Venezuela

Price controls have emptied stores of most goods, while the world's highest inflation has pushed what is available beyond the means of most Venezuelans. To make ends meet, they exploit the perks of their jobs to trade goods and services informally.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Masked intelligence service agents arrested the mayor of Caracas on Thursday over what socialist President Nicolás Maduro alleges was a coup plot financed by the United States and directed "from Washington."

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan bolivar opened Thursday at 172 to the dollar on the first day of a government sponsored exchange meant to compete with the black market.

"The country is so messed up that now we have to wait in line even to have sex."

We’ve all had a night like that, right? You’re supposed to head back to your hotel after palling around all night and just end up, know you, flying to Nicaragua and crashing there.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela had its credit rating cut by Moody's Investors Service to the world's worst among countries not in default, as falling oil prices strain a government already confronting food shortages and 64 percent inflation.

Publicly sponsored news outlets, government officials, and even the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, have all responded to McDonald's unthinkable french fry shortage, which spans all 100 outlets in the country, by publicly criticizing the chain, and its french fries.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ticos like to complain about bribery, tax evasion, kickbacks and other dirty deeds, but business executives and foreign investors still perceive Costa Rica as the least tainted country in Central America.

Despite the unusually close diplomatic ties between Caracas and Havana (even their intelligence services are interlinked), President Nicolás Maduro appears to have been caught completely off guard by this week's dramatic announcement.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega confirmed Friday that U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Senator Marco Rubio – both from Florida – are on an official list of foreigners banned from entering the country in retaliation for travel restrictions placed on Nicaraguan officials by the U.S. government.