Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas
venezuela

Venezuelan Refugees Strain Colombian Border Towns

CÚCUTA, Colombia — Majerly Ospina lives with her three children in a tin roof shack with walls of green plastic. They have no running water or electricity. Despite the hardships, Ospina is thankful for what they have in Colombia; living conditions were tougher in her native Venezuela. “You can’t find food there,” she said, holding … Read more

morales

Bolivia: No Easy Way Forward, With or Without Morales

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has long been seen as a benign (and, ultimately, successful) version of Latin American left-wing leadership. Questionable international partnerships and controversial nationalizations aside, Morales’ prudent macroeconomic management has helped Bolivia’s economy outperform many of its neighbors over the past 12 years of his administration. But with presidential elections scheduled for 2019 … Read more

Venezueal

First Aid on Venezuela’s Front Lines

Violent clashes between Venezuelan protesters and government forces wielding tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and tanks have killed at least 29 people since April 1 and left many more injured – including members of the security forces. As marches continue this week, this grim tally is expected to climb. Hoping to mitigate risk and … Read more

Venezuela

Can’t We Give Venezuela’s Opposition a Little Credit?

Venezuela’s opposition is perhaps one of Latin America’s most criticized political forces. Even within the opposition itself, critics abound. Every opposition voter I meet has a long list of complaints about the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD, in Spanish), the grand coalition of parties that since 2008 has led the opposition to Chavismo and now President … Read more

crude nation

“Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela”

This article is adapted from AQ’s special issue on the U.S.-Mexico relationship. To receive AQ at home, subscribe here. The story of Venezuela is one of Latin America’s most tragic. Home to massive oil resources, and once considered the region’s wealthiest country, Venezuela is today a nation in self-inflicted collapse. The ruling chavista movement — named for former President Hugo Chávez, who … Read more

Protest

Why Protesters in Venezuela Should Resist Responding to Violence with Violence

Most Venezuelans taking part in today’s “mother of all marches” against President Nicolás Maduro are planning to do so peacefully. Even the country’s most outspoken opposition leaders are using the language of nonviolent resistance. Not everyone is on board. Government security forces have cracked down violently on dissent; regime-backed paramilitary groups attacked marchers and have … Read more

MaduroDiet

“The Maduro Diet”: A Photo Essay from Venezuela

Venezuela’s political and economic crisis has done deep and lasting damage to its population’s health. In the past year, 74.3 percent of the population has lost weight — an average of 8.7 kilograms (19 pounds) per person – because of food scarcity, according to a recent study by three of Caracas’ largest universities (UCAB, USB … Read more

maduro

Why Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro Doesn’t Look Finished Quite Yet

While it’s tempting to describe President Nicolás Maduro’s government as crazy or erratic, a closer analysis reveals that decision-makers in Caracas operate according to a clear – and effective – set of principles. Indeed, Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez have long been aware of the fact that high-profile ruptures of democratic order – such … Read more

Correa

The Controversy That Could Swing Ecuador’s Election

A decade ago, Rafael Correa was sworn in as president of Ecuador in the Andean village of Zumbahua. In the presence of fellow “pink tide” socialist presidents Hugo Chávez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, five indigenous priests sprinkled him with sacred herbs and evoked the spirits of the moon and sun to provide him with positive energy. But … Read more

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Five Ways Venezuelan Businesses Are Coping with Crisis

Businesses and entrepreneurs in Venezuela are responding to the country’s crippling economic crisis in all sorts of ways. Many are simply closing their doors – not surprising in a country whose GDP shrank by at least 10 percent last year.   But others have reinvented themselves to survive in the country’s off-kilter economy, as new … Read more

Russia_Top

Power Moves: How Venezuela’s Maduro Is Shoring Up His Defenses

Leer en español If the mood on the streets of Caracas is a guide, Venezuelans are increasingly reconciling themselves to an uncomfortable idea: President Nicolás Maduro isn’t going anywhere. Despite Venezuela enduring one of the most profound economic and political crises of any Latin American country in recent memory – and amid yearlong calls for … Read more

chavez

Chávez on TV: What “El Comandante” Says About Rising Populism

Moisés Naím doesn’t shy away from new projects. But the Venezuelan economist and TV host’s latest creative endeavor has sparked more than the usual controversy. “El Comandante,” a telenovela about Venezuela’s late former President Hugo Chávez , takes liberties with the strongman’s biography even as it considers his legacy and sheds light on his rise … Read more

PPK

Latin America’s Trump Whisperer

The year was 1967, and worried presidents from across the Americas gathered at a hotel in Punta del Este, Uruguay to discuss a region in crisis. The twin shocks of the Cuban revolution and the Vietnam War were sowing unrest throughout the hemisphere. Ernesto “Che” Guevara was in the mountains of Bolivia, trying to incite … Read more

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A Familiar Pattern of Violence Could Threaten Colombia’s Peace Process

Implementing peace was always going to be harder than negotiating it. But in the three months since Colombia’s Congress endorsed a deal to end more than 50 years of conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s fragile peace process has already been put to a chilling test.  Since Dec. 1 of … Read more

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