tense after pro-Zelaya demonstrations

Thousands of protesters demanding the return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya remained camped out in Honduras' capital Wednesday after the biggest protests since Honduras' military forcibly removed Zelaya from the country on June 28. Authorities clamped a curfew on overnight after demonstrators smashed the windows of a Burger King and torched a public bus. | 08/12/09 09:11:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Effort to end Honduras crisis dodges a roadblock

The de facto government of Honduras Sunday canceled and then rescheduled a trip by foreign envoys who're seeking to resolve a six-week-old political crisis caused by the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. | 08/09/09 20:59:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Effort to end Honduras crisis dodges a roadblock

OAS will send 6 foreign ministers to Honduras

The Organization of American States stepped up its pressure Friday on Honduras' de facto government, announcing that it's sending six foreign ministers here Tuesday to press for the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. | 08/07/09 18:59:00 By - Tyler Bridges

U.S. drops call to restore ousted Honduran leader

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The Obama administration has backed away from its call to restore ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power and instead put the onus on him for taking "provocative actions" that polarized his country and led to his overthrow on June 28. | 08/06/09 19:49:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Ousted Honduran leader running out of options

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Tuesday launched a new international drive to revive his flagging bid to return to power, but Hondurans who'd massed in the Nicaraguan border town of Octotal to support his bid to go home began heading home themselves. Local authorities said it was time they cleared out of the municipal gymnasium, where they'd been sleeping in on the floor and on bleachers. | 08/04/09 19:21:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Brazil's growing middle class powers country's economic rebound

Brazil is beginning to pull out of an economic dive triggered by the global financial crisis, but it's not the country's vaunted soybean, meat and iron ore exports that are powering the turnaround of the world's ninth-largest economy. Instead, more than 20 million Brazilians who've joined the consumer economy in recent years and now have money to spend are playing a key role in Brazil's recovery. | 08/02/09 18:29:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Can world economy count on developing countries for cure?

The global economy this year will still suffer its steepest contraction in trade and industrial production since the Great Depression. Despite their dramatic growth, the BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — aren't powerful enough to power a global rebound, and all four of them face their own economic problems. | 08/02/09 18:02:00 By - Tyler Bridges, Kevin G. Hall and Tom Lasseter

Despite Chavez's efforts, Peru isn't buying into his dream

Dissatisfied and dispirited, most Peruvians think that the country's recent economic boom has passed them by. That should make Peru fertile territory for the populist message that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been attempting to spread to the downtrodden in the rest of Central and South America. But Chavez has little show for his efforts in Peru. | 07/31/09 17:32:00 By - Tyler Bridges

In Lima's 40-ring circus, TV star in drag grabs spotlight

A 38-year-old man dressed in drag appeared on a makeshift catwalk at the far end of the stage and waved his arms in greeting. "Thank you for coming to my circus!" shouted Ernesto Pimentel, known to all as La Chola Chabuca, the star of a top-rated TV variety show in Peru. | 07/30/09 17:12:00 By - Tyler Bridges

First Honduras, now Colombia: What'll provoke Chavez next?

Already frustrated over the ouster of a friendly government in Honduras, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has put relations with neighboring Colombia in the deep freeze for the second time in two years, sparking concerns about the mercurial leader's next moves. | 07/29/09 16:59:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Peru's ex-president Fujimori is convicted for third time

The conviction involved Fujimori's illegally paying his former spymaster with $15 million in public funds. The court sentenced Fujimori to 7 1/2 years in prison. Fujimori already has been sentenced to 25 years for sanctioning a paramilitary squad's killing of 25 ordinary Peruvians. | 07/20/09 20:13:00 By - Tyler Bridges

China makes its move as U.S. falls back in Latin America

All but invisible in Latin America a decade ago, China now is building cars in Uruguay, donating a soccer stadium to Costa Rica and lending $10 billion to Brazil's biggest oil company. It's supplanted the United States to become the biggest trading partner with Brazil, South America's biggest economy. | 07/08/09 17:40:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Clear winner in Honduran crisis: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

Chavez, an avowed socialist, critic of the United States and authoritairan at home, has emerged as the unlikely leading champion of democracy for Honduras. He orchestrated deposed President Manuel Zelaya's audacious attempt to return to Honduras on Sunday. It remains to be seen, however, if he can triumph over the more cautious approach advocated by the United States. | 07/07/09 18:43:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Did hacker threaten Sanford and lover over affair?

