Taking the Long View on Latin American Democracy
When the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) was founded in 1966, there was a clear need for dialogue and debate over the direction the region was headed. Military dictatorships were in power across the Americas, from Honduras to Argentina. Democracy, far from the rule, was the exception. Just 50 years after a future of alternative … Read more
Michel Temer and the ‘Nobody Survives’ Scenario in Brasília
I had dinner recently with a Fortune 500 executive who was absolutely furious over Brazil. At great pains, he had finally convinced his board to take a fresh look at investing there under interim President Michel Temer’s government. But the latest wave of corruption-related resignations and arrests had scared them away once again, for fear … Read more
Venezuela: Is This the Final Straw?
To see a full list of electoral irregularities that have occurred since Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro took office, scroll to the bottom of the page I recently wrote about the one institutional factor that, in my opinion, is keeping Venezuela’s government alive. I called it the judicial shield, which refers to how the Supreme Court … Read more
The Real Lesson of Mexico’s State Elections
Mexicans from the U.S. border to the Yucatan peninsula issued a strong rebuke to President Enrique Peña Nieto and his ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in state elections on Sunday. The PRI lost governorships in six of the nine states it held going into the vote, including four – Durango, Quintana Roo, Tamaulipas and Veracruz – … Read more
This Week in Latin America: Polls Close in Peru
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered to your inbox every Monday. Peru Votes: With over 90 percent of votes counted as of publication, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski holds a slim lead in Peru’s run-off presidential election thanks to a late surge against his rival Keiko Fujimori. The 77-year-old Kuczynski, who would be the country’s oldest president at the time of taking office, positioned … Read more
Not Impossible: Could Rousseff Return as Brazil’s President?
When Dilma Rousseff was suspended as Brazil’s president last month, Vice President Michel Temer quickly fired the existing cabinet and installed his own team. Though her presidential portraits were put back on the walls after being briefly removed, the message was still clear: Dilma won’t be coming back. But could she? Rousseff’s path back to the … Read more
After Brazil, Will Venezuela Be Next to Remove Its President?
Throughout Latin America, there is talk about presidential interruptions, again. In the last seven years, four presidents have left office prematurely – Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, Otto Pérez Molina in Guatemala, and now Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. Many analysts think that Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is next. However, there is good … Read more
A Final Defense of Dilma Rousseff
Back in March 2014, when the Petrobras scandal was just getting started, some of President Dilma Rousseff’s top aides saw a golden opportunity to kill the investigation – or at least badly wound it. Márcio Anselmo, the Federal Police deputy in charge of the probe, had given an interview (which can be seen here) to … Read more
Podcast: Brazil’s House of Cards Is Falling for Cunha and Rousseff
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. Brazil’s house of cards is falling. Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of the lower house of Congress – and third in line to the president – was suspended today for obstructing a corruption investigation, days before Dilma Rousseff herself is expected to be suspended. Reuters’ senior correspondent in Brasília Anthony … Read more
Podcast: Inside Rousseff’s Trip to New York to Decry a ‘Coup’
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is visiting New York in a dramatic attempt to convince the international community that she is victim of a “coup d’état without weapons.” Providing an insider’s view of this strategy to save her presidency is Matias Spektor, a professor of international relations … Read more
Podcast: Cardoso Says Impeachment ‘Not a Happy Day … But It Was Necessary’
Also available for download through the App Store and on all Apple devices. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, president of Brazil from 1995 to 2002 and still an important leader of the opposition, defends the decision by Congress to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. Speaking with AQ editor-in-chief Brian Winter late Sunday as the final votes were being cast, Cardoso … Read more
Podcast: Rousseff Won’t Go Quietly, Even If She Loses Impeachment Vote
Also available for download through the App Store and on all Apple devices. Even if she loses Sunday’s impeachment vote, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is likely to keep fighting for her job, says one of the people who knows her best. Thomas Traumann, a political analyst who until 2015 was Rousseff’s spokesman, explains why investors … Read more
O momento ‘Que se vayan todos’ do Brasil
Read in English Quando a economia da Argentina entrou em colapso no fim de 2001, todo mundo tinha certeza absoluta de quem era a culpa. Distante, hermético e cada vez mais propenso a balbuciar as palavras em seus discursos públicos, o presidente Fernando de la Rua havia conseguido desordenar completamente as contas públicas do governo … Read more
Impeachment and Brazil’s ‘Que Se Vayan Todos’ Moment
Leia em Português When Argentina’s economy collapsed in late 2001, everybody was absolutely sure whose fault it was. Aloof, hermetic and increasingly prone to slurring his words in public, President Fernando de la Rúa had managed to trash the government’s fiscal accounts in just two years in power. Steakhouses and nightclubs were empty, unemployment was … Read more
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