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For Brazil’s Lula, It’s Not Over Yet

Well, now it’s officially part of the judicial record: Lula is in a category all his own. The most striking aspect of Wednesday’s ruling against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the judge’s admission that Lula warrants special treatment. This, more than any other detail, suggests the man who has dominated Brazilian politics … Read more

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My Brother, Leopoldo López, Is No Longer in Prison. But He Is Not Free – and Neither Is Venezuela.

My brother Leopoldo López, leader of Venezuela’s Voluntad Popular party, was sentenced to 13 years, nine months, seven days and 12 hours in prison for giving a speech in which he denounced the corruption and the antidemocratic repression of Nicolás Maduro’s government. He was arrested in 2014 during a government crack-down on protesters, and charged … Read more

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Why João Doria’s War on Drugs Is Doomed

When São Paulo Mayor João Doria set out to fulfil a campaign promise and rid the city of its cracolândia (crackland), an area that was home to a group of homeless people, some of whom used drugs, he did so with an overwhelming and telegenic show of force: 500 police officers armed with guns, tear gas … Read more

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How Venezuelan Refugees Are Surviving in Brazil

For most Brazilians, the disaster unfolding in neighboring Venezuela is little more than another passing topic on the evening news. The daily protests in Caracas are more than 2,500 miles away from São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, cultural ties between the two countries are limited, and the current political and economic crisis in Brazil … Read more

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A Radical Change in Chile? Don’t Bet On It

In last week’s presidential primaries, Chilean voters followed the dominant trend in Latin America and signaled that they are ready to hand power back to Sebastián Piñera, a center-right market-friendly former president (2010-2014). If Piñera wins the general election in November, Chile will complete an unprecedented 16- year run under only two democratically elected leaders … Read more

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All Venezuelans Are Under House Arrest. Now They Should Be Freed, Too.

The Venezuelan government needs to be celebrated for releasing Leopoldo López from prison to house arrest. But it should also be condemned if that’s all it does. Democracies just don’t place leaders of opposition parties in jail, and the whole case against the 46-year-old opposition leader was baseless to begin with. As such, over the … Read more

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Mid-Terms, Graduation, Fighting a Dictator: Venezuelan Students’ Shifting Priorities

CARACAS – Students at Caracas’ Simón Bolivar University (USB) haven’t had an exam in three months. Professors at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) stopped taking attendance. At the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), protests and road closures count as excused absences. As a large portion of the 3,500 people detained by security services in recent … Read more

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Brazil’s Rollbacks Jeopardize the Amazon’s Future

Brazilian President Michel Temer’s June 26 indictment on corruption allegations marked a new peak in the country’s political crisis. While the charges grabbed global headlines, they also overshadowed the environmental crisis unfolding in the Brazilian Amazon, where vast tracts of protected forests and indigenous territories are under growing threat.   Brazilian forests are being felled … Read more

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Pardinas: Mexico Needs an International Commission to Explore Espionage Claims

Mexico is experiencing a dramatic crisis in leadership and should call an international commission to investigate reports that spyware bought by federal agencies to uncover criminal activity was instead turned on critics like lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists, said Juan E. Pardinas, one of Mexico’s leading transparency advocates and one of the espionage targets. Pardinas … Read more

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If NAFTA Ends, Ford’s Move to China Will Be Just the Start

Ford announced this week that instead of building its new Focus – the best-selling car in the world – in a new $1.6 billion dollar Mexico-based plant, it will ship cars for North American customers from China. Ford has promised that its decision won’t reduce its workforce. Yet even if that is true, American workers … Read more

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AQ VIDEO: A Mexico Border Tour With Alfredo Corchado

“This is the Ellis Island of the Southwest,” says author and journalist Alfredo Corchado. He knows from experience. Born in Mexico, Corchado’s family moved to El Paso when he was a boy, and he was a waiter in their restaurant just two blocks from the border itself. In this short video, Corchado shows AQ Editor-in-Chief Brian Winter how … Read more

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Maduro Justice: Secret Evidence and Military Courts for Venezuela’s Protesters

On May 15, Carlos Ramírez, a student activist in Mérida, Venezuela, was picked up by police at an anti-government protest. Forty-eight hours later, he’d been flown to a military base 300 kilometers away, accused of treason, given only one phone call – and 30 minutes to find an attorney before his first hearing. “It’s very … Read more

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Let’s Stop Vigilante Attacks in Brazil

The images, spread over social media, were shocking: Two men caught a teenager whom they suspected of trying to steal a bicycle. As punishment, they tattooed the phrase “I am a thief and a moron” on his forehead. The act was recorded with the tattoo artist’s cell phone camera, and went viral. This happened in … Read more

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How a New Program Is Cutting the ‘Brazil Cost’ for Entrepreneurs

Marcelo Sasso worked in the finance department of a São Paulo advertising firm, and was good at his job. So good, in fact, that friends and acquaintances often came to him for advice. This raised a question: Why not start his own financial administration and consulting company? For starters, the risks were daunting. The country … Read more

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The Trouble in Naming Latin America’s Most Violent City

Another year, another ranking of the world’s most murderous cities. The latest study released by the Mexican think tank Seguridad, Justicia y Paz (SJP) suggests that Caracas took the top spot in 2016. Earlier this year, the Igarapé Institute and The Economist released a table tipping San Salvador as number one. So which is it? Both, or neither – depends … Read more