In one of the largest mass trials in the country’s history, 486 alleged gang members are being tried together in a single proceeding in El Salvador ✏️ @harrietbarber.bsky.social

The nation where 1.7% of the population is now behind bars

In one of the largest mass trials in the country’s history, 486 alleged gang members are being tried together in a single proceeding in El Salvador

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Drone strikes by armed groups have surged across Colombia since 2023, opening a dangerous new front in the country’s decades-long conflict. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Drones reshape war in Colombia as deaths and injuries mount

Civilians left increasingly exposed as a dangerous new front opens up in the country’s decades-old conflict

theguardian.com

El Salvador has begun one of the largest mass trials in its history as rights groups warn the country’s anti-gang crackdown is dismantling basic legal protections. In today's @thenewworldmag.bsky.social.

“If there were no drugs aboard those boats, it’s a hugely embarrassing ‘false positive’ for US intelligence at a time when that intelligence is being used to kill people, no questions asked.”

‘We were terrified they were going to kill us’: fishers who survived US boat strike speak out

An Ecuadorian fishing crew describe their ordeal as victims of Trump’s purported war on ‘narcoterrorists’

theguardian.com

Last week on location in Mutatá, Colombia, recording an audio documentary for the BBC World Service 🎧 We're exploring one of the most difficult legacies of Colombia’s armed conflict, ten years on from the landmark Colombian Peace Agreement. More to follow.

Gustavo Petro went to the White House as Trump’s South American enemy No 1. But things turned out a little different than expected ✏️ @harrietbarber.bsky.social

How to charm Trump, Colombian style

Gustavo Petro went to the White House as Trump’s South American enemy No 1. But things turned out a little different than expected

thenewworld.co.uk

In 1988, on the eve of Just Cause, the US indicted Noriega for drug smuggling – just as they have w/ Maduro who recently had a $50m bounty put on his head. “So they’ve established a convenient pretext if they choose to pursue a military route”

US military buildup off Venezuela coast stirs echoes of 1989 Panama invasion

Some see anti-Noriega operation as model for deposing Maduro but others say US-orchestrated military coup is more likely option

theguardian.com

Two showmen, $40bn and one very fragile economy: what could possibly go wrong? ✏️ @harrietbarber.bsky.social

Why Trump bought Argentina’s election

Two showmen, $40bn and one very fragile economy: what could possibly go wrong?

thenewworld.co.uk

I'm on The Guardian's Today in Podcast talking all things Argentina in the run-up to this weekend's midterm elections. Listen here 🎙️ www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

Why is Trump giving billions to Argentina? – podcast

Donald Trump is offering a $20bn currency swap to bail out Argentina’s president, Javier Milei. Harriet Barber reports

theguardian.com

Colombia has condemned US airstrikes on suspected drug boats off the coast of South America, after two new Pacific strikes left five dead, and urged Washington to stop the attacks. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Colombia urges US to halt strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats: ‘It is murder’

Plea comes after Pete Hegseth announced two new strikes that left at least five people dead

theguardian.com

A Venezuela mission would not be the first in Latin America & the Caribbean conducted by the Night Stalkers, whose pilots specialise in infiltrating and exfiltrating special forces troops – called “customers” – from hostile places, nearly always at night.

US ‘Night Stalkers’ seen in Caribbean as fears of regime change rise in Venezuela

Elite helicopter unit’s part in military deployment comes as Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Nicolás Maduro

theguardian.com

From Colombia’s battlefields to Sudan’s war zones: hundreds of Colombian mercenaries are fighting in Sudan, accused of training child soldiers and helping fuel one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

‘War is a business’: the Colombian mercenaries at Sudan’s battlefront

A soldier of fortune tells of lucrative contracts, the siege of El Fasher and training child fighters to ‘go and get killed’

theguardian.com

The rebels visited the brothel armed and masked. They would order the women to line up, put their guns in their mouths and rape them. "It was ugly," says Valeria. "A place filled with women and underage girls – all of us tricked and trapped." Report from Cúcuta. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Amid rising violence in Colombia, girls and women are being held as sex slaves: ‘No woman is safe’

The Catatumbo region, home to huge coca fields, has been ravaged by a fight for control between two armed groups

theguardian.com

On 18 March 1976, Tenório Júnior, a Brazilian pianist who had played alongside some of Latin America’s greatest musicians, disappeared from the streets of Buenos Aires. For nearly 50 years, his fate has remained a mystery – until now. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s... @eaafoficial.bsky.social

The bossa nova pianist Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior went out for cigarettes after a concert in Buenos Aires in March 1976 – a forensic team has finally revealed his fate. By @harrietbarber.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Brazilian musician identified as victim of 1976 killing by Argentina military

The bossa nova pianist Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior went out for cigarettes after a concert in Buenos Aires – a forensic team has finally revealed his fate

theguardian.com

“For nearly 50 years, his fate has remained a mystery, sparking desperate searches, raising suspicions of government complicity, and inspiring international documentaries. Now the mystery has been solved,” writes @harrietbarber.bsky.social

Brazilian musician identified as victim of 1976 killing by Argentina military

The bossa nova pianist Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior went out for cigarettes after a concert in Buenos Aires – a forensic team has finally revealed his fate

theguardian.com

Millions of years ago, Panama emerged from the sea, connecting North and South America and birthing astonishing biodiversity: 1,000 bird species, hundreds of mammal species, and habitats including lush cloud forests, mangroves and vibrant seas. My latest in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social.

