Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Infrastructure

peace

Colombia’s Peace Needs a Local Touch

Leer en español At the heart of Colombia’s peace agreement with the FARC is an earnest effort to improve life in its long neglected countryside. A series of national programs for education, health, electrification, housing and credit for the agricultural sector, built into the agreement, are designed to help close a woeful development gap between … Read more

nuzman

Rio’s Olympics Were a Raging Success! Really!

No matter what you may have read elsewhere, Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Olympic Games were a massive success. OK, so the event was billed by former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as Brazil’s time to shine, “an opportunity without equal, increasing Brazilians’ self-esteem, consolidating recent achievements and inspiring new progress.” On that front, it’s … Read more

rio

Rio de Janeiro’s Party Is Over. Who Pays the Bill?

I teach at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, one of the most important educational institutions in Brazil, with more than 30,000 students. Broad programs of affirmative action have ensured that many of those students are from poor backgrounds, often the first members of their families to go to college. They are part of … Read more

caribbeanhousing

Caribbean Housing Is Expensive and Scarce. Here’s How to Change That.

The Caribbean is caught in a housing trap. The cost of living is high: building a house in Kingston is three times more expensive than in a typical Latin American city. This has left ten million people in The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago without … Read more

wheelchair

How to Make Mexico City a Better Place for the Disabled

The senator from Durango looks bemused. It’s the afternoon of Oct. 18, and Yolanda de la Torre, seated and wearing an electric pink suit jacket with navy slacks, is being carried up the switchback stone staircase of Mexico City’s Palacio de Minería. The 250-year-old college building, now run by the national university’s engineering department, has only one … Read more

El Salvador

The Missing Piece of U.S. Aid for Central America

When the road is clear, the drive from Guatemala City to Izabal, about 205 miles away, takes just over five hours. Jose Rodríguez was lucky to make it in eight. Rodriguez, who travels all over the country as a contractor refurbishing pharmacies and supermarkets, was on his way to a job in Izabal this September … Read more

favela

Podcast: Inside Rio’s Favelas: The Fallout from an Alleged Gang Rape

Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. The alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in a Rio de Janeiro favela last month set off national protests against Brazil’s macho culture and shined a harsh spotlight on the city two months before it hosts the 2016 Olympics. But favelas are not the problem, according to Theresa … Read more

Mexico Airport

Cómo un nuevo aeropuerto puede ‘transformar el futuro’ de México

Read in English La Ciudad de México está atascada. La capital mexicana, sobrepoblada y hundiéndose, fue nombrada a principios de este año como la ciudad más congestionada del mundo. Esta dudosa distinción no sorprende a nadie, tomando en cuenta que el número de automóviles registrados en el área metropolitana casi se duplicó entre 2005 y … Read more

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