Last week was a big win for Colombia’s new President, Juan Manuel Santos. FARC’s second in command and ideological leader was killed last week when intelligence gathered from a FARC fighter lead the Colombian Army and Air Force to target the underground base of FARC’s second in command, Mono Jojoy. Since the rescue of Ingrid […]
As the ballots are counted from Sunday’s parliamentary elections, it appears that Venezuela’s opposition has made critical gains. Turnout was high, and Chávez’s United Socialist Party, is believed to have gained a majority of seats. Still, two-thirds is the magic threshold for Chávez to enact further reforms to strengthen his power. Short of that, Chávez’s […]
A recent piece in the Economist gushes over Embrapa, the public company whose ‘green revolution’ has helped turn Brazil into an agricultural powerhouse. Though it presents a one-sided view of GM crops, whose effect on health and livelihoods is a cause for deep concern, the article gives an excellent overview of Brazil’s rise as a […]
This year, and especially this week, the Bicentennials took place for Chile, and the Bicentennial for Mexico and the 100 anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina also celebrated their Bicentennials earlier this year, marking not only the freedom from Spanish rule 200 years ago, but also a push by Latin Americans to […]
Earlier today Brazil and the UK completed a deal to provide the South American country with £2.9 million in ships and frigates. The deal will be a boon to BAE Systems, the British company which has been awarded the contract. The largest arms company in Europe, BAE is expected to experience diminishing profits as a result […]
Alvaro Uribe has kept a storied tradition alive—the post presidential appointment as “Distinguished Scholar” at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. A week ago SFS announced the appointment. Uribe is expected to lead seminars and “interface,” allowing GU students to gain a better appreciation of the nexus between theory and policy. Such appointments are standard fare […]
Where do Middle Easterners fit in the cultural society and economic system of the Americas? This question has become part of much debate recently due to the Islamic Cultural Centre being built close to Ground Zero in New York and the response by many in the US that believe that it is an affront to […]
It’s the kind of article that will drive the Rio tourism board to litigate. In a new post, the Economist’s Gulliver blog reinforces Brazil’s outsized reputation for crime and murder. Just how bad is Brazil, according to the piece? Worse than even Mexico, the new global poster-child for murder and mayhem. The article is mostly […]
Private equity fund 3G agreed to buy Burger King on Thursday, in a deal valued at $4 billion. That makes 3G, controlled by a group of well-heeled Brazilians, the buyer of the most expensive fast food chain ever sold. 3G is said to be interested in expanding the burger giant’s presence in Latin America and […]
Anyone who has entered Mexico City’s Benito Juarez airport is met by a security check that requires the newly landed passenger to press a button for a traffic signal, which is permanently fixed in the airport terminal. Red means you will be randomly searched, and greens means you can avoid that annoyance for the day. […]
Mental stability has become a top concern of those half a mile above the 33 trapped miners in northern Chile. One day after discovering they were alive, the primary calculations began. Four months: that’s how long it is going to take to rescue the miners. After President Piñera dropped a few hints that they weren’t […]
In a recent interview Manuel Zelaya, the ex-president of Honduras, singled out Brazil, and specifically Lula, for keeping him alive after being ousted in a military coup. “Brazil saved my life” said Zelaya, who now lives in exile in the Dominican Republic. “Lula, Marco Aurélio and Celso Amorim saved my life because they gave me […]
Thirty-three Chilean miners are miraculously alive, 17 days after being trapped in a collapsed shaft. President Sabastian Pinera reported the good news today, after rescuers lowered a probe into the mine, which was sent back with a note attached saying they were all fine. Apparently, they survived by burrowing a hole under their shelter to […]
Earlier this week the anthropologist and historian Lilia Schwarcz gave her impressions on contemporary Brazil in an interview for the New York Review of Books blog. As part of her conversation with Roger Darton, Schwarcz points out that, with 130 recognized gradations of color, the issue of race is far more complex in Brazil than […]
Americans made a hero of “Sully” Sullenberger when he was able to glide his plane gently after losing engine power at take off and landing in the water next to New York city. In that crash, while the plane sank, everyone survived. This week in Colombia a crash occurred on the island of San Andreas, […]