John Otis

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.

As the 51-year-old civil war in Colombia winds down, efforts to find and destroy the many mines are underway.

A few years ago, Nicaragua was almost totally dependent on imported fuel. Now the country's fierce winds, sun and volcanoes generate nearly half the country's electricity, and perhaps 80 percent soon.

President Obama declared Venezuela a national security threat. That prompted Venezuela's socialist government to warn its citizens of an impending U.S. military attack.

As the U.S. prepares to reopen its embassy in communist Cuba, relations with another Latin American nation — oil-rich Venezuela — are crumbling.

President Nicolas Maduro accuses the U.S. of plotting a coup against him, and is expelling most U.S. diplomats from Venezuela. He is also demanding that Americans secure ...

The canal would allow passage for the largest ships on the water, but cut through wetlands, forests and the region's largest freshwater lake — and environmentalists worry about the consequences.

Simon Nobile, 72, runs the Capri pasta factory in the capital Caracus, which was founded by his Italian-born father in 1940. Capri's two plants crank out 11 million pounds of pasta per month.

They could produce nearly twice that much. However, Nobile says a government policy designed to help the ...

President Maduro is a former bus driver and union leader while his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, promised to lead a revolution on behalf of the workers. But now many independent labor uni...

In South America, left-wing governments hostile to the U.S. are tossing out diplomats or shunning them entirely. In Ecuador, U.S. Ambassador Adam Namm is using music to do something about it.

Times are tough in Venezuela and likely to get even tougher this year.

Before oil prices started crashing last summer, cutting revenue for the oil-rich country, President Nicolas Maduro was already presiding over a country plagued by food shortages, soaring inflation and rising discontent.

All this has made the president ...

The South American nation is home to the world's largest oil reserves and earns most of its foreign reserves from oil. It faced a deep economic crisis even before petroleum prices began their plunge.

Cuba and Venezuela are close allies that often seemed to speak with a single voice when it came to bashing the U.S. But now they may be out of sync.

Other countries have moved away from child labor, but not Bolivia, which has lowered the legal working age to as young as 10. Advocates say the move brings the law in line with harsh reality.

The 19th U.S. president didn't leave much of a legacy at home. But in Paraguay, he's a hero, credited with helping save the nation after a disastrous war with its South American neighbors.

Two entrepreneurs have developed new tricks to make food that's literally illuminating, using ingredients that are as natural and unprocessed as possible. It's just basic food chemistry, folks.