10 Things to Do: Kingston
Kingston, the hemisphere’s largest English-speaking city south of Miami, is a study in contrasts. Gaudy mansions sit next to ramshackle “cardboard villas,” and fine arts museums jostle for space with garish dance halls and clubs. For business travelers and tourists, Kingston takes all this and blends it together into a uniquely funky salad. 1. Drop … Read more
Reliving Good Ol’ Days
Remember the song from the night you met your spouse, or the hit that reminds you of college? You’re not alone. Uruguayan radio DJ Pablo Lecueder, 53, believes music has unrivaled power to conjure up the most important experiences in our lives. “To remember is beautiful,” says Lecueder, who directs Montevideo-based radio station Océano FM, … Read more
The New Microcaliente Telenovela
Steamy telenovelas don’t usually conjure notions of savings, investment or financial responsibility. Yet the Dominican Republic-based microfinance institution Banco ADOPEM is using Latin America’s classic soap operas to promote financial prudence and planning. A Flor de Piel (Skin Deep) is a 16-episode telenovela designed to improve financial literacy among low-income Dominican families. Set to premiere … Read more
The Dakar Rally…in South America
In 1977, while in a race, French motorcyclist Thierry Sabine got lost in the Sahara Desert and turned up in Libya. Struck by the adventure and challenges of his errant path, Sabine founded The Paris-Dakar Rally off-road race a year later. And while the popular event is now known simply as “The Dakar,” in recent … Read more
Ask the Experts: Sports—Business, Integration & Social Change
Larry Rohter Answers: In Rio de Janeiro, a fierce debate over preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics is under way. Brazilians are proud to have been chosen to host these important sporting events and to have the world’s attention. But they reasonably worry that both competitions may end up being … Read more
It’s Not Your Grandfather’s Hemisphere
The United States has never experienced a more auspicious moment to advance its fundamental national interests in the Americas. Today, most nations of the hemisphere are building on democratic success, economic growth, expanding capacity, and regional integration to overcome past inequities and to drive major internal transformation. At the same time, they are confronting powerful … Read more
Baseball’s Recruitment Abuses
Baseball may no longer be the national pastime in the United States, but it remains a pan-Caribbean passion. No other region celebrates the game with such panache or sends so many stellar players to the major leagues. f you visit any ballfield in the Caribbean, it will be hard to miss the talent scouts lurking on … Read more
Brazil’s Long To-Do List
Read an article on World Cup preparations in Manaus, Brazil. Never mind that the Brazilian government is trampling the homes and uprooting the communities of the poor in some inconveniently located favelas. Never mind that many of the million-plus residents of Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns still find their lives controlled by violent drug gangs and … Read more
Multimedia: Scissors Dancers
Multimedia feature by Nicolas Villaume View the SlideshowWatch the Video This is a preview article from the Summer 2011 issue of AQ, to be released on August 10 and available in all Barnes & Noble bookstores beginning August 15. Scissors Dancers Slideshow There are a number of Quechua myths regarding the origin of the Scissors … Read more
Dispatches: The Winter of Peru’s Discontent
The Madre de Dios department in the Amazon region of southeastern Peru produces 10 percent of the nation’s gold output at a time when gold prices have risen nearly 25 percent over the past year (and more than 450 percent over the past 10 years). But none of that wealth is apparent during a visit … Read more
Latin America: Then & Now
Luis Moreno Ocampo Answers: 1. When you were involved in the trials of the military, would you have predicted that Latin America would look as it does today? In 1985, as a deputy prosecutor in the trials against the military juntas [which governed from 1977 to 1983], I learned how the crimes were committed. I … Read more
[i]La Rebelión de los Náufragos[/i] by Mirtha Rivero
The modern tragic political figure is not just endemic to Latin America. The ignominious fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak—once a war hero to his countrymen—is the latest proof of this. But in her book, La Rebelión de los Náufragos (The Revolt of the Castaways), Venezuelan journalist Mirtha Rivero takes us back to the tragic … Read more
[i]The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba’s Last Tycoon[/i] by John Paul Rathbone
A common assumption is that the Cuban economic elite was universally opposed to the revolutionary government of Fidel Castro from the time it took power in January 1959. But The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba’s Last Tycoon shows otherwise. In his book, John Paul Rathbone, the Latin America … Read more
[i]Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings[/i] edited by Kurt Weyland, Raúl L. Madrid and Wendy Hunter
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the Latin American Left experienced an extraordinary revival, especially in South America. By 2009, eight South American countries and two Central American nations had elected left-wing governments. Is this revival a harbinger of a progressive renaissance or a throwback to failed experiments? Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes … Read more
Business innovator: Andrés Moreno
If you visit Andrés Moreno’s blog, you’ll see a list of books he’s “recently enjoyed.” Among them are Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language, and Mastering the VC Game. The list not only reflects Moreno’s passion for English as a global language, but his entrepreneurial drive to turn that passion into profits. … Read more
