Blog entries

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. Dilma First Woman Ever to Open UNGA Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff became the … Read more

The sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) general debate began this morning in New York. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon opened the debate session followed by Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, president of the 66th UNGA and Qatar’s permanent representative to the UN. This year, the first head of state to speak was Brazilian President … Read more

Samuel Moreno Rojas—Bogotá’s mayor suspended by the Procuraduría in early May—was charged on Monday of fraudulent contracting, embezzlement and extortion in connection to corruption around public works projects. Prosecutor Ricardo Gonzalez asked the judge to keep Moreno in jail until trial out of fear that he may try to go to the United States (he … Read more

Chaco Governor Jorge Capitanich of the Partido Justicialista (PJ) was re-elected on Sunday by a margin of approximately 35 percentage points over his opponent, Roy Nikisch of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR). With only 46 percent of the 2,654 polling stations counted, Capitanich claimed victory with 65.7 percent of the vote. The Governor was elected … Read more

On the day that the United States reflected over the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Guatemala went to the polls to elect its next president. The contest pitted three leading candidates against each other: Otto Pérez Molina, a former army general, of Partido Patriota (Patriotic Party, or PP); Manuel Baldizón, business tycoon, … Read more

  President Mauricio Funes yesterday announced his support for changes to El Salvador’s electoral laws that would allow Salvadorans living abroad to vote in national elections. At an event in celebration of El Salvador’s national Independence Day, Funes emphasized: “I do not exaggerate when I say that the institutionalization of absentee voting is a historical … Read more

Mexico received some excellent news recently when the World Economic Forum (WEF) published its Global Competitiveness Report, calling attention to the fact that the country has made significant progress in improving its relative position in the world competitiveness rankings. From last year to the 2011-2012 ranking, Mexico moved from 66 to 58 place, an eight-spot … Read more

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela announced on Wednesday that he is expecting a visit from his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this month. He told reporters, “Ahmadinejad is coming here, at last, after New York,” referring to the latter’s attendance at the UN General Assembly next week. President Chávez, who himself will not be traveling to … Read more

With the tragic death last month of Jack Layton, Canada’s charismatic leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper now holds all the cards in the House of Commons. Harper is now dealing with three weakened parties in the House of Commons, which will begin its fall session on … 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. Guatemala Heads to Runoff after Ex-General Wins First Round Otto Pérez Molina won … Read more

Venezuela’s electoral body, the Consejo Nacional Electoral, affirmed that the next presidential election will be held on Sunday, October 7, 2012. This announcement came as a surprise to many who had expected the election date to remain in the traditional month of December. President Hugo Chávez, despite admitting in June that he is battling cancer … Read more

In a setback to Brazil’s preparations for the 2014 World Cup, Federal Judge Louise Vilela Filgueiras Borer ordered an immediate halt to the construction of a third terminal at São Paulo’s main international airport. São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, which was recently ranked the worst in Latin America, was undergoing a renovation to double the airport’s … Read more

Preliminary results following yesterday’s presidential election in Guatemala indicate that no single candidate won over 50 percent of the vote, meaning that a runoff election will be held on November 6. With 92 percent of ballots counted by the Tribunal Supremo Electoral, Guatemala’s election supervision body, Otto Pérez Molina, a former army general, obtained 36.16 … Read more

September 11, 2001, is remembered as the day the United States received a dramatic call to lead the world in defeating terrorism. It is also the day the U.S., along with 33 nations of the Americas, signed the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) committing to the collective promotion and protection of democracy. Through ten years of … Read more

    Mexico suffered the criminal attack with the highest number of civilian casualties in its near history recently as a group of 10 to 12 armed men entered the two-story Casino Royale in the city of Monterrey, doused it with a flammable liquid and threw Molotov cocktails in the first floor. The exact details are … Read more