If Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the world’s most wanted drug suspect, were to be captured before the Presidential elections, views of current President Calderón would be better, which would in turn help the PAN candidate.

Whoever is elected President of Mexico is likely to continue the war on drugs with a strategy that may shift to using more civilian police or a focus on preventing youth from joining cartels.

Roberto Briceño-Leon, a professor at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., says he sees these independents as a third, distinct electoral group, spanning all social sectors. Among the poor, who traditionally have supported Chávez, nonaligned voters outnumber either Chávez or opposition supporters, his survey found.

Tensions over Iran's presence and influence over Latin America arise after the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing on the Iranian government’s activities in the Western hemisphere.