A television anchor who's the only journalist known to have spoken with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine lover since news of their affair broke last week said the couple received an e-mail threat from the person who hacked into her Hotmail account. | 07/02/09 19:24:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Sanford's Argentine mistress tells TV anchor she's 'hurt'

Maria Belen Chapur, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine girlfriend, is feeling down and hoping that the harsh glare of the public spotlight will pass quickly. | 06/29/09 19:49:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Sanford lover breaks her silence, acknowledging affair

Maria Belen Chapur, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine girlfriend, has broken her silence in an e-mail to a television journalist that was read on the air Sunday. But while the e-mail tacitly acknowledged the affair and the authenticity of already published e-mails between her and Sanford, Chapur said she would say nothing about her private life. "It's been made public enough already," she wrote. | 06/28/09 22:10:25 By - Tyler Bridges and Angeles Mase

Argentine woman linked to S.C. governor ducks journalists

TV camera operators and photographers camped Thursday outside the apartment building where Argentina's mystery woman lives. | 06/25/09 19:19:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Now, Ahmadinejad's corner: Chavez, Swaziland and Hamas

It's a small list, the national leaders who've stepped forward to congratulate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his disputed election victory. Hamas, Hezbollah, the King of Swaziland — and Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. | 06/17/09 19:04:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez's expropriation of oil firms could spark labor unrest

Despite the recent sharp rise in oil prices, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last month expropriated 70 oil service companies in western Venezuela, putting some 10,000 Venezuelans out of work, turning local unions against him and forcing production cuts at important oilfields. | 06/12/09 17:30:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuela indicts owner of TV station critical of Chavez

Amid repeated threats by President Hugo Chavez to shut down the Globovision television station, government prosecutors Thursday indicted the station's main owner over an unrelated business deal. | 06/04/09 19:20:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuela's economy reels as oil income is cut in half

Prices for home appliances have skyrocketed, drugs are in short supply, and General Motors will stop car production next month as the Venezuelan government seeks to conserve dollars. The global drop in oil prices and the spending habits of President Hugo Chavez are behind the problems. | 05/26/09 16:44:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuelan officials raid business of TV news station owner

Government agents Thursday night raided a car dealership business in Caracas owned by the main owner of Globovision, an all-news television station that President Hugo Chavez has been threatening to close in recent days. | 05/21/09 22:05:56 By - Tyler Bridges

Caracas is as dangerous for the dead as it is for the living

Grave-plundering at Caracas cemeteries has reached epidemic proportions. Priests, academics and the victims' families blame black-magic practitioners known as "paleros," who use skulls and other human bones to initiate members into an African-based cult. | 05/21/09 15:36:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez threatens to close TV channel critical of him

President Hugo Chavez is threatening again to shut down Globovision, the sole television channel in Venezuela that regularly criticizes him — saying it had stirred panic for reporting an earthquake before the government announcement. | 05/11/09 19:39:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez, in new power grab, seeks to weaken governors

Fresh from winning a referendum that could allow him to remain as president until 2018 and perhaps for life, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is sidelining his enemies, stifling criticism and concentrating more power in his own hands. | 05/08/09 15:26:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Flu Rx? Russia blocks U.S. pork, Costa Rica bars kissing

The government of Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours, Russia banned imported pork from at least 11 U.S. states and medical help lines in Europe were inundated, as the world reacted apprehensively Tuesday to the swine flu outbreak. | 04/28/09 18:48:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez withdraws envoy from Peru after it gives his rival asylum

President Hugo Chavez, showing uncustomary restraint, recalled his ambassador to Peru late Monday night in protest after Peru offered political asylum to Chavez's political rival, Manuel Rosales. The Chavez government had asked Peru to arrest Rosales and return him to Venezuela to face charges that he's failed to account for why his declared worth in 2000 was $68,000 less than what his bank accounts showed in 2004, when he was the governor of Zulia state. | 04/28/09 17:19:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Ecuador's leftist president wins re-election

Socialist President Rafael Correa, a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, tightened his grip on power in politically volatile Ecuador by winning re-election Sunday, exit polls showed. | 04/26/09 18:45:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Stephan Kueffner

In Ecuador, Chavez ally likely to win re-election as president

President Rafael Correa is poised to win re-election on Sunday, quite a feat in a politically turbulent country that's run through eight presidents in the past 13 years. | 04/23/09 17:53:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Stephan Kueffner

