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Latin America

Mayor Edilberto Molina (right), alongside Lt. Col. Óscar Usme aboard a well-armed Colombian Navy boat, tour the Caguán River which flows past Cartagena del Chairá. Carlos Saavedra for NPR hide caption

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Carlos Saavedra for NPR

Facing death threats, a Colombian mayor makes a daring visit to the town he runs

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A visitor enters the Officers Casino building at ESMA on March 19, 2016. The windows are filled with images of civilians who were tortured and killed here. Eitan Abromovitch/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Eitan Abromovitch/AFP via Getty Images

'El Juicio (The Trial)' details the 1976-'83 Argentine dictatorship's reign of terror

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This frame grab from video, provided by the Mexican government, shows Ovidio Guzman Lopez being detained in Culiacan, Mexico, on Oct. 17, 2019. CEPROPIE via AP File hide caption

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CEPROPIE via AP File

Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero poses inside the "Tren de La Cultura" ("Train of Culture"), during a news conference for the exhibition "Fernando Botero: The Circus," in Medellín, Colombia, Jan. 30, 2015. Fredy Builes/Reuters hide caption

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Fredy Builes/Reuters

A motorcyclist rides past a mural of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, left, and revolutionary hero César Augusto Sandino during general elections in Managua, Nov. 7, 2021. Ortega won a fourth consecutive term against a field of little-known candidates while those who could have given him a real challenge sat in jail. Andres Nunes/AP hide caption

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Andres Nunes/AP

I returned to Nicaragua, where I was born, and found a country steeped in fear

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Military jets bombed La Moneda presidential palace during the coup on Sept. 11, 1973, in Santiago, Chile. President Salvador Allende killed himself and Gen. Augusto Pinochet began a 17-year dictatorship. AP hide caption

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AP

Left: Claudia Sheinbaum, former mayor of Mexico City, at a rally announcing she will be the Morena party's presidential candidate in next year's election, in Mexico City on Wednesday. Right: Former Mexican Sen. Xóchitl Gálvez speaks after registering as a presidential pre-candidate for a broad opposition coalition in Mexico City on July 4. Fred Ramos/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Fred Ramos/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images

A woman holds up a sign with a message that reads in Spanish; "I will decide" as she joins a march demanding legal, free and safe abortions for all women, marking International Safe Abortion Day, in Mexico City, Sept. 28, 2022. Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, has decriminalized abortion nationwide. Marco Ugarte/AP hide caption

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Marco Ugarte/AP

Police officers check a house as residents wade through a flooded street after floods caused by a cyclone in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Monday. Diogo Zanatta/Futura Press/AP hide caption

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Diogo Zanatta/Futura Press/AP

Ukrainian refugee Anastasiia Ivanova says her faith is what's helped her get through all of her trials. She brought her Bible with her when the family fled Kharkiv for a new home in Brazil. But a new crisis made her wonder if Brazil was the right place for her. Gabriela Portilho/NPR hide caption

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Gabriela Portilho/NPR

A view of the images portraying victims of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship projected onto the La Moneda Presidential Palace to mark the commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday. Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

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Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Nearly 500,000 people gathered in Cali, Colombia for the 27th annual Petronio Alvarez Festival. Nidia Góngora and her group Canalón de Timbiquí performed on the main stage. Edward Lora hide caption

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Edward Lora

Welcome to 'El Petronio,' the biggest celebration of Afro-Colombian music and culture

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Valerie Laveus greets her nephew Tristan-Ryan Malherbe Daniel, as he and his dad, Reginald Malherbe Daniel, rear, arrive in the U.S. for the first time at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Jim Rassol/AP hide caption

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Jim Rassol/AP

A key part of the White House's strategy for the U.S.-Mexico border goes on trial

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Guatemalan presidential candidate for the Semilla party, Bernardo Arévalo, celebrates the results of the presidential runoff election in Guatemala City, on Sunday. Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images

Bernardo Arevalo, presidential candidate with the Semilla Movement, shows his finger dyed with electoral ink after voting in the run-off presidential election in Guatemala City, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. Moises Castillo/AP hide caption

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Moises Castillo/AP

Presidential candidate Luisa González, of the Citizen's Revolution Political Movement, and her running mate Andres Arauz, celebrate after early results showed them ahead in a snap election, in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. Dolores Ochoa/AP hide caption

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Dolores Ochoa/AP

A patient infected with chikungunya looks out from mosquito netting at a hospital in San Lorenzo, Paraguay. The country has counted over 100,000 cases of the mosquito-borne virus this year. Jorge Saenz/AP hide caption

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Jorge Saenz/AP

Chikungunya virus surges in South America. But a new discovery could help outfox it

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After collecting data using LiDAR, researchers were able to visually strip away trees in a lab and reveal the ruins of Ocomtun. University of Houston hide caption

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University of Houston

The key to uncovering an ancient Maya city? Lasers

Today we enter into the plot of a summer blockbuster adventure movie. Regina talks to NPR reporter Emily Olson about the recently uncovered ancient Maya city, Ocomtun. The large site, which researchers found using LiDAR technology, even seems to have "suburbs," flipping their expectations about how robust the Maya civilization was — and where it was.

The key to uncovering an ancient Maya city? Lasers

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