Haiti was recently hit by an earthquake measuring 7.3 and killing an estimated 200,000 people. But as Rachel Hall discovers, the island testifies to a chequered past, advanced by triumphs and obstructed by tribulations. Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial black-led nation in the world and the only country to lead a successful slave rebellion. Yet in its corruption-riddled 200 years of existence Haiti has also suffered 32 coups. This is the beleaguered history to which the Caribbean island testifies, in which the path to progress has been consistently blocked by instability of both government and society.

On Monday 11th January, Mexican newspaper, El Universal, reported that 69 people had died in drug-related violence in the previous 24-hour period. This figure marked the highest daily death toll yet in Mexico’s drug war, bringing 2010’s total number of victims to 283. Of the 69 Mexicans killed, more than a third died in Ciudad Juárez, which borders the Texan city of El Paso.

The city of Rio de Janeiro is no stranger to violent crime, but the events that unfolded in October shocked even hardened observers of Brazilian society. Drug-trafficking gangs operating in a Rio favela shot down a police helicopter circling above, leading to an outbreak of violence that would leave over 40 dead. Occurring mere weeks after the city celebrated the capture of the 2016 Olympic Games, the events cast doubt on whether Rio should host such a prestigious event against a backdrop of such violence and insecurity.

On 28th June, the Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya was woken up by 200 soldiers of his own army and was forced into exile in Costa Rica. Zelaya had that day planned to hold a non-binding consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution.

On Sunday, 28th June Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras, was woken at 5:30 in the morning when more than 200 soldiers, members of his own army, forced their way in the presidential residence. They came, he told Democracy Now!, “with hoods and bulletproof vests, and rifles, aimed their guns at me, fired shots, used machine guns, kicked down the doors and just as I was, in pyjamas, they put me on an plane and flew me to Costa Rica.”

On Friday 5th June, protests against government measures to open resources in the Peruvian Amazon to foreign businesses descended into deadly violence. The confrontation, near the town of Bagua Grande, 870 miles north of the capital, Lima, culminated in the deaths of police officers and protesters alike. Indigenous groups and opposition politicians are now calling for the resignation of the president.

Permission has been granted to Petrolifera, a Canadian mining company, to begin excavations for oil in the Peruvian Amazon. Indigenous protection groups have expressed their concern for the survival of the Cacataibo tribe, an untouched community that could suffer catastrophically from the decision.

Leaders of 34 democratic countries of the Americas gathered in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend of 17th April 2009 for the Summit of the Americas. This was only the fifth summit on history and the previous one was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina 2005.

Severed heads and vanished billionaires seems more a thing of movie script than real life; yet the grim reality continues to plague Mexico. With a continued global demand for drugs and escalating violence in the notorious drug cartels: “narco-terror” seems to be worse than it has ever been.

At the second busiest voting center in El Salvador, 131 voting tables stretched over a kilometre down the streets of Usulután, El Salvador. Thousands of people crammed the busy street, some around registry lists posed on cardboard placards, others having already voted stay just to chat and watch the spectacle of the election day crowds.