Blog entries

Following two days of protests over last week’s arrest of Pepe Luis Acacho, the leading candidate for head of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE), Ecuador’s main indigenous organization, Acacho was released by Justice María Cristina Narváez yesteday. In her ruling, justice Narváez called his detention and that of two other Shuar leaders … Read more

European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said on Monday that the EU was close to reaching a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Mercosur. De Gucht is currently on a diplomatic trip to Paraguay and Uruguay—both members of Mercosur. The commissioner’s statement that “the moment has come” for a trade relationship came shortly after a meeting … Read more

An unfortunate series of events last week turned my last blog post (Colombia’s Readiness for the Mining Industry) into a warning that has now become reality. On February 1, five miners were killed in an explosion at La Escondida coalmine, near Sutatausa, a small town north of Bogotá. According to official reports, the explosion was … Read more

The passing of Verónica Viviana Medina, who died last Thursday from burn wounds, is part of Argentina’s troubling trend of female deaths after being lit on fire by their partners. Since February 2010, 14 women have been murdered through such extreme acts of domestic violence. Ms. Medina, 32, passed away in a Buenos Aires hospital … Read more

With all the news out of Egypt last week in every major paper and streaming in live, the casual observer would easily be forgiven for overlooking a comparatively benign—but still marked—story: Wednesday’s global celebrations in commemoration of the 12th anniversary of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution. In fact, it’s possible I would have overlooked the occasion too … Read more

This week marked the annual feast of the Candelaria (Candlemas), a religious event celebrated across Mexico that got its name from the fact that candles were brought to the church to be blessed. Marking the ritual presentation of baby Jesus, the occasion involves first making the necessary repairs to plaster statues in street side markets. … Read more

In early January, three Argentine pilots of a private modern jet were arrested in Barcelona, Spain, for transporting nearly a ton of cocaine. The episode is embarrassing for the Argentinean government since Spanish investigators have proof that the cocaine was loaded onto the plane from an Argentinean military airbase. Moreover, this was the last and … Read more

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced yesterday morning that government party candidate Jude Célestin is not eligible to run against frontrunner and former first lady Mirlande Manigat in the March 20 national presidential runoff elections. The long-awaited decisions means that  Haitian pop singer Michel Martelly, who placed second in November’s first round voting will proceed … Read more

According to new estimates, the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States remained steady between 2009 and 2010, following a two-year period of decline that began in 2007. A study released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center found that as of March 2010, there were approximately 11.2 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., … Read more

From the 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. Sec Clinton Pushes OAS Recommendations in Haiti On an official visit to … Read more

The auditing firm Ernst & Young recently surprised all of Mexico (and possibly the world) with the results published in their “Winning in a polycentric world” report, which ranks economies based on their level of globalization. In this ranking, which EY coordinates with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) think tank, Mexico is placed in a … Read more

With just over two months to go before voting in Peru’s presidential elections on April 10, candidates are now devoting their attention to a social concern that has not been a front-and-center issue in national politics.  The focus on same-sex marriage comes on the heels of disparaging remarks made on January 24 by Bishop Emeritus … Read more

The unexpected arrival of former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier has incited another plot twist in the tragic-comedy known as Haitian politics. Duvalier’s reasons and/or ambitions for this return has elicited endless speculation from the moment his Air France flight touched down in Port-au-Prince. One of the first writers to solve this mystery was Huge … Read more

Havana Provincial Court sentenced Wilfredo Castillo Donate, the director of Havana Psychiatric Hospital, to 15 years in prison on Monday for negligence in the deaths of 26 patients during a cold spell last year. Twelve other staff members of Cuba’s largest mental health institution also received sentences ranging from 5 to 14 years in prison. … Read more

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Port-au-Prince yesterday to meet with Haitian politicians regarding the ongoing presidential elections. She met with incumbent president René Préval and the three leading candidates after the November 2010 vote: former first lady Mirlande Manigat, construction executive Jude Célestin and popular musician Michel Martelly. The preliminary results were originally … Read more