Are exploding oil prices about to burn Latin America?
With the largest petroleum reserves outside the Middle East, the region has been on a roll in recent years. Record exports of crude and grain fueled economic growth not seen since the 1970s. The region's stock markets roared. Easier credit spawned a consumer class that snapped up homes and cars. About 26 million Latin Americans climbed out of poverty between 2002 and 2006, United Nations figures show.
But, writes The Times' Marla Dickerson, the same forces behind that prosperity are now, paradoxically, creating misery in the midst of bounty. Surging fuel prices have ignited inflation throughout the region, driving up the cost of food, the price of which was already on the upswing thanks in part to ravenous global demand for Latin America's farm products.
Read on about oil prices in Latin America.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Marvin Hernandez, 12, bathes on the site of a former dump that’s home to nearly 2,000 people in San Salvador. At least 500,000 people in El Salvador and Guatemala fell into poverty last year, the United Nations estimates. Photo credit: Roberto Escobar / EPA.
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The capture was worthy of an action thriller: elite Mexican troops rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of a mysterious submarine, writes The Times' Ken Ellingwood.
The 33-foot vessel turned out to be crammed with parcels apparently containing cocaine, possibly tons of it. The disheveled crew of four had emerged in stocking feet and baggy shorts, claiming to have shipped out from Colombia a week earlier under threat of death.
Capt. Jose Luis Vergara, a spokesman for the Mexican navy, said authorities were hauling the "very well-constructed" vessel to shore and had yet to weigh the contraband, which he said probably amounted to tons.
The unusual episode suggests that the government, already struggling against drug traffickers by land and air, faces a vexing new front undersea.
Read more about drug smuggling submarines in Mexico here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
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In the face of a U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration in the waters between Cuba and Florida, Mexican authorities have reported a surge in detentions of Cubans as quick-moving smugglers shift their routes westward.
Under a 1995 proviso of U.S. immigration law known as the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach U.S. territory are entitled to legal residency. With the Florida Straits under the gun, much of the traffic has been rerouted to bring migrants to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and then guide them overland to the U.S. border -- where they are detained on illegal entry charges for just a few days, writes the L.A. Times' Carol J. Williams.
Read more about Cuban migrants in Mexico here.
For more posts on Cuba click here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Cubans are brought ashore by Mexican forces in Cancun in June after they were found in makeshift boats. Many pay smugglers as much as $15,000 in an attempt to reach the U.S.; credit: Israel Leal / Associated Press.
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The farm crisis that has divided the agricultural powerhouse of Argentina for months took a dramatic turn Thursday, when the Senate voted against the government's incendiary new tax on grain exports.
The decisive vote was cast by the government's own vice president after an 18-hour Senate debate, stunning observers and igniting a political crisis, writes Patrick J. McDonnell of the L.A. Times.
Click here to read more about the troubles in Argentina.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Government supporters gather outside Congress as the Senate votes on the farm tariffs. The measure, which failed, aimed to tax the agricultural sector for social projects. Credit: Eduardo Di Baia / Associated Press
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The nation's drug wars sank to new depths Wednesday as the Mexican navy announced it had seized a submarine that was transporting cocaine off the southern coast.
The navy intercepted the 33-foot vessel about 125 miles south of Puerto de Salina Cruz in Oaxaca state.
Jose Luis Vergara, a navy spokesman, said in a radio interview that special forces waited until the vessel surfaced before rappelling from helicopters and overpowering the four-man crew.
Read more about the drug trafficker's submarine here.
See the latest on Mexico's drug trade here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Mexican navy sailors ride on top of a seized drug smuggling submarine as it was being towed by a navy ship off the coast of the Pacific resort city of Huatulco, Mexico. Credit: Miguel Angel Tovar / Associated Press
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After sunset Sunday, an immigrant couple who crossed into the United States illegally over a year ago set out down Hollywood Boulevard on foot, headed from work to their nearby apartment.
As they walked hand in hand, a former Marine steered his car onto the boulevard. Sergio Delgado, 29, was allegedly fleeing police who had tried to stop him for reckless driving.
Cecilia Diaz Vasquez, 32, and Pedro Davila, 40, stepped into the crosswalk at Wilcox Avenue about 8:45 p.m. just as Delgado allegedly ran a red light.
In a moment, the couple were dead. It took hours for officials to identify the bodies, and in the days that followed, details have emerged about them and the man charged with killing them.
Read more about Pedro Cordova and Cecilia Vasquez here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Felix Vasquez remembers his younger sister Cecilia Diaz Vasquez, who was killed along with her longtime companion, Pedro Davila, while crossing Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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 The gym in the Nickerson Gardens housing project can be an unfriendly place for anyone who dares to enter without a tough, competitive game of basketball.
Just ask the Latino players from East Wilmington who, in May, for the first time, drove 15 miles to Watts to join the project's Moonlight basketball league. When they walked on the court, they were greeted with a chorus of taunts, and someone in the crowd issued a blunt warning: "You better not bring any weak stuff in here!"
