Blog entries

Bolivian President Evo Morales this week accused the United States government of conspiring with local NGOs to incite the ongoing indigenous protest marches that began on August 16. The Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS) inhabitants, the Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia (Cidob) and the Consejo Nacional de Ayllus y Markas del Qullasuyu … Read more

In the wake of the debt ceiling debate in the U.S. and Euro zone summits about the precarious financial situation of some of its members, articles and editorials in The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have referred to Canada as a potential model to emulate in order to eliminate deficits and reduce the … Read more

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla yesterday signed an agreement in Mexico City with her counterpart, President Felipe Calderón, which will expand bilateral cooperation on security issues, including anti-drug trafficking efforts. Chinchilla and her delegation will also hold talks on a wide range of bilateral issues including improvements in investment and trade between the two countries. … Read more

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is the frontrunner candidate in a nationwide presidential campaign that officially began on Saturday in Managua. Mr. Ortega is running for his second consecutive five-year term following a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that overturned a legal prohibition on consecutive reelection. He is facing a fragmented opposition represented by four presidential candidates. … Read more

The tweeting Georgetown academic, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela, announced his departure in early May. Four months later, the United States still does not have a nominee.  Of course, several well-qualified people have been bandied about as Valenzuela’s possible replacement.  Here’s a brief rundown of who’s been mentioned: First, … Read more

At a news conference yesterday, Ecuadorian Police Chief General Wilson Alulema announced the launch of an anti-corruption plan that will create an intelligence department to monitor corruption within the force. The new plan, which is to take effect “immediately,” will require each of the 42,000 officers, and all future agents, to take a lie detector … Read more

U.S. Envoy Travels to Mexico amid Debate over CIA’s Drug War Involvement Deputy Secretary Bill Burns—the U.S. State Department’s second in command—traveled to Mexico City this week to meet with Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa and continue talks on U.S.-Mexico cooperation. His visit comes amid controversy surrounding an article published in The New York Times … Read more

Venezuelan Health Minister Eugenia Sader announced during a televised news conference yesterday that the country’s private hospitals will not raise fees for the next three weeks. The freeze is meant to give lawmakers and representatives of the private health care industry time to strategize on ways to keep hospital costs down. The measure is part … Read more

Representatives of three native groups in Bolivia started a 603-kilometer (375 mile) march yesterday from Trinidad to La Paz protesting against the construction of a highway through their Amazonian land.  The road between the highland city of Cochabamba and San Ignacio de Moxos in the Amazon lowlands would cross the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National … Read more

At a time of global uncertainty, Argentineans voted for continuity on August 14. More than anything else, Sunday´s presidential primary results revealed the country’s preference for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Unlike in the U.S. where primaries mean the selection of a party´s candidate, in Argentina, the candidates had already been chosen and voters were … Read more

“I’ve got a flag on my lapel, not a maple leaf,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk exclaimed at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in March.  Today, as Canada’s free-trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia enters into force, it is the maple leaf that represents competitive pressures on U.S. market share and the political influence that goes … Read more

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner trounced opposition contenders on Sunday in the country’s first-ever nationwide primary election for presidential candidates. With more than 96 percent of votes counted, Fernández de Kirchner won slightly more than 50 percent of votes cast—38 percent more that the second-place candidate Ricardo Alfonsín of the centrist Radical Civic Union … Read more

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala’s brother, Antauro Humala, yesterday requested a presidential pardon that would cut short a 25-year prison sentence. He is currently serving time for his role in a 2005 attack on a remote Andean police station that left four officers dead. Although President Humala has not publicly acknowledged that he is considering a … Read more

It’s not often that mayors from nine Latin American countries and even Jordan have the opportunity to come together for three days to learn from each other about how to deal with some of their cities’ most pressing issues: balancing budgets, increasing citizen participation, promoting public-private partnerships, fostering economic growth, improving security, and, of course, … Read more

Students and Chilean Government Still Deadlocked Chilean students held another mass demonstration on Tuesday, drawing over 140,000 marchers throughout the country, as well as support from the copper miners union. The Chilean government says it will not submit a new education proposal, notwithstanding student organizations’ rejection of the August 1 reform outline issued by the … Read more