BBC News - Latin America & Caribbean

2 December 2011 Last updated at 11:57 ET

Hugo Chavez hosts summit minus US

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is set to host a summit creating a new regional bloc without the US or Canada.

A new reading of texts carved by the ancient Mayan civilisation reveals they did not predict the end of the world in 2012, experts say.

Colombia's government paid millions of dollars in education subsidies for students who never attended class, an audit finds.

Governing party wins Guyana poll

Donald Ramotar of Guyana's governing People's Progressive Party wins the presidency but his party loses its parliamentary majority, officials say.
Uruguay identifies army base body

Forensic experts in Uruguay say the body found at a military base in October is that of trade unionist Julio Castro, who disappeared in 1977.
Poet Parra wins Cervantes Prize
Colombia arrests girl's 'abductors'
Colombia jails soldier for murder
Latin America poverty at new low
Honduran army assumes police role
'Major' tunnel found on US-Mexico border
Protests halt Peru mine project

'My money was blocked'

How Argentina's 2001 economic crisis turned lives upside down
Long-term goal

Brazil looks for legacy beyond 2014 World Cup
Plastic fantastic

Artificial turf is winning over South American football
Sisters of the soil

Ecuador's women farmers join forces to conserve their land
In pictures

Colombians attend funerals of four Farc hostages killed by captors
Miles apart

Four people across the globe share their HIV stories
Brazil's BRIC success

A look at the South American giant's dramatic economic transformation