Close encounter with a martyr

If the few men who hold the strings of power can escalate one of the nation’s recurring political brawls into the overthrow of an elected president, how can future democratic leaders dare to challenge the culture of wealth and impunity that has made Honduras one of the most corrupt nations in the world?

  A former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador explains why the coup in Honduras won’t succeed.

  Obama meets the neighbors, and tries to rekindle Latin America’s faith in Washington.

“Twenty-five years ago, on December 2, 1980, security forces in El Salvador tortured and murdered Sisters Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Miss Jane Donovan,” writes Robert E. White, who was U.S. ambassador to El Salvador at the time. He was fired for his failure to release a statement declaring that the Salvadoran government was doing its best to get to the bottom of the case. On the anniversary of the slayings, White reflects on recent troubling U.S. foreign policy failures and political interventions, from Latin America to Iraq—“arguably the most reckless war in our history.”

From the archives: four responses to the terrorist attacks of 9/11