Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas
Xavier Pacheco

AQ Top 5 de Chefs Jóvenes: Xavier Pacheco

Read in English Cuando el chef Xavier Pacheco regresó de Barcelona a su natal Puerto Rico sabía que abrir un restaurante que sirviera platillos con ingredientes frescos de la localidad sería una lucha cuesta arriba. Puerto Rico, antes poseedor de un próspero sector agrícola, ahora importa el 85 por ciento de sus alimentos, pero Pacheco, … Read more

Israel Laura

AQ Top 5 de Chefs Jóvenes: Israel Laura

Read in English A los 22 años Israel Laura estaba trabajando en una fábrica de cables eléctricos situada en las afueras de Barcelona, ciudad a la que había emigrado desde Perú siendo adolescente. Ante la poco inspiradora perspectiva de una vida de trabajo en una fábrica, y cansado de saltar de un empleo a otro, … Read more

Silvana Villegas

AQ Top 5 de Chefs Jóvenes: Silvana Villegas

Read in English Usted no encontrará gran cosa en el menú de Masa que no sea completa y apasionadamente tradicional. Precisamente esa es la intención de Silvana Villegas. La chef de 31 años y copropietaria de una de las panaderías y restaurantes más populares de Bogotá se propuso como misión llevar el miche levain, el … Read more

Rodrigo Oliveira

AQ Top 5 de Chefs Jóvenes: Rodrigo Oliveira

Read in English Por ridículo que pueda parecer, la élite acaudalada de São Paulo tradicionalmente rehuía a los restaurantes “brasileños”. Para esta, una comida de lujo tenía que ser francesa, portuguesa, japonesa o cualquier otra, mientras fuera extranjera –preferencia que era un reflejo de la historia de la ciudad como punto importante de llegada de migrantes, … Read more

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Which Future? Ideas for a Better Central America

When I hear people talk about troubled areas of Central America, using terms like “hopeless” and “failed state,” it reminds me of what many said about Colombia in the 1990s and early 2000s. During that terrible era, drug cartels and guerrilla groups were so powerful – and the Colombian government so weak – that criminals … Read more

Surfing El Salvador

How Surfing Helps El Salvador’s Economy

At the onset of the 1980s, surf tourism in El Salvador seemed like a fading pipe dream. The country’s fledgling industry, which had shown some potential in the 1970s, stalled as Salvadorans braced for civil war. For the next 12 years, as battles raged between the right-wing government and political dissidents of the Farabundo Martí … Read more

Barrio 18

Homegrown Solutions to Central America’s Narco Nightmare

Six months after getting elected on a tough-on-crime platform, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández blamed his country’s spiraling crime problem on U.S. drug policy. Washington’s strategy of pouring funds into drug interdiction efforts — first in Colombia, then in Mexico — had actually pushed cartels and gangs to safer havens in Central America, he charged. President Hernández added that … Read more

Jobs

Where Are Central America’s Real Jobs?

These days, Celso López is a naturopathic doctor living a quiet life on a farm. But during the 1980s, he led a column of about 100 guerrilla fighters in the mountains surrounding San Martin, Guatemala. López said he was “the most wanted man in the area,” with a hefty price on his head, and he … Read more

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How Central America Can Make the Most of a $750 Million U.S. Aid Package

The passage of a $750 million U.S. aid package for Central America is an example of the collaboration needed to end violence and rebuild society in the Northern Triangle. As policymakers spend these funds, having the right data to inform spending will be crucial. For over 15 years, INCAE Business School has helped collect and … Read more

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Centroamérica sigue tan violenta como siempre. ¿Cómo podría cambiar?

Read in English La primera vez que intenté visitar Suchitoto era una ciudad en estado de sitio. Las guerrillas de izquierda que controlaban el cercano volcán Guazapa estaban tratando de correr a los militares. Tres cuartas partes de sus 40.000 habitantes habían huido o muerto. La vida era miserable para los que se quedaron en … Read more

Rigoberta Menchu

Central America Won’t Get Better Until Women’s Issues Become a Priority

Leer en español Latin America’s failure to pay attention to women is holding the region back. Despite great success in reducing poverty and income inequality in the first decade of the 21st century, the region’s yawning gender gap continues to be a brake on future development. No clearer example of this exists than in Central … Read more

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Central America Is As Violent As Ever. What Would it Take to Change?

Leer en español The first time I tried to visit Suchitoto, it was a town under siege. Left-wing guerrillas who held the nearby Guazapa volcano were trying to drive the military out. Three-quarters of the town’s 40,000 population had fled or been killed – and life was miserable for those who remained, as sabotage attacks … Read more

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Book Review: El Mall

The structures that inhabit our daily lives — our homes, businesses, churches — are often markers of the invisible forces that shape and crystallize them. But it takes a lucid and thoughtful eye to see the tangible as something also drenched in the revealing, subtle nuances of social and cultural life. Arlene Dávila, the author of El Mall: The … Read more

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