The 12 young men didn't flinch; they knew they would have to prove themselves if they wanted respect in a tournament dominated by African Americans.
Read on about how the Latino team impressed locals in the mostly black event
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Coach Manny Panduro speaks to a Latino team from Wilmington playing in the Moonlight league basketball tournament at Nickerson Gardens in Watts. The players had to prove themselves if they wanted to win respect from opposing players and spectators — most of whom were African American. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times
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A tiny insect that can carry a disease that kills citrus trees has been discovered just blocks south of the border in Tijuana, sending shock waves through the California citrus industry.
The disease, known as citrus greening, has already killed tens of thousands of acres of orange groves in Florida and has the potential to ruin much of California's $1.2-billion citrus-growing business, industry officials said.
Mexican agricultural officials found the Asian citrus psyllid in orange trees growing near homes in the vicinity of the California border.
But the officials are annoyed at the alarm sounded by California citrus farmers, saying there's no evidence that these bugs have come into contact with the bacterium that causes the disease, also known as huanglongbing or yellow dragon disease, or that citrus greening is infecting Mexican citrus groves.
Read on about the bug here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
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Scooped up by gunmen as she walked near her home, 12-year-old Alexia Moreno hardly had a chance. The gangsters were driving straight into a shootout. Within minutes, she was dead, shot in the head as she cowered in the back seat, writes the L.A. Times' Tracy Wilkinson from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
It was two weeks before her sixth-grade graduation.
Alexia's death in a city so accustomed to death struck a nerve because she was -- in this city tortured by killings, broad-daylight gun battles and rampant kidnappings -- an innocent victim.
Continue reading this story about drug violence in Mexico here.
Read more about Mexico's drug wars here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: A relative of Alexia Moreno touches her coffin during the burial ceremony in Ciudad Juarez. Alexia was shot in the head while cowering in the back seat of the vehicle into which she and her companions had been scooped up by gang members. Credit: Luis Torres / Diario de Juarez
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The eight students walked into a room at Lincoln High School prepared to discuss an issue that many people, including some of their teachers, consider taboo.
They were blunt. Carlos Garcia, 17, an A student with a knack for math, said: "My friends, most of them say, 'You're more Asian than Hispanic.' "
"I think Carlos is Asian at heart," said Julie Loc, 17, causing Carlos to laugh good-naturedly. Asian students who get middling grades often get another response, she said.
"They say, 'Are you really Asian?' " Julie said.
"It's sad but true," said Eliseo Garcia, a 17-year-old with long rocker hair, an easy manner and good grades. "I had an Asian friend, but he didn't necessarily get that great a grades. We used to say, 'He's Mexican at heart.'
Read on to understand why Asian students generally get higher marks than Latinos.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Carlos Garcia, second from right, is president of the Asia Club at Lincoln High School. He is pictured here with his cabinet members during a lunch-hour meeting. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times
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 On a recent weekend afternoon, under a sky so vivid and crystalline it actually was Dodger blue, a group of fans filled the courtyard outside the loge decks at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine for Carne Asada Sunday. They gathered -- in baseball caps and vintage Dodgers jerseys, Vin Scully's voice still reverberating from the stadium -- for plates of carne asada tacos, a favorite of infielder Nomar Garciaparra.
Garciaparra is such a fan of carne asada that he showcases the dish at this twice-a-year event benefiting the Dodgers Dream Foundation, which provides athletic and educational opportunities for children.
Read on about the Dodgers Dream Foundation event here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Along with the carne asada, fans are treated to a chance to meet infielder Nomar Garciaparra, who had a hand in formulating the recipe. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
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"At least 21 people, including a 12-year-old girl and other ordinary citizens, have been killed by warring drug gangs since Thursday in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, in one of the worst spasms of violence in memory in a region long conditioned to narcotics-related savagery," writes the Times' Marla Dickerson and Cecilia Sanchez.
The wave of deadly mayhem began with the audacious daytime shooting of a dozen people in the capital, Culiacan, and continued during the weekend and into Monday. The deaths of innocents, including the young girl, who had just left a party, have terrified the public and left many questioning the effectiveness of the federal government's ongoing crackdown on drug trafficking.
The United States Congress recently approved The Merida Initiative, which will give the Mexican Government U.S. $400 million to spend on their fight against the country's drug cartels.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
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"Pardon Patricia Nieto if she wasn't swept up in the euphoria that lifted this nation after the recent rescue of 15 hostages held by leftist guerrillas," write the L.A. Times' Chris Kraul and Patrick J. McDonnell in Cali, Colombia.
The rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which was tricked into giving up long-held hostages, including presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors, is still holding 700 people, including Nieto's husband, Sigifredo Lopez.
Read on about the Colombian hostages left behind.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
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 Depending on who's doing the counting, there have been nearly five dozen world title fights between boxers from Mexico and Puerto Rico and most have been classic brawls, writes Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times.
"In other countries people go crazy to see a soccer game between Spain and Italy, Italy and England," said boxing writer Gerardo Fernandez of the Puerto Rican daily Primera Hora. "Well, it's the same ambience for a boxing match between Mexico and Puerto Rico."