Chavez wins arrest warrant for political opponent

President Hugo Chavez's offensive against opposition leaders jumped the country's borders Wednesday. A Venezuelan court issued an international arrest order for Manuel Rosales, a key Chavez foe who surfaced Tuesday in Peru seeking political asylum. | 04/22/09 19:17:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Paraguayan leader accused of fathering 3rd illegitimate child

Fernando Lugo, the Roman Catholic bishop turned president of Paraguay, risked becoming a soap opera caricature after a third woman emerged Wednesday claiming that he's the father of her child. | 04/22/09 17:46:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Antonia Delvalle

Chavez's opponent dodges jail, intends to seek asylum

A leading opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez skipped a court appearance Monday to avoid being tried on corruption charges and instead is seeking asylum abroad to escape what he charges is a trumped-up case and political persecution. | 04/20/09 18:58:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Will Chavez and Obama continue to make friendly?

Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez unexpectedly rescued U.S.-Venezuelan relations from the deep freezer over the weekend at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. | 04/20/09 17:03:00 By - Tyler Bridges

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Paraguayan president's affair: She was 16; he was a bishop

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo admitted Monday that he's the father of a 2-year-old boy conceived when Lugo was still a Catholic bishop. What's more, the boy's mother, Viviana Carrillo, claims the relationship began when she was just 16 and brought bed linens to Lugo, who was staying in her aunt's house. She asked what more the bishop needed and he replied, "You." | 04/13/09 20:13:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Will dams on Amazon tributary wreak global havoc?

The Xingu River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, runs wide and swift this time of year. Its turquoise waters are home to some 600 species of fish, including several not found anywhere else on the planet. A thick emerald canopy of trees hugs its banks, except in places where man has carved out pastures for cattle. | 04/05/09 06:00:00 By - Tyler Bridges

As Chavez silences critics, opponents lash back

Opponents of Hugo Chavez unleashed a fresh burst of accusations against the Venezuelan president a day after a former close collaborator of Chavez turned ardent foe was arrested at gunpoint on corruption charges. | 04/03/09 17:07:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuela's Chavez offers to take Guantanamo detainees

President Hugo Chavez has a well-honed habit of insulting U.S. presidents and decrying U.S. capitalism. But Chavez now wants to help President Barack Obama solve one of his thorniest foreign policy issues. | 04/02/09 20:34:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Brazil confident that this time, it can weather economic crisis

Brazil is benefitting today from putting its economic house in order during the past 15 years. With inflation tamed, the Central Bank brimming with dollars and businesses increasingly competitive on a global stage, Brazilian officials expect to weather 2009 and begin growing again in 2010. | 03/31/09 16:15:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez to send troops to another rice-processing plant Monday

Government troops will occupy Venezuela's biggest rice-processing plant on Monday, President Hugo Chavez announced Sunday, as the socialist leader expanded his crackdown on private companies that evade government price caps on their products. | 03/01/09 15:55:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez wins this round, but Venezuela's bill is coming due

President Hugo Chavez faces a coming crisis that could imperil his ambitious plans. The global economic crisis and the 75 percent drop in oil prices are expected to halve Venezuela's oil income this year, the country's economic lifeblood. | 02/16/09 17:59:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez wins bid for chance to remain in power indefinitely

Venezuelans voted Sunday to eliminate term limits and give populist President Hugo Chavez an opportunity to seek the additional 10 years in power that he says he needs to carry out his plans for what he calls "21st Century Socialism." | 02/15/09 13:11:09 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez holds slim lead in bid to retain power indefinitely

Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez appeared to hold a narrow lead on the eve of a referendum Sunday on whether to remove term limits and permit Chavez, who's been president for 10 years, to seek re-election in 2012 and beyond. | 02/14/09 17:22:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Phil Gunson

Venezuela's vote Sunday could make or break Hugo Chavez

In a vote with huge ramifications, Venezuelans will decide Sunday whether to give President Hugo Chavez the chance to remain in power indefinitely. | 02/13/09 16:04:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuela's student leaders try again to defeat Chavez

Three university students became President Hugo Chavez's worst nightmare 15 months ago. The student leaders — Stalin Gonzalez, Yon Goicoechea and Freddy Guevara — revitalized Venezuela's moribund political opposition and led the movement that in December 2007 inflicted the only national election defeat that Chavez has suffered during his 10 years of power. Now the three are back as Chavez makes a second attempt Sunday to win approval to run again. | 02/11/09 16:38:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Iran's unlikely embrace of Bolivia builds influence in U.S. backyard

A nemesis to U.S. interests in the Middle East for 30 years, Iran is now pouring millions of dollars of aid into Bolivia — including construction of a milk factory in Achacachi. Its real motive, however, is joining Bolivia and Venezuela to counter U.S. interests in Latin America, analysts said. | 02/05/09 17:09:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Shortages, soaring prices: What's not to love about Chavez?

