Gabriel Ahumada decided to become a flutist more or less on a whim. As a child, he listened to classical music at home in Bogotá, Colombia, and took piano lessons, but if you had asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have said “conductor of an orchestra.” He was … Read more
Real change begins when communities learn how to help themselves, believe Diego de Sola, his sister Celina, and her husband Ken Baker. This idea guided the three former Connecticut residents to pack their bags and move to El Salvador four years ago to start a small NGO, Glasswing International. Inspired by groups like Habitat for … Read more
Liliana Rojero has had a passion for politics since she was 13 years old. Today, at 35, she is putting that passion to work. As the secretary of community outreach for Mexico’s ruling party, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), Rojero is responsible for creating programs to engage a new generation of PAN voters. Over the … Read more
A partnership between the National Endowment for Democracy’s Forum for Democratic Studies and the Instituto de Ciencia Política de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, the Journal of Democracy en Español provides cutting-edge analysis from the Journal of Democracy to Latin American readers in their own language. Now in its third year, the annual Spanish … Read more
Boleto al Paraíso (Ticket to Paradise) by Cuban director Gerardo Chijona is set during the “special period” of extreme hardship in Cuba that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Using the tale of two runaway teens, the movie contrasts the universal desire for a better life with the hopelessness of daily life, … Read more
Facing the Caribbean Sea on Colombia’s northern coast, the charming city of Cartagena de las Indias, founded in 1533, boasts some of the oldest, best-preserved colonial architecture in South America. The city’s historic walled district was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984 1. Spend the Evening in an Open-Air Plaza. The Plaza San … Read more
Brazilian Serginho Laus, 31, isn’t like most surfers, who clog the coastline in search of the next killer swell. But that didn’t stop him from capturing the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records title for longest distance surfed—an accolade he held for five years. The wave Laus rode lasted 10 kilometers (7 miles), a distance … Read more
Colombia is fast becoming Latin America’s newest player on the global fashion scene. Leading the couture revolution is the Medellín-based fashion house InexModa and its annual Colombia Moda fashion show. The two-day event, held in July, features 23 runway shows, where over 70 designers showcase their work with 90 Colombian models. Colombia Moda was first … Read more
In Canadian hockey, currency fluctuations can be almost as important as player skills. When the Canadian dollar, or loonie, began approaching parity with the U.S. dollar in late 2007, fans in Winnipeg and Québec City were thrilled. Financial constraints (along with a lack of owner interest) had driven the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix in 1996 … Read more
The 2010 U.S. Census results underlined not only the dramatic growth of the U.S. Hispanic population but its high mobility. In the last decade, data show that the number of Hispanics jumped by 43 percent—from 35.3 million in 2000 to 50.5 million in 2010—with this group accounting for over half of the total U.S. population … Read more
The Panama Canal Expansion Program (PCEP), launched in September 2007 and scheduled for completion in 2014, is expected by its proponents to have the greatest impact on global shipping of any project underway today. Once completed, the $5.5 billion project will roughly triple the size of vessels that can pass through the Canal, from the … Read more
The story goes that Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was born under a tree in San Juan, a province in western Argentina. I passed that tree every day on my way to teach at the Faculty of Philosophy, Humanities and Arts at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ), as a newly minted Fulbright Scholar in early … Read more
The economic reforms announced in Cuba in 2010 are indispensable to correct the huge structural imbalances of the Cuban economy and to sustain the social advances achieved on the island over the past half century. If anything, the reforms were late in coming. They are also risky because they may increase the number of Cubans … Read more
Cuba’s recent economic reforms to its economic model are not entirely new. What is new is the perception and the importance placed on them, especially on the role of the non-state sector. Once implemented, these reforms will update the country’s economic model. In announcing the “Draft Guidelines for Economic and Social Policy”—upon which the reforms … Read more
Americas Quarterly: Why is China today so interested economically in Latin America? Li Jinzhang: After 30 years of reform and economic opening, China has scored remarkable achievements in economic and social development, and its connections with the rest of the world have become closer. China needs the world to achieve development, and the world needs … Read more
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