Venezuela closed the Colombian border and declared a state of emergency along the frontier, accusing Bogotá of allowing the infiltration of right-wing paramilitaries.
Despite pledges to remain in office, Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina resigned after lawmakers stripped his immunity and a judge issued orders for his arrest.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez Blanco, a leading activist in Mexico's violence-torn Guerrero state and a vocal advocate for the families of the 43 missing students, was himself assassinated.
Colombia's FARC guerillas may be working under the table with their supposed bitter enemies in the ultra-right paramilitary groups, according to e-mails released by authorities.
Amnesty International charges that Brazil's military police have been responsible for more than 1,500 deaths in Rio de Janeiro's favelas in the last five years.
Gunmen killed at least 18 people in outlying districts of Sao Paulo, and authorities suspect a coordinated campaign of revenge by off-duty officers for the death of two colleagues.
Peru's army announced that it had "rescued" 39 people—the majority indigenous Asháninka and 26 of them underage—who were held captive in Sendero Luminoso camps.
Mexican army troops fired on villagers who blocked roads when soldiers arrived to arrest the leader of a self-defense militia who refused orders to demobilize.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and related networks are said to control Saharan smuggling routes for Moroccan hashish to fund their regional operations.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos announced details of an operation to seize nearly 278,000 hectares said to have been illegally usurped by the FARC.
Colombia surpassed Peru last year in land under coca cultivation, resuming the dubious honor of the number one position for the first time since 2012.
A human rights group in Mexico released new evidence that military officers gave orders to kill prior to an army mass slaying of more than 20 supposed narco-gang members.