Inflation of 31 percent — easily the highest in Latin America — and continuing food shortages are presenting major problems for Chavez as he asks Venezuelans on Feb. 15 to lift term limits so he can run for re-election indefinitely. Still, during his tenure the percentage of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty has been halved, government statistics show. | 02/03/09 18:21:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Black Latin Americans dream Obama will mean better times

Between 30 and 40 percent of Latin America's population is of African descent, yet racism remains a powerful influence. While activists don't expect Obama to reach out specifically to their communities, they do hope that the dialogue between him or his administration with Latin American leaders could have a positive impact in countries where black Latinos have little influence. | 02/02/09 06:55:24 By - Sara Miller Llana

Happy anniversary, Hugo: Chavez marks 10 years in power

One-time soldier and failed coup-plotter Hugo Chavez celebrates an extraordinary 10 years as Venezuela's elected president on Monday. In those years, Chavez, 54, has eclipsed his ailing mentor, Fidel Castro, to become the undisputed leader of a resurgent Latin American left, and he has no desire to yield that role anytime soon. | 01/30/09 18:42:00 By - Phil Gunson and Tyler Bridges

Lithium could be Bolivia's future, if politics don't get in way

With the largest stores of lithium reserves in the world, Bolivia hopes to profit big-time from the automakers' push to develop electric cars that will run on lithium ion batteries. But first, it'll have to figure out how to exploit it. Bolivia's leaders are deeply suspicious of foreign companies, a sentiment the companies return after nationalizations and protests over natural-gas exports. | 01/30/09 14:47:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Bolivians OK new constitution, giving Morales a key win

President Evo Morales took a major step toward creating a socialist state that empowers the indigenous majority when 60 percent of Bolivians approved a new constitution on Sunday, according to television exit poll results. The new charter also allows Morales to seek re-election to a five-year term in December. | 01/25/09 18:03:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Bolivia's native peoples poised to win new rights

For the past three years, Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, has made mostly symbolic improvements that have opened doors for the country's Indian majority. However, he's now put forth a new constitution Bolivians are expected to approve Sunday that seeks to empower the Indians and end their longtime status as second-class citizens. | 01/23/09 15:00:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Why Latin America is better prepared to ride out slump

The deteriorating global economy will end five boom years in Latin America in 2009, analysts now believe. Latin American companies are shedding workers and having trouble getting loans to finance exports. | 01/12/09 18:05:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Israel's Gaza invasion provokes protests throughout Latin America

Opposition to Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip is heating up throughout Latin America. Venezuela has expelled Israel's ambassador. Guatemala and Colombia have called on Israel to stop fighting and begin immediate peace talks. Demonstrators in Argentina, El Salvador and Bolivia have condemned the invasion. Brazil is sending aid to victims. | 01/07/09 18:46:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Sinking oil prices threaten Hugo Chavez's revolution

Monday, Venezuela suspended its oil for the poor program in the United States, but it's hardly the last thing President Hugo Chavez will have to cut in his free-spending promotion of his socialist gospel. Oil accounts for 93 percent of the government's export income and about 50 percent of its overall income. | 01/06/09 19:43:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuela's Chavez shuts off free oil program for U.S.

