TMC Topic Guide

Latin America

Created: January 2021

Last Updated: October 24, 2022

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Note: This guide contains significant coverage on electoral trends and domestic politics within countries in Latin America, including comparisons with U.S. politics; relations between the United States and Latin America, including immigration and deportation; and China’s investments and role in Latin American countries.

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Table of contents

Political and electoral trends across Latin America

U.S.-Latin America relationship

China-Latin America relationship (see also TMC topic guide on China)

Political and electoral trends across Latin America

Zoila Ponce de León and Gabriele Magni, “Brazil’s presidential runoff is between two populists,” October 24, 2022.
Juan Albarracin, Sandra Botero, and Laura Gamboa, “Colombia’s new president aims to swing his country left. It won’t be easy,” June 30, 2022.
Danielle Gilbert, “Can a former left-wing guerrilla salvage Colombia’s peace plan?” June 29, 2022.
Julia Zulver and Jennifer M. Piscopo, “In Colombia, an activist, feminist lawyer is running for VP,” April 29, 2022.
Matias Bianchi and Jennifer Cyr, “Latin American countries had very different covid-19 death rates. Which policies worked?” January 25, 2022.
William Freeman and Paul J. Angelo, “Millennial politicians are shaking up Latin America. Here’s how they differ from the old guard,” January 12, 2022.
Ignacio Arana Araya and Carolina Guerrero Valencia, “President of Honduras is a former first lady. Expect to see more former first ladies running for office,” December 10, 2021.
Nicolás Saldías, “In Latin America, coronavirus threatens not just public health, but also democracy,” April 16, 2020.
Dinorah Azpuru, “Latin American democracy may be in trouble. The protests are a symptom of increasing mistrust,” December 9, 2019.
Kendall D. Funk, Magda Hinojosa, and Jennifer M. Piscopo, “After weeks of Latin American protests, expect to see more women elected to office,” November 6, 2019.
Lindsay Mayka and Andrés Lovón, “How one company’s deep web of corruption took down governments across Latin America,” May 23, 2019.
Luis Schenoni and Scott Mainwaring, “Democracy is in crisis in Latin America. Brazil may be the next trouble spot,” October 22, 2018.
German Petersen, “Latin Americans are protesting — and throwing out — corrupt regimes. Why now?” June 1, 2018.
Gretchen Helmke, “Could Trump set off a constitutional crisis? Here’s what we can learn from Latin America,” April 25, 2017.
Marisa Kellam and Elizabeth A. Stein, “Trump’s war on the news media is serious. Just look at Latin America,” February 16, 2017.
Amy Erica Smith and Mollie J. Cohen, “Here’s what citizens who vote for authoritarians have in common,” November 2, 2016.
Mollie J. Cohen, Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, and Mitchell A. Seligson, “Those with darker skin report slower police response throughout the Americas,” February 9, 2015.
Flavia Freidenberg and Maria Esperanza Casullo, “The rise of outsider politicians in Latin America and Europe,” September 16, 2014.
Andy Baker, “Latin Americans are embracing globalization and their former colonial masters,” June 2, 2014.
Jana Morgan, “Political exclusion lingers for women in Latin America,” May 15, 2014.
Noam Lupu and Nicholas Carnes, “The rich are running Latin America – and why that matters,” April 8, 2014.

U.S.-Latin America relationship

Dinorah Azpuru, “How do North and South Americans view the U.S.?” June 3, 2022.
Gabriella Levy, Juan Tellez, and Mateo Villamizar-Chaparro, “Five years after Colombia’s peace deal, the FARC is no longer on U.S. terrorist group lists,” December 2, 2021.
Edward Hunt, “The U.S. has spent billions trying to fix Mexico’s drug war. It’s not working,” March 15, 2021.
Gregory Weeks, “The U.S. is thinking of invading Venezuela. That’s unlikely to lead to democracy,” March 25, 2019.
Timothy M. Gill, “The U.S. has quietly supported the Venezuelan opposition for years,” February 19, 2019.
Chad P. Bown, “The 5 surprising things about the new USMCA trade agreement,” October 9, 2018.
Christian Ambrosius and David Leblang, “How deporting immigrants from the U.S. increases immigration to the U.S,” August 22, 2018.
Alexander B. Downes and Paul Zachary, “Is there a payoff from U.S. intervention to protect U.S. assets? We found few trade benefits,” October 26, 2017.
Stephen Kaplan, “Why Trumponomics may complicate U.S. foreign policy,” March 17, 2017.
Ignacio Arana Araya, “5 lessons from former presidents on making good decisions,” May 5, 2017.
Timothy M. Gill, “U.S.-Venezuela relations will probably deteriorate under Trump. Ask ExxonMobil why,” December 29, 2016.

