The Bright Side of the Venezuelan Exodus
World leaders and migration experts met in New York this week to participate in the UN General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development. Participants discussed the growing impact of migrants’ contributions to the economic and social realities of member countries and the need to include migration as a key topic in the development … Read more
Argentina’s 2013 Elections: Signs of Change or More of the Same?
With national legislative elections coming up on October 27, Argentina is abuzz with political activity. In addition to the high economic stakes—the country suffers from increasing inflation and faces the threat of a deep recession—many view this year’s elections as a harbinger of who will become Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s successor two years … Read more
Colombia Pledges Support to Dominican Republic over Drug Trafficking
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón announced yesterday that Colombia will expand its support to the Dominican Republic to help combat narcotrafficking, reduce the violence related to the drug trade and to strengthen security. The pledge came in a meeting with Dominican president Danilo Medina Sánchez and Dominican Defense Minister Sigfrido Pared in Santo Domingo. … Read more
Police Charged in Rio Murder and Disappearance Case
Ten police officers were charged yesterday in the murder and forced disappearance of Amarildo de Souza, a bricklayer and lifelong resident of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela, Rocinha. The charges were announced months after Mr. Souza’s disappearance on July 14, which sparked public protests in Rio and São Paulo and led to the launch of … Read more
Program Designed to Address Medical Needs in Brazil Arouses Controversy
The Brazilian government intends to hire 4,000 Cuban doctors by the end of 2014 through its newly established Programa Mais Médicos (More Doctors Program). An initial group of 400 doctors arrived in late August from Cuba, through a cooperation agreement brokered by the Pan-American Health Organization between the governments of Cuba and Brazil. The doctors … Read more
U.S. Expels Venezuelan Diplomats
The United States Department of State announced today that it is expelling the three top Venezuelan diplomats in Washington after Caracas ousted three of their American counterparts on Sunday. The Venezuelan officials, including charge d’affaires Calixto Ortega Rios, were given 48 hours to leave the country. The State Department decision comes in direct response to … Read more
Vargas Llosa Supports Same-Sex Unions in Peru
Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, released a public statement on Monday in support of a bill that would legalize same-sex unions in Peru. The statement, titled “Yes to equality,” was published in the main Peruvian newspapers such as El Comercio, La República, Perú21 and Diario 26 and calls for “equal rights for all … Read more
Brazil’s Pre-Salt Auction and the Development of the Libra Field
On September 18, only 11 companies signed up to participate in the auction of Brazil’s pre-salt Libra oil field, one of the largest offshore oil discoveries since 2007. This outcome fell sharply below the Brazilian government’s expectations. In fact, Magda Chambriard, head of the Agência Nacional do Petróleo (National Petroleum Agency—ANP), said the following day … Read more
Monday Memo: Immigration Reform – Correa in Bolivia – Colombia-Panama Border Security – Jesse Jackson – Chilean General Commits Suicide
Likely top stories this week: U.S. legislators make a last push for immigration reform; Correa visits Bolivia; The Colombian defense minister travels to Panama; Juan Manuel Santos declines help from Jesse Jackson; a Chilean general involved in the “Caravan of Death” commits suicide. Renewed Push for Immigration Reform in U.S. House of Representatives: Despite a … Read more
Maduro busca ayuda en China
No son tiempos fáciles para Venezuela. En el tercer trimestre del año, la escasez de productos básicos continúa siendo una piedra en el zapato del Gobierno, el dólar paralelo—que inició 2012 cotizando en 17BsF—pasó la línea de 40BsF, la inflación se ubicó en 42,5 por ciento para agosto pasado, y la inversión extranjera fue de … Read more
Comedy and Tragedy, Venezuelan-Style
Next up on the world’s stage of Theater of the Absurd: Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. Like his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, Maduro has as his mentors—in things big and small—Fidel and Raul Castro of Cuba. Always the masters of deception, the Castro brothers were caught red-handed this summer trying to ship weapons to North … Read more
Dominican Republic Strips Haitians of Citizenship
The Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic ruled on Thursday that anyone born in the country after 1929 to undocumented immigrant parents would lose their citizenship. Formerly, the Dominican Republic granted citizenship to anyone born on its soil. But starting in 2007, electoral authorities began denying identity documents to Dominicans of Haitian descent. Three years … Read more
Brazil’s Supreme Court Decides Against Public Opinion
Brazil’s Supremo Tribunal Federal (Supreme Federal Tribunal—STF) was deeply divided on the afternoon of September 18. The court’s eleven justices had to decide whether they would accept a motion to hear the appeals of twelve politicians charged in last year’s landmark corruption trial, popularly deemed as the mensalão (monthly allowance). Ten justices voted in last … Read more
Poll Projects Tight Presidential Race in Honduras
A new CID Gallup poll on the Honduran presidential election in November released on Tuesday shows Xiomara Castro—the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya—has a slight lead. The poll estimates that Castro, representing the leftist Partido Libertad y Refundacion (Liberty and Refoundation Party—LIBRE) would receive 29 percent of votes, followed closely by conservative candidate Juan … Read more
El Partido de la Red araña la democracia en Argentina
¿Cómo se teje la democracia en red? Construyendo un puente entre el clic y el voto. Así de simple y ambiciosa es la propuesta de un grupo de jóvenes argentinos expertos en tecnología, que busca alcanzar una curul en la legislatura de Buenos Aires en las elecciones del próximo 27 de octubre, para representar la … Read more
