Ana Vanessa Herrero

Venezuela’s opposition dissolves Guaidó-led ‘interim government’

CARACAS, Venezuela — At the start of 2019, as President Nicolás Maduro was claiming reelection in a vote widely condemned as fraudulent, the head of the country’s legislature stood before an electric crowd of thousands in John Paul II Plaza here in…

Colombia’s new president meets with Maduro as Latin America moves left

CARACAS, Venezuela — The United States has long relied on Colombia as its closest Latin American ally against the socialist government of Venezuela. Former Colombian president Iván Duque was a critical partner in the U.S. effort to drive Venezuelan…

Landslides leveled a Venezuelan town. Critics blame government neglect.

LAS TEJERÍAS, Venezuela — Yessenia Galindez was standing in the entrance of her home, about to leave for work, when she felt the water beneath her feet. The 43-year-old hospital janitor thought it was just a puddle of rain, seeping onto her floor.…

Argentina’s new crisis: A shortage of World Cup stickers

After four years of waiting, a harsh pandemic lockdown and months of soaring inflation, Ernesto Acuña hoped the stickers would give business at his Buenos Aires newsstand a much-needed boost. The trading card-sized figuritas, which depict teams and…

Venezuela frees 7 jailed Americans in exchange for Maduro family drug smugglers

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan government freed seven Americans detained in the country, including five oil executives, in exchange for two family members of President Nicolás Maduro jailed in the United States on drug convictions since 2015.…

Cuba suffers total electrical outage as Hurricane Ian knocks out power

Government work crews in Cuba were laboring to restore electricity Tuesday night after the entire island lost power in the wake of Hurricane Ian, authorities said. Ian slammed into Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Rio as a Category 3 hurricane at…

‘Fat Leonard’ caught in Venezuela after fleeing Navy bribery sentencing

CARACAS, Venezuela — Authorities in Venezuela apprehended the Malaysian defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” after he escaped his sentencing in the U.S. Navy’s worst bribery scandal, Interpol announced Wednesday. The announcement came just…

Gun fails inches from Argentine vice president’s face in shooting attempt

Thousands of Argentines gathered in Buenos Aires and cities and towns around the country on Friday to show support for controversial Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner hours after a man pointed a handgun in her face and, authorities say,…

Nicaragua detains Catholic bishop in escalating crackdown on dissent

Federal police stormed the home of a Catholic bishop in northern Nicaragua at dawn on Friday and detained one of President Daniel Ortega’s most prominent remaining critics as the government moved ever closer to silencing all dissent in the Central…

Los niños perdidos de Venezuela

Más de mil niños venezolanos están actualmente bajo la custodia del Estado colombiano. La ruptura de relaciones con Venezuela en 2019 ha dificultado que pudieran ser repatriados o reunidos con sus familias. Ahora, el caso de uno de estos niños que…

Colombia quiere que lo adopten. En Venezuela, su familia lo quiere de vuelta.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — El niño había estado en el sistema de bienestar familiar por casi dos años y el tutor legal se estaba quedando sin opciones. Traído a Bogotá por su madre venezolana y después abandonado, el niño de cabello castaño había pasado más…

Colombia wants him adopted. But he has a family — and they want him back.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The boy had been in the child-welfare system for nearly two years, and his court-appointed guardian was running out of options. Brought to Bogotá by his Venezuelan mother and abandoned, the brown-haired child had spent more time in…

Dr. Ransomware, Part 2

Is a practicing cardiologist living in Venezuela also a ransomware mastermind? If U.S. prosecutors are to be believed, Moises Luis Zagala Gonzalez is a cybercriminal polymath. He’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for cybercrime, but people who know him…

John Bolton said he planned foreign coups. The global outcry was swift.

When a former White House national security adviser and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says he was involved in planning coups abroad, the world takes notice. John Bolton, speaking to Jake Tapper live on CNN’s “The Lead” on Tuesday afternoon,…

Dr. Ransomware, Part 1

The FBI’s Most Wanted list for cybercrime has a recent entry: Moises Luis Zagala Gonzalez. He is a 55-year-old cardiologist living in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. He has a bald head and an earnest smile. In one photo, he wears a doctor’s white overcoat…

Bishops suspend priest convicted of child sex abuse, reopen probe

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Catholic Church in Venezuela has reopened its investigation into a priest who was convicted of sexually abusing a child but was later returned to the ministry, officials said Wednesday. The announcement came just over two…

Former Miss Brazil dead at 27 after having tonsils removed

The surgery, in April, was routine: Gleycy Correia was having her tonsils removed. But five days later, the former Miss Brazil suffered a hemorrhage and fell into a coma for more than two months. Now Brazil is mourning her loss. Correia, who was…

En Venezuela, sacerdotes condenados por abuso han vuelto al ministerio

Miembros del clero que abusaron sexualmente de niños cumplieron poco o ningún tiempo de su sentencia en la cárcel. Los críticos señalan tanto a la Iglesia como al sistema judicial. CARACAS, Venezuela — El niño de seis años caminó hacia su iglesia con…

In Venezuela, priests convicted of abuse have returned to ministry

CARACAS, Venezuela — The 6-year-old walked to his church with exciting news to share. He had given the matter some thought, he told the Rev. Luis Alberto Mosquera, and he had decided he wanted to be an active Catholic. “If you want to be an altar…

Bolivia sentences ex-president to 10 years in prison after coup trial

Bolivia’s former interim president, Jeanine Áñez, was convicted late Friday of leading an alleged coup that deposed her left-wing predecessor, and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a closely watched trial. Áñez, a conservative whose…