Eleonora Antillón had kept her secret bottled up for more than 30 years. But when she read an article on social media on Tuesday saying a woman had accused Óscar Arias Sánchez, the former president of Costa Rica, of sexual assault, she did not hesitate: “From personal experience with him,” she wrote on the social media platform, “I BELIEVE her!!”… Read more »
WASHINGTON — A Chinese intelligence official was arrested in Belgium and extradited to the United States to face espionage charges, Justice Department officials said on Wednesday, a major escalation of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on Chinese spying. The extradition on Tuesday of the officer, Yanjun Xu, a deputy division director in China’s main spy agency, the Ministry… Read more »
RIO DE JANEIRO — By the time Brazilians were done voting Sunday, mighty power brokers had been tossed out of office, long-dominant political parties had been humbled, and a far-right populist suddenly looked like he just might be the most powerful man in the country. It was, in short, the most sweeping political shift Brazil had ever seen in a… Read more »
CONCEPCIÓN CHIQUIRICHAPA, Guatemala — Six months ago, Liset Juárez’s husband packed a small bag, hugged their three children and said goodbye as he left on the more than 1,200-mile trip to the United States. It was his sixth attempt to try to cross the border illegally to find work. The couple had borrowed the equivalent of nearly $13,000 from a… Read more »
CARACAS — Questions and condemnation of Venezuela’s leadership poured in on Tuesday following the suspicious death of an opposition activist who authorities said evaded justice by throwing himself from the 10th floor of a police building. Fernando Albán, a Caracas councilman, was arrested Friday at Caracas’s international airport upon arrival from a trip to New York to galvanize world opinion… Read more »
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Keiko Fujimori, a powerful Peruvian politician whose father ruled the country in the 1990s, was arrested in a money laundering investigation on Wednesday, calling into question the future of the political family and their right-wing populist movement. The arrest came just days after the country’s Supreme Court ordered her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, back to prison on… Read more »
Five Latin American countries and Canada on Wednesday urged the International Criminal Court to consider prosecuting senior officials in Venezuela for extensive human rights abuses, the first time that member nations have referred another member to the tribunal. In a region where leaders tend to avoid criticizing one another publicly, the step by Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru represented… Read more »
GUATEMALA CITY — The president of Guatemala pushed the nation toward a constitutional crisis on Monday, ignoring an explicit order by the country’s top court while testing the bounds of the nation’s fragile democracy. The court had ordered that the head of a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission be allowed back into Guatemala, reversing orders from President Jimmy Morales. But the… Read more »
The Trump administration held secret meetings with rebellious military officers from Venezuela over the last year to discuss their plans to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro, according to American officials and a former Venezuelan military commander who participated in the talks. Establishing a clandestine channel with coup plotters in Venezuela was a big gamble for Washington, given its long history… Read more »
UNITED NATIONS — President Trump thrust his commitment to an “America First” foreign policy back onto the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. But in his second address on this diplomatic stage, he sounded as eager to claim credit for his achievements after 20 months in office, as he was to disrupt the world order. If Mr. Trump had changed,… Read more »