Book Review: Albina and the Dog-Men
Like Alejandro Jodorowsky himself, Albina and the Dog-Men seems to be all imaginable things at once: a fable and a folktale, a Western, a tragedy, a lewd comedy. A love story. The short novel’s titular character is an albino giant with no memory of her past. By moonlight, Albina unwittingly transforms the men of a … Read more
AQ Top 5 Young Chefs: Xavier Pacheco
Leer en español See the rest of the AQ Top 5 When Chef Xavier Pacheco returned to his native Puerto Rico from Barcelona, he knew opening a restaurant that served dishes with fresh, local ingredients, would be an uphill struggle. Puerto Rico, once home to a thriving agricultural sector, now imports 85 percent of its … Read more
AQ Top 5 Young Chefs: Elena Reygadas
Breaking culinary rules has led to widespread acclaim for the head chef and owner of Rosetta.
AQ Top 5 Young Chefs: Israel Laura
Leer en español See the rest of the AQ Top 5 At age 22, Israel Laura was working in an electric cable factory outside of Barcelona, where he had emigrated from Peru as a teenager. Faced with the uninspiring prospect of a life of factory work, and tired of bouncing from job to job, Laura … Read more
AQ Top 5 Young Chefs: Silvana Villegas
Leer en español See the rest of the AQ Top 5 You won’t find much on the menu at Masa (“dough” in Spanish) that isn’t completely, passionately, traditional. That’s how Silvana Villegas intends it. The 31-year-old chef and co-owner of one of Bogotá’s most popular bakeries and lunch spots has made it her mission to … Read more
AQ Top 5 Young Chefs: Rodrigo Oliveira
Leer en español See the rest of the AQ Top 5 As ridiculous as it may sound, São Paulo’s moneyed elite historically shunned “Brazilian” restaurants. Fine dining meant French, Portuguese, Japanese, or anything else foreign — reflecting both the city’s immigrant-heavy background and its prized self-image as distinct from the rest of Brazil. That finally began to … Read more
Introducing Latin America’s Top 5 “Corruption Busters”
This piece is adapted from Americas Quarterly’s first issue of 2016 Corruption has been a problem in the Americas for centuries. But something different – and, we think, historic – is happening right now. From Brazil to Guatemala and beyond, a new generation of prosecutors, judges and activists is making extraordinary progress. These brave, highly … Read more
Rio’s Big Moment: A Photo Essay
This was supposed to be the year of Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics were meant to showcase a safer, modernizing city that could not only provide for its more than 6 million citizens, but also play host to a marvelous global party. Unfortunately, it hasn’t turned out that way – Rio has been badly … Read more
Four Great Corruption-Killing Apps
CandiDatos CandiDatos.gt is a Guatemalan platform that profiles political candidates, helps register voters, and fights corruption by enforcing transparency. When citizens contact candidates through the website, the responses are tracked and ranked. A 10-question survey enables voters to identify the candidate who most coincides with their ideas, helping them to make informed choices. To date, … Read more
Mexico’s Next Big Chance to Tackle Corruption
Empowered by a political reform that was approved in 2014, Mexico’s top civil society groups, academics and activists gathered last Tuesday in a press conference to present a bill that would establish clear penalties for acts of corruption. This citizen’s initiative, known as Ley 3de3, could be discussed in Congress as early as this spring, … Read more
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli
Reading Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth (Coffee House Press) may provoke a vaguely familiar sensation for frequent readers of Latin American fiction — or, at least, a sense of recognizable unfamiliarity. Though Luiselli’s daring second novel is nothing if not refreshing, more than one reviewer has called the author “reminiscent of (Roberto) Bolaño,” … Read more
Life and Death in the Andes
In Life and Death in the Andes (Simon & Schuster), award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Kim MacQuarrie journeys through 2,500 miles of vertical landscape – and 10,000 years of history – to reveal the heart and soul of a long-troubled and neglected part of the world. Told through a series of major events that read … Read more
What a 19th Century Default Says About Brazil’s Crisis Today
“A tree born crooked will never straighten itself out.” The aphorism is a favorite among Brazilians seeking to explain their nation’s frustrating lack of steady and inclusive socioeconomic progress. In Inglorious Revolution (Yale University Press), William Summerhill digs down to expose some of the roots. This meticulously researched academic work sets out to explain why … Read more
How a Forgotten Border Dispute Tormented U.S.-Mexico Relations for 100 Years
Walking through El Chamizal Park, a thirsty sliver of 600 acres of land sandwiched between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, you would hardly consider it a place worth fighting over. A small slice of territory between two very large countries, it is nearly unusable for agriculture and devoid of natural resources. Yet for … Read more
