John Otis

In Venezuela, bread, meat, milk and other staples are scarce these days. So Venezuela's government is urging urban slum dwellers to grow and raise their own food. But it's a challenge.

Venezuela's opposition won a landslide victory in legislative elections on Sunday that's seen as a political turning point, because the Socialist Party has controlled all branches of government for the past 16 years.

Under former president Hugo Chavez and current leader Nicolas Maduro, the government has imprisoned dozens of opponents. ...

Millions of Venezuelans voiced their displeasure with President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist Party by giving opposition parties an overwhelming victory in congressional elections Sunday. But over the past few years, a flood of disgruntled Venezuelans have been voting with their feet, and college professors are among them.

Amid soaring ...

The opposition in Venezuela overwhelmingly won parliamentary elections on Sunday. The victory brings an end to almost 17 years of socialist rule.

The mayor of Buenos Aires is expected to win Sunday's presidential runoff. In that soccer-mad country, front-runner Mauricio Macri gets points for having been team president for the Boca Juniors.

The music of Diomedes Diaz blasts from a cantina in La Junta, a village of dirt streets and cactus on the edge of a desert where the late singer grew up. His songs celebrate country living, all-night partying and falling in love.

This style of music is called vallenato. Diaz ...

For Caracas housewife Anny Valero, today is grocery day — whether she likes it or not. Here's why: It's Monday, and if Valero doesn't go now, she'll have to wait four more days to buy food.

In Venezuela, government supermarkets sell price-controlled food, making them far cheaper than private stores. ...

Saul Mindiola is running for mayor of Pueblo Bello — a farm town of 16,000 residents tucked in Colombia's snow-capped Sierra Nevada. The view makes it clear how the place got its its name, which means "beautiful village" in Spanish.

Mindiola, who grew up in these mountains, is a member ...

The Marxist revolutionary group known as FARC has been fighting the Colombian government for over 50 years. Thanks to peace talks in Havana, Cuba, the fighting may finally come to an end in six months.

The deportation of thousands of Colombians from Venezuela and the sealing of the border is provoking chaos. Throngs of deportees are crowding into shelters, families have been separat...

The pope wrapped up the first leg of his South American mission which is focused on aiding the poor. Over the last 3 days, he was a crowd pleaser in Ecuador. He next visits Bolivia and then Paraguay.

Pope Francis kicks off a three-nation South America tour with a mass in Ecuador on Monday. Aiding the poor is at the center of his mission, which will include stops in Bolivia and Par...

The Argentine pontiff has embarked on a nine-day swing through Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, some of the region's poorest countries. Francis is focusing on issues that affect the downtrodden.

In 2013, a newcomer from Colombia passed almost everyone else and came in second in the Tour de France. This year, many think he'll take home the winning yellow jersey.

It's harvest time in the coca fields of southern Colombia. Using his bare hands, Franklin Canacuan expertly strips the bright green leaves from his 5-foot-tall coca bushes.

Over the years, Colombian police planes have sprayed his fields with a powerful weed killer.

It's part of a government program to destroy ...

With 16,000 homicides last year, Venezuela became the world's second deadliest country. But even as crime climbs, the number of police battling criminals is falling.

Venezuela's economic woes provide plenty of fodder for comedians. But the government doesn't seem to have a sense of humor: Comics say they are being targeted and prevented from performing.

President Nicolas Maduro's government hasn't solved food shortages or ended high inflation. It's been more effective in cracking down on the opposition, filing legal charges against many mayors.