China-Latin America relationship (see also TMC topic guide on China)

Stephen B. Kaplan and Michael Penfold, “China and Russia have deep financial ties to Venezuela. Here’s what’s at stake,” February 22, 2019.
Stephen Kaplan, “China is investing seriously in Latin America. Should you worry?” January 24, 2018.
Luis Schenoni, “Trump is making China angry. Could China undermine the U.S. in Latin America?” December 3, 2016.
Stephen Kaplan, “Why China is investing $250 billion in Latin America,” February 4, 2015.

Immigration

Rachel Schmidtke, “Will the U.S.-Mexico migration deal work? Here are the 6 things to know,” June 27, 2019.
Rebecca Galemba, “Adding troops at Mexico’s border with Guatemala won’t block migrants from coming to the U.S. Here’s why,” June 19, 2019.
Sarah Bermeo, “Could foreign aid help stop Central Americans from coming to the U.S.? Here’s what you need to know,” June 18, 2019.
Kathryn Sikkink, “Here’s what Erick Erickson gets wrong about dictators and migration,” December 4, 2018.
E.J. Graff, “Here’s what social science tells us about that migrant ‘caravan’ — and the Trump administration’s response,” October 23, 2018.
Christian Ambrosius and David Leblang, “How deporting immigrants from the U.S. increases immigration to the U.S,” August 22, 2018.
Rachel Schwartz, “Why are so many children coming to the U.S. from Central America in the first place?” June 29, 2018.
Anna Oltman, “Does separating families at the border discourage immigration? Here’s what the research says,” May 31, 2018.
Michelle Brané and Margo Schlanger, “This is what’s really happening to kids at the border,” May 30, 2018.
Sarah Bermeo and David Leblang, “Trump wants to cut immigration and foreign aid. Here's how they're connected,” February 22, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “This is why Congress will still have a hard time legalizing DACA,” February 13, 2018.
Micaela Sviatschi, “By deporting 200,000 Salvadorans, Trump may be boosting gang recruitment,” February 12, 2018.
Margaret E. Peters, “Why did Republicans become so opposed to immigration? Hint: It’s not because there’s more nativism,” January 30, 2018.
John Sides, “The odds are still against a deal to legalize DACA,” January 23, 2018.
Inés Valdez, Mat Coleman, and Amna Akbar, “Donald Trump says he’s just enforcing immigration law. But it’s not that simple,” November 7, 2017.

Argentina

Taylor Boas, Mariela Daby, Mason Moseley, and Amy Erica Smith, “Argentina legalized abortion. Here’s how it happened and what it means for Latin America,” January 18, 2021.
Mariela Daby and Mason Moseley, “Argentina is about to debate legalizing abortion — despite being a very Catholic country,” March 6, 2020.
Stephen C. Nelson and David A. Steinberg, “Why did Argentina announce capital controls?” September 6, 2019.
Julia María Rubio, “This is why Argentina did not legalize abortion this week,” August 11, 2018.
Stephen C. Nelson and David A. Steinberg, “Here’s why Argentina’s new president Macri let the peso crash,” January 4, 2016.
Noam Lupu, “No matter what happens in Sunday’s election, Argentina will be governed by the rich. Here’s why that matters,” November 20, 2015.
Francisco Cantú and Sebastian M. Saiegh, “Was Argentina’s election stolen? Here’s how you can tell,” November 6, 2015.
Mark P. Jones, “Argentina went to the polls on Sunday. Here are 7 insights from those elections,” October 27, 2015.
Mark P. Jones, “Here’s what you need to know about Argentina’s 2015 federal elections,” August 20, 2015.
Natalia C. Del Cogliano and Mariana L. Prats, “The future of Kirchnerism in Argentina,” December 16, 2013.
Julia Pomares, “Cristina Fernández de Kirchner wins, but not by enough: Argentina post-election report,” October 31, 2013.

