John Otis

As the coronavirus lockdown dries up their already meager incomes, slum dwellers in Soacha, Colombia, are hanging red flags outside their homes to signal their need for a drop-off of food aid.

Since the country's 2016 peace deal, former rebels have joined armed groups operating in narcotics trafficking, extortion and illegal gold mining, according to the Colombian military.

Colombian officials say 12,000 Venezuelans have taken buses back to their home country since Colombia imposed restrictions to stop the coronavirus outbreak. Many other Venezuelans are fleeing on foot.

Venezuela's economy and health care systems collapsed long before coronavirus. Venezuelan refugees in Colombia have run out of cash and are returning home.

Hospitals and doctors are overwhelmed. So are funeral homes and cemeteries. "You feel powerless," said one doctor tending to 200 patients.

Officially, only several hundred Ecuadoreans have died of COVID-19. But in the city of Guayaquil, hospitals, cemeteries and morgues are overwhelmed.

Currulao combines drums and marimbas and is popular along the country's Pacific coast where most of the population is Afro-Colombian. One verse goes: "We no longer have peace in our paradise."

On the Pacific Coast of Colombia, there is a notorious shipping point used for the cocaine trade. But in this gang-ridden, impoverished port, lies a hidden musical treasure.

The epicenter of the country's outbreak is the port city of Guayaquil, where cadavers are lying in the streets and in homes.

Colombia is home to about 1.7 million who fled neighboring Venezuela in recent years. Now that it has shut down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the migrants say they are extra vulnerable.

Exchange students brought the coronavirus back to Ecuador — overwhelming hospitals with patients. With funeral parlors working limited lockdown hours, bodies lie in the streets.

El Salvador's troops deployed in congress. Bolivia's army advised the president to step down. Brazil's leader surrounds himself with top brass. The armed forces have made a comeback across the region.

For decades, many Latin American countries had military dictators. In recent years, democratically elected civilians took control. Now, those civilian governments are bringing back the army.

The public radio stations "can be fundamental in constructing peace," says Juan Pablo Madrid, an analyst at Bogotá's Foundation for Press Freedom. But some employees are facing threats from gangs.

FARC guerrillas agreed to disarm in a 2016 peace deal, and Colombia's government promised to protect them. But in the years since, nearly 200 former FARC rebels have been attacked and killed.

Nature has taken over this onetime penal colony turned national park, surrounded by waters popular with divers for their sharks, rays and whales. A resort manager calls it a "mini-Galápagos."

The guerrilla war is over in Colombia and that's opening up some formerly off-limits places for tourism, including an island that formerly housed a penal colony.

Protesters in Colombia took to the streets for a fifth straight day Monday, angry over economic issues, police violence and corruption. It is the latest Latin American nation to experience unrest.

Unrest continues in Colombia as thousands protest the government. A bomb exploded Friday night at a police station, killing three.

Bolivians go to the polls Sunday. President Evo Morales is running for a fourth term, fueling fears of creeping authoritarianism. His main opponent is Carlos Mesa, himself a former president.