Venezuela's state oil company is suspending a much-promoted program that provided free heating oil to hundreds of thousands of poor people throughout the U.S., the company announced Monday. The program has been a public relations bonanza for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a socialist who frequently attacks capitalism and the U.S. | 01/05/09 20:22:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Despite sagging economy, plastic surgery booms in Venezuela

Venezuelan businesses are battening down the hatches in anticipation of a tough 2009. Not plastic surgeons such as Dr. Peter Romer, however. | 12/16/08 16:30:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Raul Castro's visit with Chavez shows Cuba's need for oil

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Raul Castro signed a series of bilateral accords Saturday as Castro made his first trip outside of Cuba since he assumed Cuba's presidency. The visit underscored Cuba's dependency on Venezuela's oil — and Castro's hunt for other sources. | 12/13/08 18:06:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Raul Castro arrives in Venezuela for talks with Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greeted Cuban President Raul Castro with an effusive hug and military honors Saturday morning as the Cuban leader began his first trip abroad since officially replacing his ailing brother Fidel in February. | 12/13/08 13:25:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Raul Castro arrives in Venezuela for talks with Hugo Chavez

Ecuador president refuses to pay down 'illegal' foreign debt

CARACAS, Venezuela — Latin America got a bad dose of economic news Friday when Ecuador announced that it would default on an upcoming foreign debt payment. | 12/12/08 19:49:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Cuba's Raul Castro to visit Venezuela on Saturday

In announcing the visit on Wednesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez likened the visit of Cuba's current president, Raul Castro, to his brother Fidel's visit in 1959. "Raul is going to repeat history," Chavez said. But Raul isn't Fidel — and his relationship with Chavez isn't as close as his older brother's is. | 12/11/08 18:56:00 By - Sara Miller Llana and Tyler Bridges

Chavez wants to be president for life, seeks voter approval

Chavez, who's denounced capitalism, nationalized companies and taken an unfriendly television station off the air, began this week to campaign for a constitutional amendment that will let him seek re-election in 2012 and every six years thereafter. "The opposition will not stop our revolution!" Chavez told hundreds of supporters Tuesday. | 12/02/08 18:36:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Latin American markets rally, but region still shaky

Stock exchanges rebounded for the second day throughout Latin America on Tuesday, a hopeful sign for an economically buoyant region thrown off balance by the global financial crisis. | 12/01/08 16:47:51 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez bashes capitalism, U.S. to distract voters

As crucial elections approach, President Hugo Chavez is ratcheting up attacks on opposition forces and wielding other polarizing tactics to distract Venezuelans from the nation's glaring problems, including soaring inflation and a record-high crime rate. | 12/01/08 16:47:21 By - Tyler Bridges

U.S. election provoking interest in Latin America

The U.S. presidential election is attracting outsized attention throughout Latin America. Residents, intrigued by the candidates' backgrounds, are debating what a victory by either Barack Obama or John McCain might mean for their countries. | 12/01/08 16:47:00 By - Tyler Bridges

As oil prices plummet, Venezuelans likely to suffer

Venezuela's government gets 50 percent of its income from oil revenues and now falling oil prices threaten to force Chavez to scale back the food subsidies and other government programs he's used to lift millions of Venezuelans out of poverty. Not only could this make life harder for the poor but it also could threaten Chavez's political power, because his popularity depends at least in part on his free-spending anti-poverty programs. | 12/01/08 16:45:29 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez hopes for big victory in governors', mayors' races

Venezuelans elect mayors and governors Sunday in a key test of President Hugo Chavez's political strength. An overwhelming victory by Chavez's candidates would prompt him to continue pulling Venezuela to the left, analysts said. It would also embolden him to seek public approval early next year to overturn term limits that currently keep him from running for president again in 2012. | 12/01/08 16:44:45 By - Tyler Bridges

Hugo Chavez allies score big wins in Venezuela elections

President Hugo Chavez's candidates won a majority of the governor's elections in Venezuela on Sunday, winning in 17 of the 22 states. But opposition won in five and metropolitan Caracas, expanding their control in some of the country's most populous areas. Chavez early this morning declared the results a mandate to continue on "the road of socialism." | 12/01/08 16:43:57 By - Tyler Bridges

Weird ending to Russian president's first Venezuela visit

A strange thing happened last week moments after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez boarded a Russian destroyer. Bodyguards for the two men scuffled at the head of the gangplank. It lasted less than a minute, and it didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the two leaders. But the tussle suggested the difficulties in establishing deep ties between the two nations. | 12/01/08 16:43:28 By - Tyler Bridges

U.S. shrugs as Russian ships, president visit Venezuela

The Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great traveled two months from their home port near Murmansk, Russia, to reach the Caribbean off Venezuela for what are billed as joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela next week. The Russian president is due in Caracas today. But U.S. officials are unconcerned. | 11/26/08 09:23:19 By - Tyler Bridges

