South America, Latin America | featured news

President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer.

President Obama has spent part of the Summit of the Americas critiquing media coverage of issues involving the United States and Latin America. "I think that often times in the press the attention in summits like this ends up focusing on where are the controversies," Obama said at one point this weekend. "Sometimes those controversies date back to before I was born."

Argentina became the first Latin American country on Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage.

With modesty and a touch of humor, President Barack Obama extended a hand to America's hemispheric neighbors and offered a Cold War foe the hope of a "new beginning."

Add this tough chore to Barack Obama's journey to Latin America: convincing leaders from half the globe that the behemoth power to the north is a humble, eager partner.