Carrie Kahn

The Mexican drug lord escaped from a maximum-security prison via an elaborate tunnel that led to the shower stall in his cell. NPR's Carrie Kahn got a tour and shares what she saw.

One of Mexico's most notorious cartel leaders, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, escaped from prison this weekend — for a second time. A manhunt is underway after he fled his cell through a mile-long tunnel.

What if more than 600 people were murdered in Arizona or Tennessee in one month — 22 dead every day?

That's the problem facing the tiny Central American nation of El Salvador, which has the same population as each of those states. Last month, the death toll in El Salvador ...

Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has been making controversial statements regarding Mexican immigrants. The government there is refusing to comment on his latest, released on Monday.

Under a new program started this year, children from Central America who fear for their lives in their home country and have a relative living legally in the U.S. can petition for ref...

Panama's economy, while cooling in recent years, is still growing at astonishing rates compared to its neighbors. But environmental damage and huge government debt are part of the package.

Unaccompanied minors surged across the U.S. southern border last year, fleeing violence in Central America. This year the Obama administration hopes to forestall a new wave with a quiet new program.

A series of low-profile court rulings culminated with a Supreme Court decision this month that says limiting marriage to a man and a woman was discriminatory and in violation of the constitution.

Mexico strictly forbids campaigning in the days before an election. But last Sunday, some of the country's best known TV stars, singers and sports greats tweeted their support for the Green Party.

Mexicans went to the polls on Sunday to elect the lower house of Congress, 9 governors and hundreds of local officials and mayors. There was violence, especially in the southern part of the country.

The candidates murdered were running in the most restive states in Mexico, where corruption and drug trafficking violence are the top issues on the minds of voters. Elections will occur Sunday.

Hipolito Mora, who began a vigilante movement in the restive state of Michoacan, has not only laid down arms, but wants to be the local congressman. He was jailed twice for murder but was released.

Celebrations in El Salvador honored the life of slain Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was beatified on Saturday. Catholics paid tribute to the man who fought for the poor during the country's civil war.

Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli wasn't always rich.

One of Central America's richest and most eccentric former politicians, Martinelli started off as a credit officer at Citibank in Panama. He bought one business, then another. Among his holdings is the country's largest supermarket chain, Super 99, known for bargain prices ...

Saturday's ceremony ends a long fight for recognition of the staunch defender of the poor, who was assassinated in 1980. But some say the violence-wracked country is no better now than it was then.

A 14-year-old Mexican girl pulled screaming from her classroom by police and sent to a woman in Texas, has been returned home after DNA tests proved she is not the Houston woman's daughter.

Panama, like its Central American neighbors, is struggling with a rise in gangs. A recent census by the country's security forces put the number of criminal organizations operating in Panama now at about 200.

One neighborhood, in the capital's historic district, is taking on its gang problem with a group ...

Hillary Clinton has made it official: she's running for president in 2016. Sen. Marco Rubio is set to announce his presidential plans Monday. In Panama, leaders wrapped up the Summit of the Americas.

Leaders of the Western Hemisphere are wrapping up the Summit of the Americas. A meeting between President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro has been the most anticipated moment of the conference.

The leaders of all 35 nations in the Western Hemisphere gather for the first time ever this week at the Summit of the Americas.