Turned away at US border, Venezuelans languish in Panamanian purgatory. My report from Miramar.

As many as 96 people are now thought to have died in Argentina after being treated with medical-use fentanyl that was tainted with bacteria. Investigators warn the number may continue to rise. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... @theguardian.com

Argentina rocked as contaminated medical fentanyl kills up to 96 patients

Dozens of hospital patients treated with opioid for unrelated conditions suffered serious bacterial infections

theguardian.com

Peru has enacted a sweeping amnesty law in Peru, shielding military and police from prosecution over human rights abuses committed between 1980 and 2000. Rights groups say it will deny justice to thousands of victims. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... @dancollyns.bsky.social

Peru enacts amnesty for military and police accused of human rights abuses

Families of victims and advocacy groups condemn law that covers internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000

theguardian.com

🗞️ Our latest issue is on sale - Look who’s back! 👀 Featuring Matthew d’Ancona, @sonia-sodha.bsky.social, @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social, @harrietbarber.bsky.social, @jamesrball.com and more Subscribe for £1: buff.ly/zwIwzGA

‘A whole spectrum of hatred’: women face increased violence in Milei’s Argentina as rights are eroded

‘A whole spectrum of hatred’: women face increased violence in Milei’s Argentina as rights are eroded

In a country once lauded as a progressive bastion in Latin America, protections are being dismantled by a populist leader, and gender-based offences are on the rise

theguardian.com

Javier Milei’s government has dismantled Argentina’s gender ministry, cut services for abuse survivors and plans to strike femicide from the penal code. Rights groups warn changes are already impacting protections and could worsen violence against women. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘A whole spectrum of hatred’: women face increased violence in Milei’s Argentina as rights are eroded

In a country once lauded as a progressive bastion in Latin America, protections are being dismantled by a populist leader, and gender-based offences are on the rise

theguardian.com

Javier Milei vowed to take a “chainsaw” to Argentina’s state. Inflation is down – but inequality is deepening and unemployment rising. My analysis for The New World on the president’s high-stakes gamble. 🔗 www.thenewworld.co.uk/harriet-barb...

Javier Milei’s broken chainsaw

Argentinians like what their president has done on inflation. The problem is that plenty of them hate everything else about him

thenewworld.co.uk

Twenty-five more bodies have been recovered from Neiva Cemetery, thought to be victims of Colombia's decades-long armed conflict. I was on site with the forensic scientists in July. Read my report about the search for the missing here. www.thetimes.com/world/latin-...

I shot innocent people to meet kill quotas. Now I help families find them

Troops shot thousands of civilians in Colombia’s civil war then dressed them as guerrillas. Decades later they’re avoiding jail by tracking down the bodies

thetimes.com

Colombian senator and 2026 presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe, who shot in the head at a campaign rally in June, has died today after nine weeks in intensive care and multiple surgeries. Latest at @theguardian.com. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Colombian senator Miguel Uribe dies after June campaign shooting

Rightwing presidential hopeful, who had been in hospital in Bogotá since shooting, has died aged 39

theguardian.com

Argentina is building its largest crude export port on Patagonia’s coast, near a UNESCO marine sanctuary home to whales, penguins & sea lions. Scientists warn spills could devastate wildlife. My report for @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/global-devel... @andreinetto.bsky.social

‘We’ve begun oil spill response training’: Patagonia prepares for the largest crude oil export port in Argentina

Wildlife experts warn huge facility on the Valdés peninsula in Patagonia could be devastating for ‘a treasure chest of wildlife’

theguardian.com

Argentina’s dictatorship disappeared 30,000 people and kidnapped hundreds of babies of its opponents. For nearly 50 years the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo have searched for the missing grandchildren. My interview with Buscarita Roa, one of the last surviving Abuelas. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

I am one of the last of the Abuelas – the grandmothers still searching for Argentina’s ‘disappeared’. I’m 87, but I will never give up

Nearly 50 years ago, my son and his wife were tortured and killed and their baby was taken by the military regime. Two decades later, I found her – but hundreds of grandchildren are still missing

theguardian.com

An emerging threat that is transforming the transnational criminal landscape: the unmanned narco sub. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Colombia identifies new threat in drug war: the autonomous narco drone sub

Country’s navy announced seizure of uncrewed narco sub, first capture of such a vessel in Colombian waters

theguardian.com

Gangs in Colombia are increasingly recruiting children into their ranks, with a notable number coerced over TikTok and Facebook, the United Nations has warned. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Colombia gangs lure children to join ranks via TikTok, UN warns

Armed groups post videos of weapons, cars and parties to social media to depict ‘perks’ of lifestyle, say experts

theguardian.com