Plomo o plata, a phrase well-known to Mexican journalists, simply means: we own you. Accept a drug cartel’s plata (slang for money) and publish what they tell you, or get shot, plomo (lead). The horrifying spike in drug violence in Mexico over the last four years has taken a heavy toll on the lives and work of Mexican journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists’ new report, Silence or Death in Mexico’s Press, shows how Mexico has become one of the deadliest countries in the world for the media, as well as holding one of the world’s worst records for solving crimes against journalists.
The newest report by Buenos Aires-based Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC), entitled Coordinación e integración: el desafío del sistema de salud argentino, finds that Argentina’s extremely fragmented and decentralized health care system makes it difficult to provide quality, broad-based care. The report analyzes the health care systems of the United Kingdom, Spain, Costa Rica, and Canada, and draws lessons from these cases that might be helpful in future health care reform in Argentina.
It may not be a think tank, but policymakers and analysts have come to rely on the analysis and wit of The Economist when it comes to the Americas. At a time when newspapers and magazines have cut back overseas bureaus, The Economist has kept its network of correspondents in Latin America filing weekly dispatches. Now, Latinophiles will also be able to follow daily news through the magazine’s new blog, Americas view. On it, you’ll find coverage of breaking news, accounts of reporting trips and interviews, and the politics, economics, society, and culture of the countries their journalists cover.
