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Fighting Maduro: The Venezuelan Opposition’s New Plan
Leer en español Venezuela’s opposition has had to do some soul-searching. Despite a year punctuated by massive street protests and international condemnation of President Nicolás Maduro’s anti-democratic turns, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), a coalition of opposition parties, ended 2016 with little to celebrate. Its effort to force a recall referendum on Maduro came to … Read more
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Startups from Brazil to Mexico Are Giving Banks a Run for Their Money
For Latin Americans accustomed to red tape, it can seem like a godsend – instead of waiting in line, a swipe on a smart phone; instead of piles of paperwork, a text message or two. Over the last several years, financial technology has changed the way that consumers from Mexico to Brazil save and spend … Read more
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How Santos’ New Peace Deal Aggravated Colombia’s Drug War
Despite a tumultuous 2016, Colombia ended the year on a hopeful note. On Dec. 10, President Juan Manuel Santos accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to broker peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s largest rebel group. In his acceptance speech, Santos said that “the impossible had become possible” … Read more
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Medellín Proves Investing In Science Is a Good Bet for Cities
In the early 2000s, Medellín struggled to overcome high unemployment, inequality, and a lack of infrastructure and services in its poorest areas. The city needed not just incremental but radical change in order to tackle these challenges and succeed in an ever more competitive global context. To accomplish this, the city’s academics, businesspeople and civic … Read more
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Populistas latinoamericanos encantados con Trump
Read in English Al menos un grupo está dándole a la presidencia de Donald Trump una bienvenida favorable. Bien sea porque ven las sombras de su propia visión nacionalista en la agenda de “América Primero” de Trump, o simplemente porque perciben una oportunidad para mejorar los lazos diplomáticos con Washington, figuras populistas de alto rango … Read more
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Latin American Populists Loving Trump So Far
Leer en español At least one group is giving Donald Trump’s presidency rave reviews so far: Latin American populists. Whether they see shadows of their own nationalist views in Trump’s “America First” agenda, or merely sense an opportunity for improved diplomatic ties with Washington, high-profile populist figures on both the left and right have taken … Read more
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Dealing With Trump: Four Strategies for Latin America
Since about 9 p.m. New York time on Nov. 8, when Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania were all bathed in red on TV electoral maps, Latin American politicians and executives have been frantically calling friends and contacts to ask: “How are we going to work with Donald J. Trump?” There’s no foolproof answer, of course, especially … Read more
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Medicine Shortages Pose a Threat to HIV Positive Argentines
For nearly a year, HIV positive Argentines have endured what advocates call a “crisis” and a “national emergency.” Shortages and delays in the delivery of antiretroviral drugs have beleaguered many who depend on them to stay healthy, sparking public outcry and a protest outside the Health Ministry in Buenos Aires in December. Since then, officials … Read more
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No More Odebrechts: Three Steps to Reduce Graft in Latin America
The revelations of years of immense and systemic bribe payments to policymakers across Latin America by engineering and construction conglomerate Odebrecht are an unmitigated disaster for Brazil – and its foreign policy of the last decade and a half. The internationalization of Brazilian capitalism – that is, the government’s strategy of boosting Brazil’s influence by … Read more
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Old School: What a Hostile Mexico-Trump Relationship Might Look Like
Correction appended below Shortly after I moved to Mexico City in 2004, I discovered a fantastic pozole restaurant near a subway stop called “Niños Héroes” – literally, “Boy Heroes.” I took a Mexican friend there and, between slurps of cilantro-y goodness, asked if by any chance he knew the origin of the name. He started … Read more
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Fighting Gender Violence: What Brazil, Argentina and Others Are Doing
Isamara Filier, 41, was at a New Year’s party in Campinas, Brazil when her ex-husband opened fire on partygoers, killing her and eleven others. Filier and her ex-husband had been fighting for custody of their eight-year-old son, who was also among those killed. Hours later in El Alto, Bolivia, Jenny Mamani, 21, was beaten to … Read more
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Five Latin America Stories You Might Miss in 2017 (But Shouldn’t)
If 2017 is anything like 2016, making predictions on where Latin America will be a year from now is probably a losing bet. Remember when it seemed inevitable that voters in Colombia would pass the country’s landmark peace accord with the FARC, or that the Rio Olympics would be crippled by large-scale social unrest? The … Read more
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How to Make Mexico City a Better Place for the Disabled
The senator from Durango looks bemused. It’s the afternoon of Oct. 18, and Yolanda de la Torre, seated and wearing an electric pink suit jacket with navy slacks, is being carried up the switchback stone staircase of Mexico City’s Palacio de Minería. The 250-year-old college building, now run by the national university’s engineering department, has only one … Read more
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How a Changing Economy Is Leaving Afro-Cubans Behind
Whether or not President-elect Donald Trump follows through on plans to reverse the U.S.’ economic opening with Cuba, entrepreneurship on the island will be hard to get rid of. Reforms enacted by President Raúl Castro in 2011 (three years before the U.S. rapprochement began) have already led to a boom in restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, private taxis and other … Read more
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Here’s a Blueprint for a Trump-Castro Deal on Cuba
President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed “to terminate the deal” that his predecessor in the White House negotiated with Cuba’s President Raúl Castro. Trump’s incoming chief-of-staff, Reince Priebus, last week added these details in an interview on “Fox News Sunday”: “Repression, open markets, freedom of religion, political prisoners – these things need to change in … Read more
