Latin America Gallery

An ipe (lapacho) tree is seen in this aerial view of the Amazon rainforest near Novo

An ipe (lapacho) tree is seen in this aerial view of the Amazon rainforest near the city of Novo Progresso, Para State, September 24, 2013. The Amazon rainforest is being eaten away at by deforestation, much of which takes place as areas are burnt by large fires to clear land for agriculture. Initial data from Brazil's space agency suggests that destruction of the vast rainforest - the largest in the world - spiked by more than a third over the past year, wiping out an area more than twice the size of the city of Los Angeles. If the figures are borne out by follow-up data, they would confirm fears of scientists and environmental activists who warn that farming, mining and Amazon infrastructure projects, coupled with changes to Brazil's long-standing environmental policies, are reversing progress made against deforestation. Environmental issues will be under the spotlight as a United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Warsaw, Poland, on November 11. Picture taken on September 24, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce (BRAZIL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT POLITICS AGRICULTURE)

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View of Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier near the city of El Calafate

View of Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier near the city of El Calafate, in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz October 16, 2009. A federal judge has opened an investigation into the finances of President Cristina Fernandez and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, who have reported hefty financial gains from land sales and a five-star hotel they own in El Calafate. A tourist magnet because of its proximity to the impressive Perito Moreno glacier, El Calafate grew rapidly as boutique hotels and gourmet restaurants sprang up. The Kirchners got in on the boom, opening a luxurious hotel on a property next to their weekend home in 2007. Picture taken on October 16, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci (ARGENTINA POLITICS ENVIRONMENT TRAVEL) - GM1E5AV0LUZ01

A worker is seen inside the Cuncas II tunnel near Mauriti

A worker is seen inside the Cuncas II tunnel that will link the canals being built to divert water from the Sao Francisco river for use in four drought-plagued states, a project that is three years behind schedule and has doubled in cost from the original estimate of $3.4 billion, near the city of Mauriti, Ceara state, January 28, 2014. In 2006, then President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, pushed through an idea that long-suffering residents of the region had been hearing about for more than a century. By 2010, Lula de Silva said, water would be pumped over hills and into a 477 kilometer-long network of canals, aqueducts and reservoirs to quench thirsty cities and farms in four states. Eight years later, and near the end of a first term for Lula's hand-picked successor as president, Dilma Rousseff, the project is only half built. Picture taken January 28, 2014. To match Feature BRAZIL-DROUGHT/CANAL
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