Latin America

Fifty-seven soldiers who had been held captive by locals in the mountains of Colombia since the weekend have been freed in a military operation, the Colombian defence minister has said. The minister, Pedro Sánchez, said that not a single shot had been fired in what he dubbed “Operation Justice”. The …

Reuters The Trump administration said a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported and then brought back to the US on criminal charges will “never go free”, even though a judge has ordered his release. Kilmar Ábrego García was deported in March as part of an immigration crackdown. Government officials said …

Colombia’s military says 57 soldiers have been kidnapped by civilians in the country’s south-western Micay Canyon area. It says 31 soldiers were seized on Saturday while the rest were abducted on Sunday by a group of more than 200 people. The military says the civilians are acting under pressure from …

Panama has declared an emergency in its main banana-producing region, after shops were looted and buildings vandalised in ongoing protests over a pension reform. The government says constitutional rights will be suspended for the next five days in the north-western Bocas del Toro province. The measure restricts freedom of movement …

Hurricane Erick came ashore as a Category 3 storm Thursday morning hitting Mexico’s Pacific coast between the resort towns of Acapulco and Puerto Escondido. The BBC’s partner, CBS News, reported that officials confirmed at least two deaths as a result of the storm. Video shows communities in the affected areas …

EPA People secure boats on a beach in Acapulco, Mexico as Hurricane Erick approaches Hurricane Erick is expected to strengthen rapidly into a major Category 3 storm, before making landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast on Thursday, Mexico’s civil protection agency has said. The storm, already a Category 2 hurricane, is …

Will Grant Mexico and Central America correspondent Vanessa Buschschlüter BBC News Reuters Silvia Delgado was part of the legal defence team representing Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán A former defence lawyer for the jailed drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has been elected as a judge in Mexico’s first-ever judicial elections. …

Gunmen have killed the mayor of the Mexican municipality of San Mateo Piñas in the latest deadly attack on local officials. Witnesses said four armed men arrived on motorcycles, stormed the village hall and opened fire on the mayor, Lilia Gema García Soto, and a local official who was in …

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were given special permission to come to the US will be told that they must leave the country immediately. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement Thursday that Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who were previously temporarily shielded from deportation will …

José Carlos Cueto BBC News Mundo Colombia correspondent Getty Images When Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in the head on 7 June, it shocked the international community. After years of growing peace, the attack was a callback to Colombia’s most violent years, when cartel-ordered assassinations …

Cameras have captured the moment an 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Lima, Peru on Sunday morning, causing panic among worshipers at the city’s cathedral. The epicentre was recorded 23km off the coast of Callao, according to the The ​​United States Geological Survey. It was felt in the capital and surrounding regions, …

At least four people have died in a wave of bomb and gun attacks in south-western Colombia, according to local media reports. Two police officers were said to be among those killed in the attacks, which targeted Cali, the country’s third-largest city, and several nearby towns. Car bombs, motorcycle bombs, …

Reuters A travel ban issued on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump is set to primarily affect countries in Africa and the Middle East. Twelve countries face full bans, which will come into force on Monday. People from a further seven nations are facing partial restrictions. Trump has depicted it …

An indigenous lawyer, Hugo Aguilar, looks set to become Mexico’s new chief justice following Sunday’s ground-breaking judicial election. Mexicans were asked to choose the country’s entire judiciary by direct ballot for the first time after a radical reform introduced by the governing Morena party. With almost all the votes for …

A British journalist reported missing in Brazil since February has been found safe and well, police have said. Charlotte Alice Peet, 32, was reported missing to authorities by her UK-based family after losing contact with her in February. At time the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in Brazil (ACIE) released …

Police in Mexico have detained a man known by the alias of M-47, whom they suspect of ordering the murder of members of the band Grupo Fugitivo. The bodies of four musicians from the band and their manager were discovered on Thursday in Tamaulipas state, four days after the men …

Fritz Pinnow Reporter, Comayagua, Honduras Fritz Pinnow Hugo Daniel Chávez is proud of the soap his team makes from recycled cooking oil Few 27-year-olds look at used cooking oil and see a green business opportunity to produce soap or dog food. But that is what Hugo Daniel Chávez, a project …

Vanessa Buschschlüter BBC News Reuters Saúl Luciano Lliuya says water in Lake Palcacocha has increased, putting his hometown at risk A court in Germany has rejected a lawsuit brought by a Peruvian farmer against German energy giant RWE in a long-awaited decision. Saúl Luciano Lliuya had argued that the firm’s …

Getty Images Diego Maradona pictured months before his death in 2020 at the age 60 A judge in Argentina has stood down from the trial of Diego Maradona’s medical staff after being criticised for taking part in a documentary about the case. Seven members of the legendary footballer’s medical team …

Helen Briggs BBC environment correspondent•@hbriggs Getty Images Only tree-living sloths are found on the planet today, but the group was once much more diverse Sloths have a reputation for being sluggish and slow, spending most of their lives dozing in trees, but a new study suggests this is one of …