Result of Venezuela's elections: More political turmoil likely

Opponents of President Hugo Chavez captured enough political terrain in Sunday's state and local elections to slow but not stop his grand ambitions to yank Venezuela and Latin America to the left, analysts said on Monday. Chavez, however, remains the country's dominant political figure and is likely to seek a national plebiscite early next year that would let him run for an additional six-year presidential term. | 11/24/08 21:36:14 By - Tyler Bridges

Venezuela's Chavez campaigns for allies in Sunday's elections

On President Hugo Chavez's home turf, some 10,000 people lustily cheered Tuesday night for Julio Cesar Reyes, whom Chavez has branded a "traitor" because he's vying with Chavez's older brother to be the next governor of the state of Barinas. | 11/20/08 17:36:18 By - Tyler Bridges

World impact: Economic crisis hits Brazilian consumers

For the past two years, rainy Saturdays meant a steady stream of customers to a Renault auto dealership in this seaside city as Rio residents eschewed the beach to open up their wallets during the good economic times. With the financial implosion that began in the United States spreading to Brazil, a three-year economic boom has come to an end. | 11/09/08 20:36:46 By - Tyler Bridges

Latin leftists gloating over 'Comrade' Bush's bailout

With the Bush administration's Treasury Department resorting to government bailout after government bailout to keep the U.S. economy afloat, leftist governments and their political allies in Latin America are having a field day, gloating one day and taunting Bush the next for adopting the types of interventionist government policies that he's long condemned. | 10/14/08 18:10:38 By - Tyler Bridges

Bolivians head to polls Sunday with divisions deepening

Three governors have stopped eating to protest the president, and Marxist teachers have been blocking streets throughout Bolivia in the run-up to a plebiscite Sunday that was supposed to strengthen the country's democracy. Instead, Bolivians will decide whether to recall President Evo Morales and the country's governors amid a deepening climate of political and geographic polarization. The divisions have become so pronounced that in the past week Morales had to scrub campaign trips to five of Bolivia's nine states to avoid violent protests against him. | 09/12/08 20:09:51 By - Tyler Bridges

Morales survives Bolivian election test, but foes also gain

President Evo Morales scored a split victory in a national referendum Sunday when Bolivians voted to keep him in office but also ratified governors who are his implacable foes, according to television exit polls. The result will mean continued division along political and geographic lines over Morales' efforts to push through Socialist policies meant to give greater political and economic power to the indigenous majority, analysts said. | 09/12/08 20:09:30 By - Tyler Bridges

Betancourt ally, a former hostage, flees Colombia

Former Colombian senator Luis Eladio Perez, who was freed by FARC rebels last February, fled the country for the United States on Wednesday after death threats made it clear staying in Colombia imperiled his life. ."It's a very sad situation," Perez told McClatchy from a safe house Tuesday night in Bogota. "I was just getting re-established here." | 09/12/08 20:09:12 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez's ex-wife running as opposition mayor of Venezuelan city

Hugo Chavez has left a trail of defeated men in his wake during nearly 10 years as Venezuela's socialist president, winning three elections and surviving one recall attempt. Now his ex-wife and former first lady has emerged as what Venezuelans like to call "the pebble in his shoe." Marisabel Rodriguez is one of his most dogged critics. She's also the mother of his 10-year-old daughter. | 09/12/08 20:08:58 By - Tyler Bridges

Ex-bishop, advocate for poor, will take Paraguay's helm

The commander had a simple message: Disperse immediately or the riot police would scatter everyone with water cannons, tear gas and truncheons. The man who was leading 10,000 protesters and blocking the dirt roadway didn't flinch, however. On Friday, that man, Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, will be inaugurated as Paraguay's president. | 09/12/08 20:08:38 By - Tyler Bridges

Chavez seeks to pull Paraguay's new leader into his orbit

The dusty farm town of San Pedro, where Fernando Lugo ministered to the poor as its activist, left-leaning bishop, welcomed him back Saturday as Paraguay's unlikely president with hugs, cheers and exhortations that he not fail them. But for the second day in a row, it was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who stole the show, as part of a determined effort by Chavez to tug Lugo into his political camp. | 09/12/08 20:04:04 By - Tyler Bridges

U.S. drivers look to what's in Argentina's tank: natural gas

More vehicles run on natural gas in Argentina than anywhere else in the world, and that success is attracting a burst of interest from the U.S., where a big push is under way to convert buses, taxis and cars to natural gas. | 09/12/08 20:03:51 By - Tyler Bridges

