Catherine Ellis

Families are still picking through the rubble in Venezuela. A weary-looking man searches for his wife in a heap of broken concrete – what was once an apartment block by the sea. Neighbours climb into a collapsed social housing complex to look for a nine-year-old girl. A cousin drives across the country on a motorcycle after days of his messages have gone unanswered. But ten days after the twin earthquakes hit the country on 24 June, the sombre realisation that there is only a slim chance of finding survivors hangs heavily above collapsed buildings, largely dotted along the coast north of Caracas. So far 2,595 people have been confirmed dead. The final death toll is likely to be staggeringly higher. The UN said it has 10,000 body bags ready.

Abelardo de la Espriella was never going to be a typical Colombian presidential candidate. Nicknamed ‘The Tiger,’ the defence lawyer who has represented a string of controversial clients is also a businessman, who owns a number of clothing and alcohol brands, a Miami restaurant and even music albums. De la Espriella campaigned on a radical and robust security agenda, vowing to rid Colombia of its violent and criminal woes. “I will wipe out narco-terrorism..I will unleash the wrath of God upon them as never seen before,” de la Espriella said “I will wipe out narco-terrorism, those I have sentenced and declared military targets, like cockroaches, like rats. I will unleash the wrath of God upon them as never seen before,” de la Espriella said during his campaign.

Hugo Chávez’s eyes are everywhere across parts of Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. In stark black and white, his gaze is stamped onto government buildings, public housing blocks and murals. But if the late socialist president could truly see what has become of the movement he founded, he would likely be dismayed. Most Venezuelans have abandoned chavismo. His protégé Nicolás Maduro – who had led the government since 2013 – has been captured by the US, while many Venezuelans cheered his exit. What remains is a thin but loyal chavista base – and a leadership operating firmly in survival mode.

It was meant to be a crushing defeat ending 25 years of socialist rule, and the presidency of a man many see as largely responsible for Venezuela’s economic woes, a humanitarian crisis and rampant corruption. But for many Venezuelans, the only thing crushed following Sunday’s presidential election was hope. Many of those who are desperate for change say they’ll take to the streets A few hours after polls closed – and amid complaints of some observers monitoring the process being thrown out of polling stations or prevented from entering – the country’s National Electoral Council announced Nicolás Maduro as the winner with 51 per cent of the vote; in second place, candidate Edmundo González on 44 per cent.

A new year and a new chapter has begun in Ecuador, one that those living there perhaps rather wish hadn’t. The escape of a notorious drug lord on Sunday from one of the country’s prisons, and the storming of a live TV broadcast by armed men, reads like a cliched plotline for a narco drama.  ‘Don’t shoot. Please, don’t shoot’, a woman can be heard pleading, while she and her colleagues are held hostage.  The dramatic incident is part of an eruption of violence that has besieged the South American country in the last few days.

Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro seems to be in something of a political pickle. On Sunday, he held a referendum on whether or not Venezuela should annex Essequibo, a dense jungle region which makes up two-thirds of neighbouring Guyana. In the end, 95 per cent voted to support Venezuela’s claim to the land (Maduro hailed this as an ‘overwhelming victory’) but turnout was at best, lacklustre.   ‘The people have spoken loud and clear,’ Maduro bellowed after the result in a televised statement, in front of a map which placed Essequibo inside Venezuela. But it’s the people who decided not to speak on Sunday that have placed him in difficulty.  It’s not exactly a surprise that Venezuelans voted to lay claim to Essequibo.