Blog entries

Latin America and the Caribbean are likely to grow 5.7 percent this year—twice the expected recovery for the United States—say the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in a report released this week. Regional output of goods and services is expected to continue to grow in 2011, although at the slower rate of 4 percent. … Read more

Correa’s recent political maneuverings would make even Machiavelli proud. A recap of the official version of the events of September 30: a coup attempt by the police, allegedly planned by opposition politicians; the president held hostage for hours; the swift and decisive action of President Correa ensured the defeat of the opposition and the restoration … Read more

Immediately after this morning’s announcement that acclaimed author and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, congratulatory well wishes began flowing in from across the world—but perhaps none more pronounced than in Vargas Llosa’s native Peru. Peruvian Minister of Culture Juan Ossio exclaimed that on top of Peru’s notable economic … Read more

Last week, the chief of staff to President Obama, Rahm Emanuel, chose to leave arguably the second most powerful position in the U.S. government to run for mayor of Chicago. Quite a development but one that shows the lure of a major city to someone as powerful as Mr. Emanuel. But this is not that … Read more

Pedro Ferriz de Con (one of the most influential voices in Mexico’s radio airwaves) and I rarely see eye-to-eye on a number of issues. However, the dire need for a more efficient Mexican Congress seems to place us on somewhat common paths.  For about a year now, Ferriz de Con has been rallying support for … 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. Ecuadoran Crisis: A Coup or Not a Coup? Observers are debating whether … Read more

With 100 percent of ballots cast in Sunday’s mayoral elections in Lima now counted—but not yet verified—Fuerza Social candidate Susana Villarán is in the lead with 38.498 percent of votes compared to 37.588 percent for her opponent, Lourdes Flores of the PPC-UN, according to reports this morning from the Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE).  … Read more

Ecuador’s Congress has begun reconsidering the financial austerity bill that led to last week’s police uprising in Quito, which resulted in several deaths and the brief captivity of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in a local hospital. The law, which proposed cutting salaries and benefits for public servants in an effort to reduce the country’s fiscal … Read more

The following is a translation of Paulo’s post originally written in Portuguese. Read the original  version. The biggest surprise of the presidential elections in Brazil was the performance of Marina Silva, candidate of the Green Party (PV). The former environmental minister unexpectedly won almost 20 percent of voters to take the contest to the second … Read more

La llamada Farc-política cobró su primera víctima la semana pasada: La Senadora del Partido Liberal, Piedad Córdoba. Con una de las inhabilidades más largas que se hayan producido en la historia del país, la Procuraduría determinó que la legisladora no podrá ejercer cargos públicos en los próximos 18 años, lo que sin duda la borraría, … Read more

Although stocks are not likely to be affected by yesterday’s election, the Brazilian real is likely to continue appreciating ahead of what will now be a second round of voting. Catching some observers by surprise, presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff, the former chief of staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, received 46.9 percent of … Read more

Susana Villarán appears to have squeaked into Lima’s mayorship with the narrowest of margins, amid fearmongering that the human rights activist could be a “trojan horse” for radical leftists. Villarán, a moderate, will be Lima’s first leftist mayor since 1983, and the first elected female mayor in five centuries. With 58.4 percent of the votes … Read more

Chávez Lashes out at Reporter after Election Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez issued a stinging critique of Andreína Flores, a Radio France reporter who questioned how vote tallies correspond to seats won in the National Assembly. Although opposition candidates picked up half the votes, recent redistricting means they captured only a third of the seats in … Read more

Responding to the dramatic events that transpired on Thursday in Ecuador, leaders from across Latin America expressed their unequivocal support for that country’s president, Rafael Correa. In pan-American solidarity, presidents ranging from Bolivia’s Evo Morales to Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos condemned the police attack on President Correa, which left him captive in a Quito hospital … Read more

At least 10 inmates died in an armed battle between rival gangs in a Venezuelan prison on Wednesday. The violence, which took place in Tocoron prison in the central state of Aragua (75 miles south of Caracas), was reportedly triggered by the murder of a gang leader in the same prison earlier this week. During … Read more