Bolivia

Zoila Ponce de León and Gabriele Magni, “Brazil’s presidential runoff is between two populists,” October 24, 2022.
Irfan Nooruddin, “Yes, Bolivia's 2019 election was problematic. Here's why,” March 10, 2020.
John Curiel and Jack R. Williams, “Bolivia dismissed its October elections as fraudulent. Our research found no reason to suspect fraud,” February 27, 2020.
Santiago Anria and Jennifer Cyr, “Is Bolivia’s democracy in danger? Here’s what’s behind the disputed presidential election,” October 30, 2019.
Carew Boulding, Raymond Foxworth, Calla Hummel, Jami Nelson Nuñez, and V. Ximena Velasco-Guachalla, “The real story behind the Bolivia protests isn’t the one you’re hearing,” November 20, 2019.
Natasha Bennett, “Bolivian protesters unseated a president. So why are they still in the streets?” November 15, 2019.
Santiago Anria, “Evo Morales wants to change the law so he can remain president. Is Bolivia's democracy in danger?” November 28, 2017.
Diego von Vacano and Thiago Nascimento da Silva, “Bolivian elections get the Hollywood treatment, and now we’re discussing term limits,” December 23, 2015.

Brazil

Claire Dunn and Isabel Laterzo, “A Brazilian Senate panel accused Bolsonaro of helping spread coronavirus. Our research shows his influence,” November 17, 2021.
Benjamin H. Bradlow, “Brazilians firmly rejected many local candidates their president had backed,” December 9, 2020.
Andrew Janusz, “Thousands of Brazilian candidates ‘switched’ racial identities this year,” December 8, 2020.
Jessica A.J. Rich, “While Brazil’s president fights social distancing, its public health system is fighting the pandemic,” May 4, 2020.
Jessica Rich, “Brazil’s HIV/AIDS policies proved a success. But here are the new challenges,” December 1, 2019.

Valesca Lima, “Brazil’s new leaders are challenging the tradition of participatory democracy. Here’s why,” June 7, 2019.
Benjamin Lessing, “Brazil’s prison gangs are launching massive terrorism attacks. This explains why,” January 28, 2019.
Ryan Lloyd. “Brazil is unpredictable right now. Here are 3 possible scenarios for incoming president Jair Bolsonaro,” November 7, 2018.
Matthew Layton and Amy Erica Smith, “In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro’s victory may mean further shifts in tolerance and moderation,” November 2, 2018.
Luis Schenoni and Scott Mainwaring, “Democracy is in crisis in Latin America. Brazil may be the next trouble spot,” October 22, 2018.
Jorge Antonio Alves, “Brazilian voters wanted change — and they got it. Now what happens?” October 10, 2018.
Malu A. C. Gatto, Pedro A.G. dos Santos, and Kristin N. Wylie, “Brazil votes on Sunday. And Brazilian women have a better chance at reshaping its politics than ever before,” October 2, 2018.
Felipe Krause and André Borges, “Is Brazil’s presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro the Latin American Donald Trump? Nope,” September 19, 2018.
Déborah B.L. Farias, “Women’s votes might be the key to stopping Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate. Here’s why,” September 18, 2018.
Brett J. Kyle and Andrew G. Reiter, “Brazil’s most popular politician, Lula, won’t be on the October presidential ballot. Here’s what comes next,” September 5, 2018.
Déborah B.L. Farias, “Lula da Silva is in jail — and he’s still Brazil’s leading candidate for president. Here are 3 ways that could turn out,” April 16, 2018.
Benjamin Lessing, “Brazil’s federal intervention in Rio’s drug wars has an authoritarian feel — and could backfire,” March 2, 2018.
Benjamin Lessing, “Brazil’s prison massacres are a frightening window into gang warfare,” January 17, 2017.
Fernando Meireles and Ryan Lloyd, “Brazil votes on Sunday for the first time since Rousseff was ousted. What will happen to her party?” September 30, 2016.
Katherine Bersch, Sérgio Praça, and Matthew M. Taylor, “Some parts of the Brazilian government actually aren’t corrupt. Here’s what they have in common,” June 20, 2016.
Ryan Lloyd and Carlos Oliveir, “How Brazil’s electoral system led the country into political crisis,” May 25, 2016.
E.J. Graff, “Here’s what you need to know about Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial vote in Brazil on Wednesday,” May 11, 2016.
Ryan E. Carlin, Gregory J. Love, and Cecilia Martínez-Gallardo, “Corruption is not new to Brazil, so why is it threatening the presidency now?” May 5, 2016.
Jorge Antonio Alves, “Think all the political excitement in Brazil is at the national level? Think again,” May 2, 2016.
Amy Erica Smith, “Is the impeachment trial of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff a coup?” April 20, 2016.
Héctor Perla Jr., “Here’s why some people think Brazil is in the middle of a ‘soft coup’,” April 16, 2016.
Amy S. Patterson, “Here’s why the WHO responded so differently to Zika and Ebola,” April 4, 2016.
Ryan Lloyd and Calla Hummel, “Will Brazil impeach its president? Here’s a handy guide to the process and politics in play,” March 31, 2016.
Daniela Campello and Cesar Zucco, “How the release of wiretapped conversations in Brazil threatens its democracy,” March 26, 2016.
Matthew M. Taylor, “Police detained Brazil’s ex-president on Friday. Here’s what you need to know,” March 5, 2016.
Daniela Campello, “Do Brazilian voters distinguish merit from luck?” November 10, 2014.
Francisco Cantú, Marco Morales, and Felipe Nunes, “House effects in Brazilian polling,” October 31, 2014.
Francisco Cantú and Marco Morales, “Forecasting the Brazilian election,” October 24, 2014.
Krzysztof J. Pelc, “Why the deal to pay Brazil $300 million just to keep U.S. cotton subsidies is bad for the WTO, poor countries, and U.S. taxpayers,” October 12, 2014.
Déborah Barros Leal Farias, “A presidential candidate in Brazil just died. Now what?” August 14, 2014.
Joshua Tucker, “Could Brazil’s World Cup loss really affect the coming presidential election?” July 9, 2014.
Diego von Vacano and Thiago Silva, “Brazil's protest paradox,” June 10, 2014.
Brian Wampler and Mike Touchton, “Brazil let its citizens make decisions about city budgets. Here’s what happened,” January 22, 2014.

