Latin America

Eleven Ecuadorean soldiers have been sentenced to 34 years in prison each after being found guilty of the forced disappearance of four boys last year. The discovery of the beaten and burned remains of the four boys, aged between 11 and 15, shocked the violence-wracked nation. The court found a …

Ángel BermúdezBBC News Mundo Reuters The US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on 10 December In a further escalation of tension between the United States and Venezuela, President Donald Trump has ordered a naval blockade to stop sanctioned oil tankers from entering and leaving the South …

Will GrantBBC Central America correspondent Reuters The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, is among the ships which have been deployed to the Caribbean The escalating tension between the US and Venezuela has led to the biggest military build-up in the Caribbean since the end of the Cold …

Vanessa BuschschlüterLatin America editor, BBC News Online Getty Images US President Trump signed an executive order classifying fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” The United States has designated a notorious drug-trafficking organisation in Colombia as a terrorist group. The US Treasury Department added the group, known as Clan del …

US Southern Command The US military says it has carried out strikes on three boats it has accused of trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean, killing eight people. The US Southern Command posted footage of the strikes on social media and said the vessels were “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes… …

Tens of thousands of people gathered across Brazil’s main cities on Sunday to protest against a bill that – if passed – would reduce the time former President Jair Bolsonaro will spend in jail. The former president is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup d’etat after he lost …

The US has lifted sanctions on a Brazilian judge who led investigations into Jair Bolsonaro, days after a bill which would cut the former president’s jail sentence passed a major hurdle. Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election, but would see …

The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety before starting their shifts. BBC News

Ione WellsSouth America correspondent, São Paulo Watch: María Corina Machado on her ‘ very dangerous’ escape from Venezuela The rescue operation to get Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado out of Venezuela involved disguises, two boats through choppy seas and a flight, the man who says he …

The US has imposed fresh sanctions on six more ships said to be carrying Venezuelan oil, a day after seizing a tanker off the country’s coast. Sanctions have also been placed on some of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s relatives and businesses associated with what Washington calls his illegitimate regime. White …

A judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported in March and brought back to the US to face criminal charges, from immigration custody. “Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” Judge Paula …

President Donald Trump falsely denied saying he had “no problem” with his administration releasing a video of a US strike on a Venezuela boat that Washington alleges was carrying drugs. He actually said that last week. BBC News

AFP via Getty Images Luis Arce served as the 67th president of Bolivia from 2020 to 2025 Bolivia’s former president, Luis Arce, has been arrested in La Paz as part of an investigation into alleged graft, the government has said. The investigation relates to when Arce, 62, was economy minister …

The F/A-18 Super Hornets appeared on flight tracking sites near Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, before circling the gulf for about 40 minutes. BBC News

A skydiver crash landed onto a traffic light in Mexico City on 9 December. Local police said the man didn’t receive any injuries and a civic judge determined he had not damaged city infrastructure, according to the Mexico City security ministry. Pedestrians stopped to help him detangle his parachute. BBC …

The Venezuelan opposition leader made her first public appearance in 11 months moments before the interview. BBC News

Watch: Video shows US military seizing oil tanker off Venezuela coast US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro’s government. “We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela …

The US Department of Justice has released 45-second clip showing what it says is the US military seizing an oil tanker near Venezuela. The footage shows military helicopters approaching the tanker and what appears to be US troops boarding it. The operation, led by the US Coast Guard, was announced …

Brazil’s parliament descended into chaos on Tuesday as conservative lawmakers continued to push a law which would reduce the prison sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro. One left-wing lawmaker was forcibly removed by police after trying to disrupt proceedings, while footage showed scuffles breaking out as security tried to restore …

REUTERS/Leonel Estrada The atmosphere has been tense as the lead changed hands several times The centrist candidate in Honduras’s knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has accused “corrupt people” of manipulating the vote count in the Central American nation. Nine days after the election, the electoral council has still not declared …