An uprising in a favela on hills overlooking the famed Copacabana beach spilled over into the posh tourist district below. Is Rio's "pacification" campaign backfiring?
An unknown number of miners—perhaps as many as 40—were buried alive as an illegal gold mine collapsed at El Palmar, in Colombia's southern region of Cauca.
Military Police occupied the favela, or shantytown of Caramujo outside Río de Janeiro following riots sparked by the death of two local youths in incidents with the security forces.
Central America's rainforests are being destroyed by drug traffickers who cut roads and airstirps on officially protected lands, according to a paper in the journal Science.
Brazilian Military Police backed by Marine troops occupied the massive Maré favela next to Rio de Janeiro's airport in a major clean-up operation ahead of the World Cup.
An official from the capital district government of Bogotá called upon Colombia’s national government to open debate on broadening the policy of drug decriminalization.
Coca-growers in Bolivia's lowland jungle town of Yapacaní clashed with police in a protest against the construction of a new base of the feared Mobile Rural Patrol Unit (UMOPAR).
More than 1,500 Military Police were mobilized to evict thousands of squatters who had recently taken over an abandoned office complex in Rio de Janeiro.
"Community police" forces in Michoacán launched a blockade of a Mexican naval base after marines attempted to disarm their gunmen.
Speaking in the Pacific port of Buenaventura, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos boasted gains against paramilitary gangs that have been terrorizing the city.
Mexican police and army troops were rushed to a mountain village in Michoacán amid an armed stand-off between rival factions of the "community police."
For the second time in four years, Mexican authorities announced the death of Michoacán's top drug lord Nazario Moreno AKA "El Chayo" in a shoot-out with federal police.
