The Road to the World Cup
Although the next World Cup doesn’t kick off until June 2014, the qualifying rounds are already well under way. Between June 2011 and November 2013, 203 teams representing six regional federations will vie for 31 berths in the world’s biggest sports tournament. The federations vary in both qualification method and level of competition. The Confederación … Read more
10 Things To Do: Oaxaca, Mexico
Located in southern Mexico, Oaxaca is a UNESCO World Heritage City. Its rich heritage includes Zapotec, Mixtec and Spanish cultures, and it’s also an important landmark in Mexican history, established as a colonial city in 1532. The city is in Oaxaca state, where former president Benito Juárez, the great 19th-century liberal reformer and statesman, was … Read more
Diwali
If you happen to be in India in October or November, one cultural attraction you cannot miss is Diwali, also known as the festival of lights. The five-day event marks the start of the Hindu new year, and this year, due to the Hindu calendar, it occurs November 11–15. But Diwali celebrations can also be … Read more
Piedra, Papel o Tijera
The popular children’s game of Piedra, Papel o Tijera (Rock, Paper or Scissors) is a lesson in chance and luck. Venezuelan filmmaker Hernán Jabes applies the same lesson to life in the violent and unpredictable environment of Caracas in his new film of the same name. The 110-minute movie focuses on the members of two … Read more
Chavín de Huántar
It’s time to add another stop on Peru’s archeological tour. Chavín de Huántar may lack the vertigo-inducing majesty and mystery of Machu Picchu or the intriguing juxtaposition of the pre-Incan pyramid of Huaca Pucllana with urban Lima, but it has two other important traits: novelty and a dash of creepiness. The Chavín period existed from roughly … Read more
Infrastructure: Brazil, the World Cup and Olympics
With the 2012 London Olympic Games over, attention has shifted to Brazil as host of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. But a worrying amount of work needs to be done. Brazilian officials have promised that public works projects such as overhauling urban transit, airports and ports, building new roads, sports stadiums … Read more
Human Rights: New Threats in the Hemisphere
In her novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Álvarez describes an international mission to visit the Mirabal sisters when two of the four women were in jail for opposing the Rafael Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. Three of the sisters were later assassinated on November 25, 1960—a date later designated by the … Read more
Finance: Latin America’s Mortgage Market
Since 2003, mortgage credit in Latin America has expanded at an annual rate of 14 percent (adjusted for inflation)—well above rates observed in emerging Asia but below the exorbitant rates seen in emerging Europe before its housing bust. The region’s credit expansion has been accompanied by burgeoning real estate prices and construction activity—now representing more … Read more
Arts Innovator: Mati Zundel, Argentina
When Mati Zundel visited Buenos Aires as a child growing up in rural Argentina, “even the music on the radio was a shock,” he recalls. Today, Zundel makes music that can challenge even the most jaded urban sophisticate. The 29-year-old musician, who trained as a recording engineer at the Universidad Nacional de Lanús, blends Indigenous … Read more
Politics Innovator: Marisela Morales, Mexico
Marisela Morales Ibáñez, Mexico’s first female attorney general, has been fearless in battling corruption since she entered the Ministerio Público (Public Ministry) in 1993. As head of the Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada (Sub-Office for Special Investigations on Organized Crime—SEIDO), one of her first cases was to prosecute her former boss in connection … Read more
Civic Innovator: Damián Osta, Uruguay
Damián Osta doesn’t fit the profile of the region’s media tycoons, but he had a vision equal in ambition to any of them. “I wanted to create a newspaper that I would want to read,” says the 37-year-old Uruguayan entrepreneur. Osta, a native of Uruguay’s La Florida department, moved to Montevideo 18 years ago. But … Read more
Business Innovator: Edivan Costa, Brazil
“Don’t be afraid of bureaucracy. Turn it into an opportunity.” According to Brazilian entrepreneur Edivan Costa, that has been the guiding phrase of his life and career. But he is the first to admit that in his country, it’s easier said than done: Brazil ranks 126th out of 183 countries in ease of starting a … Read more
Reducing trade barriers makes sense at any level.
Bilateral and regional trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are not only consistent with the spirit and commitments of the World Trade Organization (WTO), they are the only things keeping the global push toward free trade alive. In fact, given the current paralysis in the WTO’s Doha Round of negotiations, agreements like the TPP … Read more
They waste energy and political capital.
I have supported, and continue to support, all bilateral and regional deals. But Latin America, the United States and the rest of the world would benefit far more if the time, energy, human resources, and all-too-limited political capital being invested in these deals were devoted instead to achieving a much-needed global deal on trade. While such … Read more
Argentina: The Insecure
Is there an Argentine middle-class dream?” When they’re asked that question, Guillermo Iacoboni, 36, and his wife Raquel, 38, look at each other quizzically across the kitchen table as their daughters Julieta, 7, and Guillermina, 11, sit in their room playing on their computer. “I guess it would be owning your own house,” Guillermo answers. … Read more
