John Otis

A 77-year-old populist who campaigns over TikTok and promises budget cuts and jail for corrupt officials is now neck and neck with his leftist opponent ahead of Sunday's runoff election.

Sunday's first round produced two top vote-getters from very different backgrounds. The June 19 runoff will be a contest between a left-wing former guerrilla and a populist real-estate mogul.

Colombia's presidential election is Sunday, and for the first time, a leftist candidate is favored to come out ahead. Business elites are nervous.

livestock in Colombia are raised on vast, open ranges. Overseeing the herds requires the special skills of Colombian cowboys who are known as llaneros — Spanish for "plainsmen."

The Constitutional Court issued the ruling in February of this year. It's part of a so-called "green wave" of liberalizing abortion rights in some Latin America countries. And it's led to protests.

Cowboys in the South American country of Colombia have a storied history. To this day, they continue to ride the plains, keeping an eye on cattle. And usually, they do so barefoot.

Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro sits down with NPR and talks about his time in a guerrilla group and proposals to tackle poverty and climate change.

Colombia approved some of the most liberal abortion laws in the Americas in February. The decision has provoked a backlash from anti-abortion groups.

The literary festival in the Colombian port city aims to bridge the gap between the city's cosmopolitan center and the surrounding neighborhoods, where many of the poor never make it downtown.

Many are small for their age — a sign of a growing crisis of malnutrition. Government mismanagement is to blame, say political analysts. And there could be lifelong impacts for these children.

Venezuela is facing a long-term catastrophe of its own making: widespread child malnutrition. Years of economic mismanagement have brought massive poverty and food shortages.

In a great irony, Venezuelans are cooking their meals over wood fires because of a shortage of propane. This is in a nation with among the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world.

Venezuelan opponents and U.S. officials were predicting his demise years ago. But Nicolás Maduro and his Socialist Party remain firmly in power.

After boycotting elections for years, Venezuela's opposition chose to participate in state and regional elections this week. The ruling Socialist Party won overwhelmingly.

Opposition candidates participated in state and local elections in Venezuela for the first time in years, having concluded that boycotts only strengthened the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela holds local elections Sunday and for the opposition, in a change in policy, is taking part.

More than 100,000 people have crossed the Darién Gap jungle from Colombia to Panama so far this year. The environmental impact and threats from cartels are many.

The dense jungle of the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia was once a no man's land. It is now a busy thoroughfare for migrants heading north to the U.S.

The jungle between Colombia and Panama has become a primary thoroughfare for migrants heading north. Thousands of Haitian migrants are making the dangerous journey, trying to get to the U.S.

For many Haitian migrants, the dangerous journey from their troubled home country to the United States spans a decade and thousands of dangerous miles through Latin America.