The Political Relevance of Gangs in El Salvador
The approach adopted by former President Mauricio Funes’ administration to combat crime is probably the least popular crime control strategy in Central America’s northern triangle. Salvadorans first learned details of the strategy in March 2012, when news reports suggested that the government of El Salvador had negotiated a drop in homicides with gang leaders who, … Read more
Dilma Defends Brazil’s World Cup Preparations
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Wednesday that the host nation’s trouble with World Cup preparations are normal. “Everywhere in the world these big engineering projects always go down to the wire,” she told reporters at the presidential palace. Responding to criticism about unfinished stadiums and delayed infrastructure projects, including transport systems in Cuiabá, Salvador … Read more
Por la paz que no conocemos
“En ocasiones se me ha descrito como una especie de Bruce Wayne suramericano: un niño privilegiado que juró vengar la muerte de su padre asesinado por unos bandidos. Dispuesto a hacer pactos con el diablo y a tolerar todo tipo de abusos, con el fin de llevar a cabo mi ‘misión’ y sin importar el … Read more
Venezuelan Opposition Leader Back in Court
Opposition leader Leopoldo López is back in court this morning after his 11-hour hearing was adjourned yesterday. Judge Adriana López is expected to decide whether the former mayor of Chacao will face a criminal trial and, if so, if he will remain in the Ramo Verde military prison while awaiting his trial date. López, founder … Read more
Monday Memo: OAS General Assembly – Brazil World Cup Preparations – Sánchez Cerén – Leopoldo López Hearing – Uruguayan Primaries
OAS General Assembly in Paraguay: The Organization of American States (OAS) will hold its General Assembly in Asunción, Paraguay from June 3 to 5. At least 29 foreign ministers have confirmed their attendance—the highest number to do so since the 2009 General Assembly in Honduras, following the coup that removed former President Manuel Zelaya from … Read more
Rumble in the Jungle: Manaus Tackles World Cup Logistics
This article is part of “Connecting the Americas,” a collaborative project of Americas Quarterly and Zócalo Public Square. In a competition for most improbable place to host the World Cup, the city of Manaus would surely make the finals. Its Arena da Amazônia sits in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, 900 miles up the … Read more
Elections in Colombia: A Divided House
The first round of presidential elections in Colombia, held on May 25, did not surprise anyone. The uribista candidate, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, won with 29.2 percent of the vote over incumbent president Juan Manuel Santos, who won a disappointing 25.6 percent of the vote. The remaining votes were split between the three other major candidates: … Read more
San Diego County Refuses to Honor ICE Detainers
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore announced yesterday that the county will no longer honor “detainer requests” from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The detainers, part of ICE’s Secure Communities program, ask state and local law enforcement agencies to hold potentially deportable individuals in jail for up to 48 hours, even if they are … Read more
Canadian Mining Company Reaches Agreement with Chilean Indigenous Groups
Lawyers representing the Indigenous Diaguita announced an initial agreement with mining giant Barrick Gold on Wednesday. Negotiations stalled in 2013 after the Canadian company invested $5 million in the Pascua-Lama mining project in the southern Atacama Desert. The Diaguita had opposed the gold and copper mine located on the border of Chile and Argentina on … Read more
Ballotage por la paz
Miedo. Una simple lectura—que no pretende ser estadística—de las redes sociales, tras el resultado electoral del pasado domingo en Colombia, me arrojó innumerables veces esa palabra. Colombianos indignados y connotados columnistas la usaron para manifestar lo que sienten frente al escenario que el 40% de los votantes del país nos dejó para segunda vuelta: otra … Read more
Ecuador’s Ex-President Wanted by Interpol
Interpol issued a warrant for the arrest of former Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad on Tuesday for embezzlement, mishandling of public funds and causing the country’s banking crisis in the late 1990s. Mahuad became president in 1998 when Ecuador was on the brink of war with neighboring Peru over a territorial dispute. Mahuad and then Peruvian president … Read more
Now We Have the Santa Barbara Killings
On two previous occasions, I have used the Americas Quarterly blog as a space to talk about gun violence. The incidents in Aurora (July 2012) provoked one, and another surfaced when remembering the events of Montreal’s Polytechnique Engineering School in 1989 where 14 women were gunned down. We can also recall Virginia Tech, Columbine, Sandy … Read more
Wives of Venezuelan Mayors Win Election
Patricia Gutierrez de Ceballos and Rosa Brandonisio—married to Daniel Ceballos and Vicencio Scarano, ousted mayors of San Cristobal and San Diego respectively—won landslide votes in Venezuela’s mayoral elections on Sunday to replace their husbands after both men had been arrested and jailed as part of the opposition protests. The women are both part of the … Read more
Defending the Right of Everyone to Travel
I, like many others, was one of those who sent an e-mail to the U.S. State Department inquiring about the visa status of a number of Cuban economists coming to the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) last week in Chicago. Most, though not all of them, received visas after becoming lodged in the State Department’s … Read more
History Ready to Repeat Itself? Context for Colombia’s Presidential Election
It has been a surprising trend that, for the past several years, a number of Latin American countries have voted into power democratically elected left-wing governments of some kind—whereas Colombia has steered toward governments from the right of the political spectrum. Even in countries in the region where right-wing presidents continue to hold office, like … Read more
