Blog entries

Since the late 1990s, both India and Peru have turned their focus to each others’ regions. New commercial exchanges have filled some gaps in the bilateral, but strategic elements – climate change, multilateral fora, advanced research – must be incorporated if both countries are to benefit from each other. A distance of 17,789 kilometres separates … Read more

Top stories this week are likely to include: student protests in Chile; Ecuador and the UK continue Assange standoff; newspaper kiosks close in Buenos Aires; Brazilian candidates start regular media appearances ahead of municipal elections. Student Protests Persists in Chile: More than 130 activists were arrested last Thursday and Friday during protests at the University … Read more

Although the Ecuadorian government granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday morning, the British government has refused to allow him safe passage out of the country. The UK Foreign Office said that it would remain committed to extraditing Assange to Sweden, where he is accused of sexual crimes. British Foreign Secretary William Hague … Read more

Walking down London’s famous The Mall, Erick Barrondo’s head swiveled from side-to-side searching for his nearest opponent. As it turned out he was 30 seconds behind and the mixture of astonishment and ecstasy on the walker’s face revealed history in the making―Guatemala’s first Olympic medal. The fact that it was silver was immaterial. In a … Read more

The Brazilian government announced yesterday the first phase of a 25-year stimulus package designed to reignite the Brazilian economy. The plan includes more than $60 billion of investment in 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) of railways and building or widening 7,500 kilometers (4,660 miles) of federal highways, with that to be followed by investments in ports … Read more

There is one story dominating the Brazilian headlines: The mensalão, a huge corruption case that could taint the legacy of former President Lula and the reputation of his Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party—PT) to which his successor Dilma Rousseff belongs.  Certainly the scope is wide. With 38 high-profile defendants including former ministers, bankers and wealthy … Read more

It was President John F. Kennedy (JFK) in his inaugural address at the height of Cold War who said;  “So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is subject to proof.”  Strong and meaningful words at a time when the world faced the risk of … Read more

Today is the first day that as many as 1.7 million young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children can file applications for deferred action, under a new policy announced by President Obama in June. Instructions for the applications were posted on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website Tuesday … Read more

Subway workers in Buenos Aires on Monday temporarily ended a strike that had paralyzed the capital and left 1 million commuters stranded per day for the past 10 days. The strike was called off last night after the Subway and Premetro Workers’ Union Association (Asociación Gremial de Trabajadores del Subte y el Premetro—AGTSyP) and Metrovías, … Read more

Es lógico. El único interlocutor válido para resolver el conflicto desatado por la presencia de grupos armados y fuerza pública en territorio Indígena de los Nasa-Páez en el norte del Cauca, es el presidente Juan Manuel Santos. Mesas temáticas, delegados ministeriales, despliegue de fuerza pública, son medidas además de controversiales, inútiles. La presencia de ONGs … Read more

After last month’s mass elections, Mexico is buzzing.  Will second-place Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (Party of the Democratic Revolution—PRD) take to the streets should the nation’s highest electoral court, the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF), fail to invalidate July’s presidential vote as a … Read more

Top stories this week are likely to include: Fidel Castro’s birthday; Buenos Aires subway shutdown continues; public teachers to end striking in Panama; talks to renew in Colombia between the government and the Indigenous Nasa; and a possible dialogue over Venezuela’s detained U.S. Marine. Fidel Turns 86 Years Old: Cuba’s revolutionary leader and former president, … Read more

It’s not just Olympic athletes who live in fear of a drug test ruining their career.  Chilean politicians are being threatened with the revival of a bill that would remove politicians from public office if caught using illegal drugs. The legislative hype began last month when Chilean Senator Fulvio Rossi admitted in an interview with … Read more

Both sides of the U.S.-Canada border are currently commemorating the last major armed conflict between our countries.  The War of 1812 was obviously not the war to end all wars, but it is being remembered as the one that marked the beginning of 200 years of peace and prosperity between the closest and friendliest neighbors … Read more

Yesterday Venezuela’s Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Institute of Statistics—INE) presented the preliminary results of its 2011 Census, revealing an estimated population of 28,946,101—a 25-percent increase from the previous demographic measure in 2001. In presenting some of the preliminary results, INE director Elias Eljuri noted that the population under the age of 15 had diminished, … Read more