Blog entries

The stage is finally set for the presidential race between Josefina Vázquez Mota (PAN), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD/PT) and Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI/PVEM). What is about to unfold in the coming months is a barrage of party propaganda and news media stories designed to pull the undecided electorate toward one or the other candidates, … Read more

From Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online’s news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup. Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email. Honduran Prison Fire Kills over 350 A fire at Comayagua prison in central Honduras … Read more

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli signed a pledge on Tuesday stating that he will not seek reelection in the country’s 2014 presidential elections.  According to media observers in Panama, Martinelli made the pledge in response to controversial rumors of his desire to run again in a country with strict constitutional prohibitions against consecutive presidential terms.  Until … Read more

Viettel, a Vietnamese telecommunications company, has recently made headway in the Latin American and Caribbean region. What makes this company unique in the region, besides being based in far-flung Honoi, is that its executives report to the Vietnamese Department of Defense. It is a military-run telco, which inevitably leads to comparison with another presumably military … Read more

President Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala said Monday that his country and others in Central America should consider legalizing drugs to help reduce violence in the region. Speaking at a press conference with President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador after a meeting on crime and security issues, Pérez Molina said, “We’re bringing the issue up … Read more

El Salvador is heading toward another important electoral event within the next month. On March 11 Salvadorans will cast their votes to elect 262 mayors and 84 deputies to the Legislative Assembly. The results, especially for the legislative election, will shape the remaining two years of the Funes presidency. The latest polls show a strong … Read more

Yesterday evening, Miranda Governor and Primero Justicia (Justice First) candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski decisively earned the Venezuelan opposition presidential nomination, winning over 62 percent of votes in the primary contest. He will face incumbent President Hugo Chávez in the October 7 election. In his victory speech, Capriles Radonski proclaimed, “I say to all our people, … Read more

At the conclusion of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009, President Obama called for hemispheric partnership in place of “stale debates and old ideologies.” Three years later, the stalest of all debates is once again dividing the region. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa leads a threat to protest the absence of Cuba at the … Read more

On Thursday, 1,000 activists arrived in Lima to demand the end of millions of mining operations that they claim are contaminating water and causing pollution. Their nine-day protest began last week in Peru’s northern region of Cajamarca but has now moved to Lima after a journey by bus and foot. Marco Arana, one of the … Read more

Police, government and UN officials watched yesterday as half a ton of ammunition blazed in a furnace in Kingston, Jamaica.  This followed the 2,000 pistols and revolvers that were melted down on Tuesday, as part of an effort to combat gun trafficking and corruption and reduce violent crime.  Many of the firearms had been seized … Read more

From Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online’s news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup. Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email. Cops and Soldiers Clash in Brazilian Police Strike Soldiers clashed with police in the … Read more

Two journalists were ordered on Tuesday by Judge Maria Mercedes Portilla of the province of Pichincha to pay a total of $ 2 million to President Rafael Correa, on the grounds that they had caused him “moral damage.” Judge Portilla issued the sentence to journalists Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita over their book El … Read more

Thousands of Brazilian federal troops surrounded the state legislature building in the northeastern city of Salvador on Monday as tensions mounted over a week-long strike by the city’s police force. Approximately 3,500 troops are currently being deployed to Salvador to deal with the 4,000 police officers and their families—including 300 children—that have been occupying the … Read more

At a summit of the Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Bolivarian Alternative to the Americas, or ALBA) this past weekend in Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, ALBA’s founder, backed Argentina’s claims for sovereignty of the Malvinas (or Falklands) Islands. ALBA’s eight member countries—Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, St. Vincent … Read more

As the global marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, the pressures of manufacturing costs have risen to the forefront. These challenges drive the locations of manufacturing, where products are transported and where investors look to spend their capital. It seems that the days of faulty, substandard major projects in Central America are over as individual governments take … Read more