Blog entries

Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi won the 2011 Balon d’Or (Golden Ball) yesterday during a ceremony in Zurich. The FC Barcelona striker and captain of the Argentine national team became the first player to win it three years in a row. The Balon d’Or is given to the best all-around player for club and country … Read more

After waiting over 10 years, a long-delayed bilateral security perimeter agreement is supposed to mitigate border delays and security fiascos at border crossings between Canada and the United States. Instead, Canadian critics of the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan announced last month in Washington DC contend that their personal data will be shared … Read more

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Venezuela yesterday afternoon to kick off his four-country tour of Latin America that will also include stops in Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. The Iranian head of state may also attend the January 14 inauguration of Guatemalan President-elect Otto Pérez Molina. Ahmadinejad is accompanied by several members of his cabinet, … Read more

A Bolivian judge, Iván Córdova, on Thursday decided to postpone the planned arrest of opposition figure and Santa Cruz Governor Rubén Costas on contempt of court charges. Costas’ arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court to face accusations brought earlier this year by Bolivian Vice President Alvaro García Linera that Costas … Read more

After a seven-month hiatus, President Hugo Chávez is set to return to the Venezuelan airwaves. Yesterday, Minister of Communications and Information Andrés Izarra confirmed via his Twitter account that the president’s signature television address, Aló Presidente, would be back as of Sunday, January 8, though he did not specify the location from which the program … Read more

The peacekeeping mission in Haiti (UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti or MINUSTAH) is the only peacekeeping operation in the Western Hemisphere. It is the third largest mission and about 12.5 percent of the world’s peacekeepers are concentrated on the island. Several Western hemisphere countries contribute to the forces including Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Peru, … Read more

After last Thursday’s parliamentary elections in Jamaica produced decisive but unofficial results, the official tally released yesterday confirmed victory for Portia Simpson-Miller of the opposition People’s National Party (PNP). She unseated Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). In Jamaica’s 63-seat unicameral congress, PNP claimed victory by a two-to-one margin—winning 42 seats … Read more

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, said yesterday that it will pay Exxon Mobil $255 million over 60 days in compensation for assets it nationalized in 2007. This comes after an arbitration panel at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) informed the parties on December 30 that it had reached a decision that Venezuela owed $908 … Read more

The AQ team will be out of the office for the remainder of 2011, but please check back on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 for regular updates. We wish you season’s greetings and a happy new year.

Costa Ricans are a small population to begin with, but now there are even fewer of them than previously thought. At the current growth rate, their numbers could one day start to shrink. For years, expert projections had put the population of this country—the size of West Virginia—at 4.5 million and higher. But the new … 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. The Top Latin American News Stories of 2011 A number of regional and … Read more

The Guatemalan legal system has made significant improvements recently but is facing major obstacles in its attempts to bring criminals—past and present—to justice. Impunity is an everyday event in Guatemala. From the most minor traffic offense being ignored or the less than 3 percent of murders that are investigated. However, with the trial and conviction … Read more

Yesterday, at Mercosur’s presidential summit in Montevideo, Uruguay, foreign ministers of the bloc’s four founding members—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay—signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Palestinian Authority (PA). This trade deal is significant not only due to Mercosur’s strength as the world’s fourth-largest economic bloc, but also because this pact opens the Palestinian … Read more

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos made his first official visit to Ecuador on Monday, accompanied by Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguín and Minister of Transportation Germán Cardona Gutiérrez. President Santos met with his Ecuadorian counterpart, President Rafael Correa, to discuss ways to cooperate on trade, infrastructure and security. One of the early outcomes of the … Read more

  This past weekend, 150 immigrant rights activists from around the country descended upon Montgomery, Alabama, to show solidarity with local leaders fighting against the state’s draconian immigration bill, HB 56, and plan a national strategy for 2012. The two-day Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) Summit was perhaps most notable for its culmination, a front-page … Read more