Chile

Lautaro Cella and Eli Rau, “Chile’s new voting rules may have derailed the new Constitution,” September 16, 2022.
Daniele Girardi, “Chile’s markets fell after people elected a leftist president. That’s not unusual,” January 24, 2022.
Pamela Figueroa, Jennifer M. Piscopo, and Peter M. Siavelis, “Chile’s presidential runoff puts Pinochet supporter against left-leaning reformer. Here’s what to know,” December 1, 2021.
Jennifer M. Piscopo and Peter Siavelis, “Chile voted to write a new constitution. Will it promise more than the government can deliver?” October 30, 2020.
Laia Balcells, Valeria Palanza and Elsa Voytas, “Chileans vote this weekend whether to rewrite the Pinochet-era constitution,” October 22, 2020.
Patricia Rodríguez, “Chilean protesters are waving the Mapuche flag. What’s the Mapuche flag, and who’s hoisting it?” November 11, 2019.
Javier Sajuria, “Chileans are protesting because they have no voice in government, not just because of economics.” November 5, 2019.
Alisha Holland, “Chile’s streets are filled with protests. How did a 4 percent fare hike set off such rage?” November 1, 2019.
Jennifer Pribble and Juan Pablo Luna, “Chile just elected a billionaire president. These are the 4 things to know,” December 18, 2017.
Javier Sajuria, “Chile just went to the polls — and transformed its legislature,” November 21, 2017.
Catherine Reyes-Housholder and Susan Franceschet, “Chile’s president is a woman — and she just scored a major policy victory for women. Here’s why that matters,” August 30, 2017.
Jennifer Pribble and Jennifer L. Erkulwater, “Betsy DeVos wants ‘school choice.’ Chile tried that already,” January 17, 2017.
Jennifer Pribble, “Did Chile ditch its authoritarian government 26 years ago? Not quite,” May 6, 2016.
Peter M. Siavelis and Kirsten Sehnbruch, “Bachelet returns to power in Chile with impressive victory, but what does low turnout mean for her mandate?” December 18, 2013.
Kirsten Sehnbruch and Peter M. Siavelis, “Why victory for Bachelet in Chile is undeniable but bittersweet,” November 25, 2013.
Peter M. Siavelis and Kirsten Sehnbruch, “Bachelet to be elected president of Chile, but then what?” November 11, 2013.
John Carey and Yusaku Horiuchi, “Buyer's remorse in Chilean elections?” November 10, 2013.
Kenneth Bunker, “2013 Chile pre-election report: Bachelet will likely win, but watch the legislative results,” October 22, 2013.

