The irony of independence “He took me across the border and sold me to the Dominican soldiers for $8,” said Andre Prevot, a young Haitian boy caught in the pervasive slave trade along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic (DR). Young Prevot met a man who promised him a good job in the DR; however, […]
Two months ago Netflix announced plans to expand its online streaming service to nearly all of Latin America, possibly tripling the company’s customer base. By 2013 it projects the $7.99 a month service will be a profitable enterprise, largely due to demand in Mexico and Brazil. And for 100 pesos, also about eight dollars, Fluffy […]
Brazil has grown in confidence over the last two years regarding its formerly unknown status as a world power outside of Latin America. Brazil shared its influence with the US during internal troubles in Honduras and was one of the key sources of aid after the quake in Haiti. Brazil also involved itself in the […]
In November 2010 the presidents of Latin America’s two largest economies pledged to hash out a free trade agreement. Per logic, Mexico has a consumer class of 100-plus million, Brazil twice that: each country stands to benefit. Yet free trade by numbers went out of vogue in the 1990s. Still, each country had implicit motives. […]
President Michel Martelly, among other world leaders, joined the list of heads of state speaking at Columbia’s World Leaders Forum, officials said yesterday. In addition to Martelly, King Abdullah II IBN Al Hussein of Jordan and Atifete Jahjaga, president of the Republic of Kosovo will also speak at the world-renown event that provide a platform […]
Outcries over Uruguayan peacekeepers’ rape allegations of an 18-year-old Haitian man did not spark the country’s distrust and disgust of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Haitians have protested peacekeepers’ overwhelming presence in their homeland since they landed following the 2004 ousting of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Many people even demanded their […]
Exactly one week after an American delegation spearheaded by Kenneth Merten, U.S. ambassador to Haiti, met Haitian political actors in Petionville, news of a nomination invaded the Haitian airways. Leaders, the media and sources close to the president sang in unison: the designation of a third prime minister would, over the labor day weekend, escape […]
Sandwiched between pages 78 and 79 of the current volume of Foreign Affairs is a sponsored essay on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. At the bottom of the article are pics of two business leaders and one high-profile minister, Wagner Rossi. Mr. Rossi was Brazil’s minister of agriculture, at least until last month. He became the […]
U.S. ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten American diplomats, under the leadership of U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten, met the 16-member senate majority on Wednesday Aug. 24, 2011 in an attempt to break through the political stalemate depriving the country of a government, thus bringing major reconstruction efforts to a screeching halt. More than 100 […]
Mexican commandos are organizing raids against drug cartels from U.S. territory, according to Obama administration officials. These so-called boomerang operations allow the Mexicans to plan operations with the DEA, and may allow the Mexicans access to advanced U.S. equipment. Crucially, the operations also skirt venal state and local police in northern Mexico—thought to be lookouts […]
This week Canadians of all political views are mourning the death of New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton. Mr. Layton ran a historic campaign only a few short months ago, bringing the Orange of the NDP party and support for social democratic values into every region of the country. Mr. Layton did not only get […]
Author’s Note: Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley, recently penned a piece in TIME asserting that Brazil is “the un-China.” That comparison inspired this post. Mexico Today, a public-private enterprise of which I am a paid contributor, provided some data. Mexico’s technocrats have been seething at comparisons with Brazil for years. Who […]
“One of the biggest problems in growing the Haitian economy is that there is really no facility that grants small business loans on reasonable terms,” said former U.S. President Bill Clinton at the launch of a new business loan program in Haiti. The entrepreneurial communities applauded the initiative that will not only help strengthen the […]
Barely a week after the Senate rejected former Justice Minister Bernard Honorat Gousse, President Michel Martelly’s second designated Prime Minister, an unsightly, distasteful aspect of Haitian history charged to the headlines and revealed the real incurable disease decaying the country’s progress. As political stagnation strangled the starved nation, some legislators dove head first into race […]
Scarcely a month ago, market analysts were calling for Latin America’s central banks to hike interest rates. But on the heels of weak US quarterly GDP numbers and signs that the EU debt crisis may envelop Spain and Italy, market analysts are now forecasting lending rate cuts for Latin America’s two largest economies. The yield […]