Latin America Report | WLRN

President Biden's Cuba policy changes got wall-to-wall South Florida coverage last week. His Venezuela move, not so much — but it could be just as consequential.

El Salvador wants to build Bitcoin City; Cuba hopes to skirt the U.S. trade embargo. But so far Latin America looks like anything but a cryptocurrency utopia.

Cuban and Latino Democrats scored a rare victory in their effort to counter right-wing Spanish-language radio in Miami. But is it really the win they hope for?

Tech startups are helping Latin America's battered economy recover from the pandemic — and Miami's aspiring tech economy is helping them get that done.

After years of feeling excluded from the elegant Argentine dance, gay and trans partners are bringing more creativity to its traditionally male and female roles.

Britain's queen is a figurehead in Jamaica, but could the psychological effect of dumping her as the Caribbean island's head of state put it on a more developed path?

In 2021, leftists won presidencies in every Latin American election but one, including Peru and Chile. In 2022, they could take Brazil and Colombia too. Why?

The good news in Latin America and the Caribbean: much of the region turned vaccination tragedy into triumph. The bad news? Just about everything else.

The traditional Christmas procession festival, cancelled last year by COVID-19, is an expression of Mexican and Latino identity — and, lately, an immigration statement.

Biden's decision to remove Colombian guerrillas from the U.S. terrorist list sparks a new disinformation spree in Florida — and more Latino lessons for Democrats.

Leftist Xiomara Castro is routing her conservative rival in the vote tally for Sunday's election. Can she improve Hondurans' lives — and stem migration to the U.S.?

Assistant Secretary of State Todd Robinson has the daunting task of helping Haitians restore their collapsed security — so they can restore their collapsed country.

This is the second of two reports on a potent new synergy between protests and protest music in Latin America, from Cuba to Colombia, San Juan to Santiago.

This is the first of two reports on a potent new synergy between protests and protest music in Latin America — from Cuba to Colombia, from San Juan to Santiago.

Florida International University Cuban Research Institute head Jorge Duany has put together one of the few (if only) comprehensive Cuban art histories. It will be featured at the Miami Book Fair.

Colombia's Constitutional Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on whether to legalize abortion. Can social media sway justices, as well as public opinion?

Alex Saab — Venezuela's alleged money-laundering master — could turn up the heat on Nicolás Maduro's authoritarian regime if he sings to U.S. officials.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips sees no contradiction in Guyana being both a fossil-fuel leader and a climate-change mitigator. But will Venezuela try to grab its oil?

Cuba has started selling its COVID-19 vaccines abroad. It insists its trials show they're safe and effective — so why hasn't the World Health Organization said so too?

With Haiti's government, economy and public security in collapse, "civil society" organizations propose a reboot of their democracy. Will the U.S. buy into it?

Venezuela's regime and opposition are repeating a century-old claim that three-fourths of Guyana belongs to their country. Is it valid — or nationalist nonsense?

In an interview about his memoir, acclaimed photojournalist Bill Gentile discusses how aggressively but sensitively war and conflict need to be covered.

The remoteness of Haiti's southwest peninsula has made humanitarian aid delivery difficult, after the Aug. 14 earthquake. Is a new approach helping?

After Haiti's epic 2010 earthquake, Haitians were largely shut out of the international relief effort. Haitian-Americans want to change that in 2021.

Last winter, vaccine tourism was frowned on — but this summer developing countries like Colombia realize it actually aided their own fledgling vaccination efforts.

Cuba's dictatorship always claimed anti-regime protesters weren't "the Cuban people." This time it can't, which makes its harsh response look more deplorable to Cubans and the international community.

Haiti's prime minister says he'll step down to make way for a new post-assassination government — and Cuban dissidents insist anti-regime protests are far from over.

Many expats feel their economic contribution to Haiti merits political clout, too. But the murder of Haiti's president may prompt a reality check for the diaspora.

As Tropical Storm Elsa churns out of the Caribbean toward Florida, it leaves the realization that earlier and later storm activity may be the trend.

In "The Boy From Medellín," superstar J Balvin must find his social voice as Colombian street protests erupt before the biggest show of his life — in his hometown.

An examination of falsehoods aired by Miami's Spanish-language stations after January's Capitol riot raises larger questions about their corrosive effects.

As doors close to them in South America – and as they misconstrue TPS in the U.S. – Venezuelan refugees are flocking to the U.S.-Mexico border and South Florida.

Expats have long insisted negotiating with Venezuela's dictatorial regime is tantamount to surrender. Reality is forcing a growing number of them to reconsider it.

Colombia's social unrest is rooted in Latin America's crushing economic inequality — but in Florida, the GOP scores bigger points by falsely blaming it on Marxism.

For an increasing number of Haitian deportees, Haiti is actually an unfamiliar — and seemingly unfriendly — country. A group called DipsOrg hopes to change that.

Radio Caracol is one of Miami's rare moderate Spanish-language stations. Democrats fear a new owner will use it to broadcast more right-wing disinformation.

Raúl Castro has stepped down as Cuba's communist boss — but the regime's old guard's still making sure the new guard keeps its rigid system intact.

Some political experts say Florida's efforts to usurp local government authority are uncomfortably reminiscent of the late strongman Hugo Chávez's playbook.

The Guatemalan film "1991," which just premiered in Miami, recalls horrific — but lesser known — racist violence that stalked the country's streets during its civil war.

Florida's large and more recently arrived diaspora is a key force driving the new — and potentially successful — Puerto Rican statehood effort in Washington.

On Monday, because of the terrible humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, President Biden granted Venezuelans currently living in the U.S. Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. It means more than 300,000 eligible Venezuelans, most of whom are here in South Florida, can live and work legally in the U.S. for 18 months. After that time, TPS can and likely will be renewed.

With Haiti in economic and security collapse, President Jovenel Moïse's increasingly authoritarian rule is a point of bitter debate in the country – and South Florida.

Due to limited resources, delayed start-ups, chronic shortages — and official scandals — only a fraction of Latin America and the Caribbean has been inoculated.

On Mardi Gras, 'Kanaval' host Leyla McCalla talks about the rich cultural connection between New Orleans music — meaning, really, American music — and Haiti.

A leader of the global COVID vaccine procurement mission acknowledges the pandemic disaster in Latin America and the Caribbean is its "greatest priority."

President Trump built diplomatic leverage on Venezuela, then lost it. President Biden can get it back — but Venezuelan exiles need to adjust expectations.

Venezuelan exiles were happy to see President Trump finally grant their community relief from deportation — but many are angry he didn't order it years ago.

When Joe Biden becomes president this week, Florida politics will compel him to engage both sides of the Cuban-American street before he engages Cuba.

Cuentapropistas, or private Cuban business owners like Marta Deus are under threat but "getting strategic." They're convinced they're the island's economic future.

As Cuba unifies its two currencies, ordinary Cubans brace for skyrocketing prices — with still no structural reform of the island's failed economic system.

As if the region's coronavirus catastrophe wasn't enough, 2020 heaped human rights crises and historic hurricanes on Latin America and the Caribbean too.