Colombia

Robin Harding, Mounu Prem, Nelson Ruiz, and David Vargas, “Why Colombia’s new leader will have trouble preserving country’s forests,” July 13, 2022
Juan Albarracin, Sandra Botero, and Laura Gamboa, “Colombia’s new president aims to swing his country left. It won’t be easy,” June 30, 2022.
Danielle Gilbert, “Can a former left-wing guerrilla salvage Colombia’s peace plan?” June 29, 2022.
Alisha C. Holland, “Why Colombia can’t build the infrastructure it needs,” June 8, 2022.
Julia Zulver and Jennifer M. Piscopo, “In Colombia, an activist, feminist lawyer is running for VP,” April 29, 2022.
Shauna N. Gillooly, “Colombia’s elections in May could determine the date of the peace deal,” April 28, 2022.
Sarah Moore and Kiran Stallone, “In Colombia, abortion is no longer a crime. But rural women will still find it hard to get one,” March 15, 2022.
Gabriella Levy, Juan Tellez, and Mateo Villamizar-Chaparro, “Five years after Colombia’s peace deal, the FARC is no longer on U.S. terrorist group lists,” December 2, 2021.
Jose J. Padilla, Erika Frydenlund and Katherine Palacio, “Colombia is letting hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans stay. What can other countries learn?” March 11, 2021.
Sandra Botero and Silvia Otero Bahamón, “Colombia is having its largest wave of protests in recent decades. Why?” December 5, 2019.
Helga Malmin Binningsbø, Marianne Dahl, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, Abbey Steele, and Michael Weintraub, “Colombia’s historic peace agreement with the FARC is fraying. We talked to 1,700 Colombians to understand why,” August 7, 2019.
Julia Zulver, “At Venezuela’s border with Colombia, women suffer extraordinary levels of violence,” February 26, 2019.
Shauna N. Gillooly and Kelebogile Zvobgo, “Human rights workers are getting killed in Colombia. Here’s what could help save the peace,” February 11, 2019.
Pamina Firchow, “Colombia’s long-term peace may depend on support for the Truth Commission,” February 4, 2019.
Whitney K. Taylor, “Should health care be treated as a human right?” December 13, 2018.
Danielle Gilbert, “Will Colombia’s next president be a former left-wing guerrilla?” June 15, 2018.
Aila M. Matanock, “The FARC just became a Colombian political party. Here's why elections are critical to a lasting peace,” August 30, 2017.
Sarah Zukerman Dal, “7,000 FARC rebels are demobilizing in Colombia. But where do they go next?” April 21, 2014.
Juan Masullo and Davide Morisi, “How governments pitch a referendum is a big deal. Here’s what we learned in Colombia,” December 10, 2016.
Michael Albertus, “Even with a new Colombian peace deal, what happens in the countryside?” November 13, 2016.
Roxanne Krystalli and Kimberly Theidon, “Here’s how attention to gender affected Colombia’s peace process,” October 9, 2016.
Jamie Rowen, “Colombians rejected ‘transitional justice’ for guerrillas. They want criminal justice instead,” October 8, 2016.
Michael Spagat and Neil Johnson, “Did Colombians actually reject the peace deal? Not if you look at the statistics,” October 5, 2016.
Jennifer Cyr and Carlos Meléndez, “Colombia’s right-wing populist movement defeated the peace deal. Here’s how we know,” October 4, 2016.
Katy Collin, “Why the Colombia peace agreement failed, and what we can expect now,” October 4, 2016.
Annette Idler, “Colombia just voted no on its plebiscite for peace. Here’s why and what it means,” October 3, 2016.
Sarah Zukerman Daly, Laura Paler and Cyrus Samii, “How can Colombia stop former FARC rebels from turning to crime?” October 2, 2016.
Katy Collin, “Sunday, Colombians vote on the historic peace accord with the FARC. Here’s what you need to know,” October 1, 2016.
Robert A. Karl, “Here’s the century-long history behind Colombia’s peace agreement with the FARC,” October 1, 2016.
Annette Idler, “Why the real test for Colombia’s peace begins after the demobilization process,” September 8, 2016.
Abbey Steele, “The cease-fire in Colombia’s long civil war starts today. Here’s what you need to know,” August 29, 2016.
Roxanne Krystalli, “The Colombian peace agreement has a big emphasis on the lives of women. Here’s how,” August 19, 2016.
Annette Idler, “What will the peace process mean for Colombia’s border regions? The government will have to start governing,” June 28, 2016.
Jamie Levin, “For Colombia’s peace process, disarmament was a sticking point. Here’s why,” June 28, 2016.
Abbey Steele, “3 things you should know about the new Colombia peace agreement with its rebels,” June 23, 2016.
Roxanne Krystalli, “Why free love in the FARC isn’t so free. (You wouldn’t know it from reading the New York Times),” March 24, 2016.
Luis Fernando Medina Sierra, “Bringing the FARC in from the cold,” February 13, 2015.
Ryan E. Carlin, Jennifer L. McCoy, and Jelena Subotic, “Pitfalls abound in Colombia-FARC peace talks,” August 28, 2014.
Michael Weintraub, “How legacies of violence affected the Colombian elections,” June 6, 2014.
Abbey Steele, “Electing peace in Colombia?” March 20, 2014.