Colombia's president has a problem — his supporters are corrupt

Thirty-three members of Colombia's Congress — about 10 percent — are in prison for colluding with paramilitary groups that terrorize rural areas and control profitable cocaine-trafficking routes. Another 10 percent are under investigation, including the Senate president. The extent of the corruption has wide implications — nearly every tainted member of Congress is a strong supporter of President Alvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's strongest ally in Latin America. | 09/12/08 20:00:58 By - Tyler Bridges

Bolivia's mandate for Morales unlikely to provoke compromise with opponents

A fundamental clash between the socialist and indigenous peoples of the Andean region of Bolivia and the more entrepreneurial and racially mixed residents of the eastern lowlands paralyzed this country in 2008, and that divide seems likely to harden in the wake of Sunday's national referendum. | 08/11/08 18:56:18 By - Tyler Bridges

Now free, Betancourt shuns bitterness, seeks to heal Colombia

Ingrid Betancourt, the famed hostage of Colombia's largest guerrilla group, lived the last six years chained to trees in the jungle. She nearly died from tropical diseases that left her despondent and emaciated. Yet since her spectacular release last Wednesday, Betancourt has emerged preaching not hate and bitterness, but peace and national reconciliation for her war-weary nation. | 07/07/08 17:47:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Colombia rescue video caught hostages' first moment of joy

The hostages were unhappy by the demand that they be handcuffed — made by their rescuers who used the demand as a way to persuade guerrillas they were international aid workers. They boarded the helicopter sullenly. Then, as the helicopter was airborne and their captors overpowered, the hostages burst into cries of joy. | 07/04/08 19:51:49 By - Tyler Bridges

In Colombia, ex-hostage Betancourt's every move captures a nation

Ingrid Betancourt went from jungle captive to national heroine within a dizzying 24 hours, as Colombians hailed the newly freed hostage Thursday for her courage and her every public move was carried live on television. | 07/03/08 18:56:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Deception and infiltration helped win freedom for FARC hostages

The final stages of Operation Check-Mate began early Wednesday morning as the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia gathered 15 of their most valuable hostages in an isolated forest of the southern province of Guaviare. | 07/03/08 19:38:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Jack Chang

Colombia rescues 15 held for years by FARC rebels

Colombia's defense minister announced Wednesday afternoon that special forces earlier that day had rescued 15 hostages whom the country's biggest guerrilla group had held for years, including three Americans and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. | 07/02/08 16:00:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Daring rescue frees hostages from jungles of Colombia

Three American defense contractors held since 2003 by narco-guerillas in steamy jungle captivity were choppered to freedom, it was announced Wednesday, in a daring rescue operation that resembled a Hollywood action film. Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the nation's special forces had rescued 15 hostages, including the three U.S. citizens and a former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, whose captivity had become an international cause celebre. | 07/02/08 19:37:14 By - Tyler Bridges and Kevin G. Hall

McCain, other senators praise Colombian president

John McCain and two other U.S. senators who accompanied him lavished praise on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during a 20-hour trip here that ended Wednesday afternoon before the dramatic news that special forces had rescued 15 hostages held by anti-government guerrillas. | 07/02/08 17:57:00 By - Tyler Bridges

McCain has U.S. politics in mind as he visits Colombia, Mexico

John McCain's trip to Colombia Tuesday was part of an unusual three-day presidential campaign swing to Latin America with a dual message for voters back home. By visiting Colombia and Mexico, McCain wants to emphasize to all voters that he has stronger foreign policy credentials than Barack Obama, his Democratic rival. McCain also wants to appeal specifically to Hispanics in the United States by expressing his concern for problems in Latin America. | 07/01/08 16:45:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Drug lord's ranch becomes a theme park

The scavengers have come and gone. The lookout tower sentries have disappeared. The main house lies in ruins. And adorning one decrepit wall are three photos of the ranch's former owner and infamous drug lord. One was said to be Pablo Escobar's favorite picture. | 06/30/08 17:10:38 By - Tyler Bridges

Colombian president calls for new elections

Colombia plunged into political uncertainty Friday as opponents of President Alvaro Uribe accused him of acting like a ''dictator'' because he called for new elections that could allow him to extend his stay in office beyond the end of his current term in 2010. | 06/27/08 20:07:45 By - Tyler Bridges

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