It's not hard to figure out why. They are Latin American lands with similar backgrounds and cultures. And in both lands, boxing is revered.
More about the intense boxing rivalry between Puerto Rico and Mexico...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico will take his colors and pride into the ring when he battles Mexico's Antonio Margarito for the world welterweight crown on July 26.
Credit: Miguel Maldonado / For The Times
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He didn't break into Spanish, nor did he back down from his emphatic position that border security must be the cornerstone of immigration overhaul. But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued his fervid courtship of Latino voters Monday, speaking to about 2,000 people at the National Council of La Raza's annual convention the day after his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, came calling, write the L.A. Times' Robin Abcarian and Nicole Gaouette.
In an indication of how highly valued these voters are, this was the third time in the last 15 days that each presidential candidate has appeared before a major Latino political group.
McCain, whose stance on immigration has shifted to the right over the last year to align him more with the Republican base, is striving to put the Latino vote into play this November.
Read more from McCain on Latinos and immigration...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
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"Speckled chickens in Geraldo Pinera's garden will be on his family's dinner table soon, stewed with herbs and tomatoes and garnished with creamy slices of the avocados now ripening on a pair of spindly trees," writes Carol J. Williams of The Times.
Pinera, a member of a 25-family farming cooperative in Altahabana, a village outside Havana, tends a private half-acre plot tucked between the state-owned mango orchards where he works a day job. He raises guava, passion fruit, sweet potatoes and poultry to augment a $20 monthly income and the government ration of starches.
Like other Cuban families, the Pineras are eating more fruits and vegetables as a result of a national campaign to boost food output and curb costly imports. Their efforts represent a small but significant step toward the government's ultimate goal to vastly reduce its dependence on more efficient foreign producers, especially for favorite foods such as rice, meat and dairy.
President Raul Castro spurred the planting of idle lands around cities with a series of reforms in recent months aimed at improving self-sufficiency. The moves included making land available free to those willing to till it and easing a strangling national bureaucracy that once controlled a farmer's every step, from seed procurement to sales price.
Read more of Williams' report from Altahabana here ...
And more posts on Cuba here ...
Photo: A vegetable vendor scoops up peppers at the Sunday market across from the National Capitol building in central Havana. Hundreds of Cubans and tourists flock to the market each Sunday to shop for vegetables, fruits, seafood and meats or just to mingle amid the hustle and bustle. Credit: Lianne Milton / For the Los Angeles Times
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Although the U.S. government was supposed to have final authority on any plan to rescue three American contractors held by guerrillas, it was kept in the dark by the Colombian military until a week before the July 2 operation to lessen the chances that the Bush administration would veto the effort, said a top official close to the operation.
"They wanted to wait long enough to make it difficult to say no," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was forbidden to discuss the topic for attribution.
Read the rest of The Times' report from Bogota here ...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
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Since Ingrid Betancourt's liberation from jungle captivity in a daring rescue operation early this month, Ingrid-mania has swept the globe, writes the L.A. Times' Patrick J. McDonnell and Chris Kraul.
The saga of Betancourt, the former Colombian presidential candidate liberated after more than six years as a hostage of leftist guerrillas, has captivated Latin America and Europe and is generating major media interest in the United States. Book and film deals are in the works.
Read on...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt, center, with daughter Melanie Delloye and son Lorenzo, at the airport in Bogotá. Credit: Mauricio Due-As / AFP, Getty Images
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City officials in Escondido, Calif., refuse to give up, and their approach is an example of how authorities are using the method of "attrition": making life as difficult as possible for undocumented immigrants in the hope that they'll self-deport back home.
Two years ago, the city passed an ordinance to punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. But it rescinded the rental restriction after a legal challenge was filed and bills began to mount.
Now Escondido is trying a new approach to combat what it calls the "public nuisances" of illegal immigration, citing residents for code violations such as garage conversions, graffiti and junk cars.
The city is also debating a new ordinance that would restrict overnight street parking without a permit. In addition, it is drafting a policy that would prohibit drivers from picking up day laborers along some streets.
"We learned from the rental ordinance," Councilman Sam Abed said. "We changed our focus to quality-of-life issues."
Read the report by Anna Gorman of the L.A. Times here...
Photo: In their home office in Escondido, Jack Bennett wipes his face in a gesture of frustration as wife Tisha explains their feelings about illegal immigrants, whom they say are overcrowding schools, creating parking problems and generally degrading the city. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
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Americans may find it strange that Mexico has had to turn to its army in the savage battle now underway against drug traffickers (see a report here by Ken Ellingwood).
They figure it has to do with local police corruption.
But there’s more to it.
Read more Mexican municipios to blame for problems »
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« Previous Posts
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Chris Kraul
Buenos Aires:
Patrick McDonnell
Caribbean:
Carol Williams
Mexico City:
Hector Tobar
Deborah Bonello
Marla Dickerson
Ken Ellingwood
Reed Johnson
San Diego:
Richard Marosi
Washington:
Nicole Gaouette