Cuba

Michael Poznansky, “What the JFK assassination files can tell us about the U.S. plot to kill Castro,” October 30, 2017.
Martina Kunović, “Five things you need to know about Trump’s Cuba policy — and who it will hurt,” June 22, 2017.
Dawn Brancati and Javier Corrales, “Trump has threatened to rip up the ‘deal’ with Cuba. Would that work?,” November 29, 2016.
Erik Voeten, “For the first time ever, the U.S. will abstain when the U.N. votes against its embargo on Cuba. That’s a big deal,” October 26, 2016.
John M. Carey, “Don’t expect the Cuban government to be grateful when the embargo lifts,” April 6, 2016.
Héctor Perla Jr., “Obama’s visit to Cuba is actually a triumph of Castro’s revolutionary defense policies,” March 24, 2016.
James H. Lebovic and Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Obama’s symbolic visit to Cuba is the exception. What’s the real history of presidents and international travel?” March 23, 2016.
Joshua Simon, “Here’s why Obama honored Cuban hero José Martí in Havana,” March 23, 2016.
Andrew Gelman, “‘Only Nixon could go to Cuba’ — not!” December 22, 2014.
Benjamin G. Bishin, “The decline of the Cuban American hard-liners,” December 19, 2014.
Gregory Weeks and John Weeks, “The political demography of U.S.-Cuba relations,” December 18, 2014.
Erik Voeten, “Putting Cuban human rights violations in some context,” December 18, 2014.
Erik Voeten, “Opening relations with Cuba also makes the U.S. less isolated,” December 17, 2014.

Ecuador

Jordan Kyle, “Here’s why raising gas prices leads to violent protests like Ecuador’s,” October 14, 2019.
Fabiana Sofia Perera, “In Ecuador’s extremely tight election, the left defied the odds,”April 4, 2017.
John Polga-Hecimovich, “Ecuador votes on Sunday. These are 5 things you need to know,” February 17, 2017.

El Salvador

Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, and Joseph Wright, “In El Salvador and elsewhere, leaders find ways to break term limits,” October 4, 2022.
Michael Ahn Paarlberg, “Why El Salvador’s mass arrests won’t lower the murder rate,” July 11, 2022.
Michael Ahn Paarlberg, “Nayib Bukele is popular with the people, but not with lawmakers,” February 17, 2020.
Jesse Acevedo, “What will happen to El Salvador when the U.S. ends the protected status of Salvadoran immigrants?” February 22, 2018.
Micaela Sviatschi, “By deporting 200,000 Salvadorans, Trump may be boosting gang recruitment,” February 12, 2018.

Guatemala

Rebecca Galemba, “Adding troops at Mexico’s border with Guatemala won’t block migrants from coming to the U.S. Here’s why,” June 19, 2019.
Renard Sexton, “How Guatemala achieved what was once thought impossible: major reductions in homicides,” November 13, 2018.
Rachel Schwartz, “Is Russia interfering in Guatemala’s anti-corruption commission? The real story might surprise you,” May 9, 2018.
Rachel Schwartz, “Guatemala's president tried to expel the U.N. commissioner who announced he was under investigation,” September 6, 2017.
Dinorah Azpuru, “To understand Donald Trump’s law-and-order appeal, look south of the border,” August 17, 2016.
Kiran Alwani and Corrin Bulmer, “Guatemala’s civil war ended 20 years ago today. Here are 4 things to know about its path to democracy,” April 16, 2016.
Michael Ahn Paarlberg, “This is why the two leading candidates for Guatemala’s presidency came to the U.S. to campaign,” September 10, 2015.

Haiti

Danielle Gilbert, “American missionaries were kidnapped for ransom in Haiti. What happens in these cases?” October 25, 2021.
Henry (Chip) Carey, “Haiti needs international help — even though past help has often made things worse,” August 18, 2021.

Honduras

Ignacio Arana Araya and Carolina Guerrero Valencia, “President of Honduras is a former first lady. Expect to see more former first ladies running for office,” December 10, 2021.
Will Freeman and Paul J. Angelo, “Honduras voted for change. Can Xiomara Castro, the president-elect, deliver?” December 1, 2021.
Mitchell A. Seligson and Orlando J. Pérez, “Hondurans are in the streets because they don't believe their election results,” December 19, 2017.
Joshua Nadel, “Race and racism in Honduran soccer and society,” June 19, 2014.

