Blog entries

Tonight PBS’  World Focus will take an hour-long look at the H1N1 Virus, better known as swine flu. Our editor-in-chief Christopher Sabatini, as well as two epidemiologists, provide the insight and analysis. Those here in New York can tune in to Channel 13 at 8pm to catch the show. For those living elsewhere, check your … Read more

Do you know that it’s World Press Freedom Day today? The media are so often taken for granted or made into the punching bag for whatever complaints we have. But just pause for a second, and imagine what the U.S. would be like without reporters.  You can’t. The press is essential for a healthy democracy—to … Read more

Global health experts are focused on Mexico, but regional neighbor Nicaragua is confronting an epidemic of its own. The method for transmission is unknown, but grisi siknis, or “crazy sickness” in the language of the indigenous Miskito­s—a community of 150,000 to 200,000 residing along Central America’s Mosquito Coast—continues to spread throughout the community. Experts are … Read more

“Every interest group, left, right and center, for one specific reason or another opposes the [immigration] bill. The question is, in a complicated world can Congress rise above those specific interests?” That’s a quote from the new chair of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who held his first immigration reform … Read more

Late yesterday, Mexico’s Finance Ministry reported that the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 7% in the first quarter due to plummeting exports.  The most recent figures raise fears that the economy could shrink by more than the 3.8% to 4.8% that the Central Bank had previously forecast for 2009.  Making matters worse, the … Read more

Panamanians go to the polls on Sunday to elect their next president.  Knowledgeable observers including Jaime Daremblum predict that supermarket magnet Ricardo Martinelli will win the election, his primary opposition, Housing Minister Balbina Herrera, being far behind in the polls. Martinelli is well versed in politics as well as in business, having served as Minister … Read more

The Summit of the Americas brought a ton of Latin American coverage in the U.S. media.  Finally. But, now that the Summit is over, press attention to the hemisphere is waning. That is except for the swine flu spreading from Mexico. There were a few news nuggets that came out of the Summit, but judging … Read more

On Friday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be on an oil platform off the Brazilian coast to formally kick-off the start of subsalt oil production from the Tupi field. This marks an important milestone for Brazilian extraction of deep-water oil deposits off the coast of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states. Discovered … 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. Swine Flu Strikes An outbreak of Type A/H1N1 influenza in Mexico has … Read more

I was a little taken aback last week when I told a high-minded Peruvian journalist I would be traveling to Quito to cover the presidential elections. Correa! she said, eyes alight, eyebrows waggling, her elbow giving me a knowing dig in the ribs. I might have written this off as a case of sensory deprivation … Read more

Former Costa Rican President Rafael Calderón (90-94) has formally announced his candidacy in the 2010 presidential elections. He will represent Costa Rica’s Unidad Social Cristiana. His announcement was met with little surprise; rumors that Calderón was seeking his former office were numerous. Complicating his bid, however, are corruption charges from 2004, which landed him briefly … Read more

World headlines are being dominated by the spread of swine flu from Mexico and the United States to Canada, Europe and now the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. But what about Mexico’s neighbors to the south? Today, Costa Rica claimed the inauspicious title of being the first Central American country to confirm a case of swine … Read more

I swore I wouldn’t write another blog on the Summit.  In fact, I had even urged the AQ staff to move on—that it wasn’t that important.  And yet here I am with an insatiable desire to slake my thirst for just one more blog post.  And it is this: the media sorely missed the story … Read more

Two Canadian diplomats and two European women were released by an al-Qaeda-linked North African group on Sunday in exchange for four imprisoned Islamist fighters. The diplomats, Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, were kidnapped in Niger more than four months ago, and were released in neighboring Mali. The Canadian government praised the “quiet diplomacy” that secured … Read more

On April 23, The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved a new law that allows greater power and expediency in confiscating assets from criminal organizations, specifically drug cartels. Previously, authorities had to abide by cumbersome legal procedures that could delay asset seizure for years. The Ley de Extinción de Dominio was originally presented to Congress by … Read more