ECATEPEC, Mexico — The first time, after the men with police badges had lashed Adriana Carrillo's wrists and ankles with tape, and she had spent 37 hours in the back of a Nissan, her father tossed the $12,000 ransom in a black satchel over a graffiti-strewn brick wall and brought her nightmare to its conclusion. She took three days off and then went back to work.
Costa Rica ranks near the top of a just-released annual index that scores 17 Latin American countries plus the United States on civil rights, access to markets, political participation, education spending and other criteria. Guatemala ranks dead last – again.
SANTIAGO MATATLÁN, Mexico – Once derided as a drink for destitute drunkards, Mexico's smoky-flavored mezcal liquor has come out of the shadows to become a trendy booze in fashionable bars from Mexico City to Sydney.
Brazil is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, with a population of some 1.8 million people of Japanese descent. About 60 percent live in the southeastern and most developed state of São Paulo.
HAVANA, Cuba – Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cuba late Monday, officials said, the last stop on a Latin American tour that has stressed trade and aid more than ideology.
BRASILIA – Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed Thursday to create a $20 billion fund to finance infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund was announced at the end of a summit hosted by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff that marked the launch of the China-Latin America-Caribbean Forum.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on a four-country trip across Latin America, said he hoped the region would accept more Guantanamo prisoners to help expedite closing the facility, in an interview published Wednesday by a Colombian newspaper.