Mexico

Edward Hunt, “The U.S. has spent billions trying to fix Mexico’s drug war. It’s not working,” March 15, 2021.
Rachel Schmidtke, “Will the U.S.-Mexico migration deal work? Here are the 6 things you need to know,” June 27, 2019.
Rebecca Galemba, “Adding troops at Mexico’s border with Guatemala won’t block migrants from coming to the U.S. Here’s why,” June 19, 2019.
Brian J. Phillips, “Would Trump label Mexican cartels terrorist organizations?” March 26, 2019.
Gustavo A. Flores-Macías, “Mexico’s new president wants a new National Guard to address violent crime. Will it work?” December 19, 2018.
Chad P. Bown, “The 5 surprising things about the new USMCA trade agreement,” October 9, 2018.
Brian Palmer-Rubin, “Mexico’s president-elect has offered two important clues about his approach to NAFTA,” July 16, 2018.
Magda Hinojosa and Jennifer M. Piscopo, “Women won big in Mexico’s elections — taking nearly half the legislature’s seats. Here’s why,” July 11, 2018.
Kenneth F. Greene, “What’s next for Mexico? Here are 5 things you need to know,” July 6, 2018.
Michael Lettieri, “Mexico votes tomorrow. Here’s how the country will be radically transformed when the PRI loses,” June 30, 2018.
Gustavo A. Flores-Macías, “Should the U.S. worry about meddling in Mexico’s July presidential race?” May 29, 2018.
Jennifer Bejar and Michael Wilson Becerril, “Violent crime in Mexico is at a 20-year high. This is why Mexico’s political parties don’t fix it,” September 29, 2017.
Brian J. Phillips, “Is Mexico the second-deadliest ‘conflict zone’ in the world? Probably not,” May 18, 2017.
Veronica Herrera, “It’s not just lead that’s poisoning the water. It’s also politics,” February 28, 2017.
Kate H. Tennis, “Trump’s border wall ignores a long history of U.S. cooperation with Mexico. That’s a problem,” February 14, 2017.
Brian J. Phillips, “Does taking out a kingpin — like El Chapo — actually reduce violence?” July 17, 2015.
Omar García-Ponce and Andrés Lajous, “How does a drug cartel become a lime cartel?” May 20, 2014.

Nicaragua

Mateo Jarquín and Kai M. Thaler, “Two years after Nicaragua’s mass uprising started, why is Daniel Ortega still in power?” May 1, 2020.
Yerling Aguilera, Eric Mosinger, and Kai Thaler, “In massive street protests, Nicaraguans are using Ortega’s revolutionary symbols against him,” May 14, 2018.

Peru

Ñusta Carranza Ko, “Peru’s ex-president Alberto Fujimori was just pardoned — again. What’s going on?” March 30, 2022.
Ñusta Carranza Ko, “Peru’s government forcibly sterilized Indigenous women from 1996 to 2001, the women say. Why?” February 19, 2021.
José Incio, “Thousands of Peruvians are protesting the government’s rapid turnovers,” November 25, 2020.
Ñusta Carranza Ko, “Peru had three presidents in just one week. How could that happen?” November 18, 2020.
John M. Carey, Javier Corrales, Mariana Llanos, Leiv Marsteintredet, and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, “The threat of impeachment can push presidents out the door. But there’s a catch,” April 11, 2018.
Orçun Selçuk and Astrid Arrarás, “Here’s what Peru can teach Turkey about presidential power grabs,” May 2, 2017.
James Loxton, “Peru rejected Keiko Fujimori, but most new democracies vote authoritarian parties back into office. Here’s why,” June 16, 2016.
Tomas Dosek and Maritza Paredes, “Peru might elect an authoritarian president. These four maps tell you why,” June 3, 2016.
John M. Carey and Steven Levitsky, “Fujimori’s party already controls Peru’s congress. Here’s why observers are worried,” June 3, 2016.
Michael Albertus, “Here are the 3 (big!) challenges facing Peru’s next president,” April 12, 2016.

Uruguay

Jennifer Pribble and Fernando Rosenblatt, “Uruguay’s Sunday runoff election may bring down the ruling party,” November 20, 2019.

