A recent blog post from the Open Society Institute cites a staggering figure: Over 90% of Rio de Janeiro’s homeless are addicted to crack. This figure is shocking, even for a city as beset by social problems as Rio. (Though reliable data on drug use and homeless populations in other major cities has proven difficult […]
Over the weekend FP’s Josh Keating linked to a piece that quotes Lula as stating, with regards to criticism of the proposed Belo Monte dam, that no “gringo should stick their nose in where it does not belong”. Keating’s post reminded me of a recent article I came across in CIP citing a World Rainforest […]
America and Europe may be haggling over austerity vs. stimulus, but Latin America has smartly righted itself from the global financial crisis. An article in today’s New York Times states the return to growth has surprised even most government planners. In Brazil, for instance, growth could reach a brisk 7.3%; Mexico’s growth may be 5% […]
This blog has been posted in FPA’s European Union Blog and Latin America Blog. The G20 started off where everyone expected, getting the fiscal houses in order of the United States and European Union with inputs from multinational financial institutions, the UK and as a mediator and G20 and between the BRICs, advanced […]
This blog has been posted in FPA’s European Union Blog and Latin America Blog. Yesterday we discussed the opening of the G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario and some initial policy announcements and opening talks between the G8 leaders and invited diplomatic guests. Friday and Saturday morning saw the completion of the G8 talks […]
This post has been posted on FPA’s European Union Blog and Latin America Blog. FPA.org and the European Union Blog and Latin America blog is proud to blog directly from Toronto and the G8 and G20 meetings in Canada this weekend. Rich Basas, who is one of the principal bloggers and writers for […]
In the May 31st blogpost on FPA’s Latin America blog called: Voting for a New Colombia, we discussed the run-off election for Colombia’s Presidency between the recent Mayor of Bogota, Antanas Mockus and former Uribe Defence Minister, Juan Manuel Santos. While Mockus initially had a lot of support and managed to get enough votes to […]
With Brazil having already clinched a spot in the World Cup round of 16 and Portugal all but assured a place as well, Friday’s game between these two soccer powers doesn’t have the significance many of us anticipated when the match was announced last year. (The fixture was one of the first of this World […]
Known to some as soccer, and to others as footy, le foot, football, futebol and futbol, the sport that is seen by many as the only true international competition has opened with much fanfare in South Africa this past week. The World Cup has always been the greatest tournament worldwide, and is often called The […]
On Sunday, a Colombian military operation in the southeastern province of Guaviare rescued four prisoners, taken by the FARC 12 years ago. Among them were Luis Mendieta, a police general, and arguably the “highest value” prisoner the FARC had. Once an imposing guerilla force whose power challenged that of the Colombia government, the FARC has […]
Many parts of Latin America are struggling to recover after debilitating natural disasters. International attention has largely waned, if it even existed. Still, government and institutions haven’t buckled as many feared. The Haitian government now believes 230,000 people died from the January 12th earthquake, and one million were made homeless. A slow recovery now seems […]
This week Hilary Clinton will make her way to Latin America to attend the Organization of American States’ (OAS) 40th General Assembly in Lima, Peru as well as make additional stops in Ecuador, Colombia and Barbados as well as have meetings with CARICOM. Despite adding a few FTA’s over the last few years, the lack […]
Jaron van der Sloot, he of Natalie Holloway infamy, is the prime suspect in the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Lima, Peru. Yesterday Peruvian Criminal Police Chief Gen. César Guardia told reporters that they’ve launched an international manhunt for van der Sloot, now 22, in the Sunday slaying of 21-year-old Stephany Flores. On Sunday […]
Alvaro Uribe has received a great deal of criticism over his last few years in office from anti-trade advocates in the US, human rights groups and some of Colombia’s neighbours, especially Mr. Chavez, but despite this he was one of the most popular freely elected leaders in any country worldwide in the last 20 years. […]
Mount Pacaya began erupting yesterday, spewing volcanic rock and debris over parts of the capital, Guatemala City, located just 20 miles to the north. So far, one death is attributed to the volcano, and three children are also missing. President Álvaro Colom has declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of surrounding areas. […]