WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Hundreds of thousands of people each year try to cross illegally over the southeastern border of the United States.

Fidel Castro nationalized Cuba's small businesses in 1968, closing thousands of family-owned shops, down to the tiniest fruit stand.

Hours after a surprise return from Cuba Monday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rallied a crowd of thousands of supporters Monday night, vowing to win a "battle for life" after undergoing cancer surgery.Chavez addressed the crowd from a balcony of the presidential palace.The Venezuelan president th

The $3.2 billion HidroAysen project is a controversial hydroelectric dam complex planned for Chile. The project’s five dams would flood almost 15,000 acres of Patagonian wilderness. Getting the power to market would require transmission lines to gauge a 1,200 mile swath through the forest.

Venezuela's colorful and bombastic leader has reappeared after a long public absence.President Hugo Chavez, who frequently goes on air to accuse the U.S. of plotting against him, hadn't been seen since June 10 when he underwent surgery in Cuba.

Several days' travel from the ruins at Machu Picchu, dropping into the thick heat and greenery of the upper Amazon, lies the Peruvian village of Shimaa. Dozens of simple buildings hug a hillside above a river.

In Mexico, one controversial part of President Felipe Calderon's war against the drug cartels has been the use of the military to fight organized crime.