Venezuela

Charles Larratt-Smith, “Here’s why Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is still in power,” August 14, 2019.
Jennifer Cyr and Jessica Maves Braithwaite, “Here are 4 ways that Venezuela’s crisis could end,” May 24, 2019.
Erica De Bruin, “Trump wants Venezuela’s military to remove its president. But Maduro has made that difficult,” May 2, 2019.
Emily Tamkin, “Why is Russia clashing with the United States over Venezuela?” May 1, 2019.
Benjamin Denison, “Trump’s challenge to Venezuela’s president could lead to a military occupation. Here’s why — and why that’s dangerous,” April 30, 2019.
Ishaan Tharoor, “Trump has a Russia problem in Venezuela,” April 2, 2019.
Gregory Weeks, “The U.S. is thinking of invading Venezuela. That’s unlikely to lead to democracy,” March 25, 2019.
Julia Zulver, “At Venezuela’s border with Colombia, women suffer extraordinary levels of violence,” February 26, 2019.
Stephen B. Kaplan and Michael Penfold, “China and Russia have deep financial ties to Venezuela. Here’s what’s at stake,” February 22, 2019.
Timothy M. Gill, “The U.S. has quietly supported the Venezuelan opposition for years,” February 19, 2019.
Mieczysław P. Boduszyński and Victor Peskin, “Guaidó backed an amnesty plan for Venezuela’s military. How might that play out?” February 11, 2019.
Matt Ferchen, “Why did China stand by Maduro in Venezuela?” February 5, 2019.
Eva Bellin and David Pion-Berlin, “Will Venezuela’s military back — or abandon — Maduro? Here are the 4 things it will consider,” February 1, 2019.
Andrew Bennett, Ariya Hagh, Daniel Krcmaric, and Zacc Ritter, “Four reasons it’ll be hard to offer Maduro a golden parachute (and one reason to try anyway),” January 26, 2019.
Jana Morgan, “Here are the 3 big shifts in Venezuela that you probably missed — and will change what comes next,” January 25, 2019.
Anthony Faiola and Karen DeYoung, “In Venezuela, Russia pockets key energy assets in exchange for cash bailouts,” December 24, 2018.
Ryan Kennedy, Scott Clifford, Tyler Burleigh, Philip Waggoner, and Ryan Jewel, “How Venezuela’s economic crisis is undermining social science research — about everything,” November 7, 2018.
Stephen Kaplan, “Will Sunday’s elections bring economic relief and reform to Venezuela?” May 17, 2018.
Fabiana Sofia Perera, “Bitcoin, move over. There’s a new cryptocurrency in town: The petro,” February 26, 2018.
Timothy M. Gill, “No, a coup isn't likely in Venezuela. And if one happens, it’s unlikely to bring democracy,” December 4, 2017.
Ozan Varol, “The odds of a military coup in Venezuela are going up. But coups can sometimes lead to democracy,” November 15, 2017.
Elizabeth J. Zechmeister and Noam Lupu, “Did Maduro’s party really dominate Sunday's election in Venezuela? These polls should make you skeptical,” October 20, 2017.
Olga Onuch and Jeanmiguel Uva, “Venezuela's latest elections are likely to trigger a regional migration crisis,” October 19, 2017.
Christopher Sabatini and Jimena Galindo, “It's not just Venezuela. Elected governments don’t necessarily defend democracy or protect human rights,” August 11, 2017.
Annette Idler, “Venezuela’s instability has far broader implications. Here’s what’s at stake,” August 10, 2017.
Jennifer L. McCoy, “Venezuela’s controversial new Constituent Assembly, explained,” August 1, 2017.
Olga Onuch and Iñaki Sagarzazu, “Don’t be duped or misled about the Venezuela protests. These 5 insights will help,” May 25, 2017.
Javier Corrales, “Venezuela’s government wants to write a new constitution. That way lies autocracy,” May 15, 2017.
Michael McCarthy, “What’s ahead for Venezuela? As the protests ramp up, here are 5 things to watch,” May 1, 2017.
James Loxton and Javier Corrales, “Venezuelans are still demonstrating. What happens next for the dictatorship of President Nicolás Maduro?” April 20, 2017.
Milan Svolik, “This explains why Venezuelans re-elect leaders who dismantle democracy,” April 10, 2017.
Timothy M. Gill, “U.S.-Venezuela relations will probably deteriorate under Trump. Ask ExxonMobil why,” December 29, 2016.
Timothy M. Gill, “People are comparing Donald Trump to Hugo Chávez. That’s mostly wrong,” October 17, 2016.
Michelle Jurkovich, “Venezuela has solved its hunger problem? Don’t believe the U.N.’s numbers,” September 21, 2016.
Michael McCarthy, “6 things you need to know about Venezuela’s political and economic crisis,” May 18, 2016.
John M. Carey, “Here’s how the opposition got a two-thirds supermajority in Venezuela,” December 13, 2015.
John M. Carey, “Will Venezuela’s government have a majority or a supermajority? That matters. Here’s why,” December 10, 2015.
Dorothy Kronick, “Why would a president wreck the economy before an election?” December 4, 2015.
John M. Carey, “Conspiracy theories won’t save the governing party in Venezuela,” December 3, 2015.