Andean Region Archives - Page 40 of 73

Why Consulta Previa Is Among the Most Divisive Issues in Peru

In 2011, shortly after he took office, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala signed a law guaranteeing the right to prior consultation for indigenous communities that could be affected by development projects on or near their land. The legislation, known as consulta previa in Spanish and based on the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169, was enacted in … Read more

A Colombian Recipe for Peace and Reconciliation

This article is adapted from the Fall 2015 print edition of Americas Quarterly. To subscribe, please click here Elcielo, in Medellín, stands out for more than the quality of its food. One of Latin America’s top 50 restaurants, it has also become a symbol of Colombia’s efforts to return to normalcy after more than five … Read more

10 Things to Do in Quito, Ecuador

Ecuador has embarked on a strategic campaign to draw international visitors, spending a record $60 million on tourism in 2014. Rising from the remains of the Inca empire, with a newly opened airport and a subway in the works, Ecuador’s capital blends colonial history, Andean culture and contemporary infrastructure. 1. Go colonial Quito’s historic center, … Read more

Hello! from the Amazon’s Noise Capital

A visitor to the Amazon rain forest might expect to hear the call of birds, the buzz of insects and the screech of monkeys — but probably not car horns and roaring motors. Yet those are the predominant sounds echoing through the streets of Iquitos, a metropolis deep in the Peruvian Amazon. Iquitos has a … Read more

Three Innovations That Might Save the Amazon

This article is adapted from the Fall 2015 print edition of Americas Quarterly. To subscribe, please click here With each passing day, we lose more of our world’s forests to deforestation and degradation. But the good news is that in recent years, we’ve become considerably more sophisticated in how we try to protect the Amazon … Read more

Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Goodbye to the Status Quo: Why Change Is Coming to South America

This article is adapted from the Fall 2015 print edition of Americas Quarterly. To subscribe, please click here I first met Dilma Rousseff in the hallway of a dingy hotel in Juiz de Fora in August 2010. She was in the homestretch of the presidential race and she, like Brazil, could seemingly do no wrong. … Read more

Bolivia’s Evo Morales in Hot Seat Over Climate Policy

An estimated 3,000 climate activists will arrive in the Bolivian town of Tiquipaya this weekend for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and Defense of Life. Also in attendance: Some 3,000 police officers, tasked with “securing” the conference in a sign of the increasingly troubled relationship between Bolivia’s President Evo Morales and the indigenous and … Read more

Leopoldo López’s Prison Treatment Amounts to Torture, His Wife Says

In September 2015, a Venezuelan judge sentenced opposition leader Leopoldo López to nearly 14 years in prison for his role in anti-government protests that swept the South American nation in early 2014. On October 1, AQ sat down with Lilian Tintori, a human rights activist and López’s wife, to talk about conditions in Venezuela, her … Read more

Colombian police help Colombian women carry their belongings as they cross the Tachira border river from Venezuela to Colombia

The Trump-ification of Venezuela

Welcome to the Trump-ification of Venezuelan politics. By closing one of the busiest sections of the border with Colombia, and launching mass deportations of citizens from that country, the government of President Nicolás Maduro has actually implemented what the Republican presidential candidate only dreams of doing. Indeed, Maduro’s policies constitute a low point in the … Read more

Despite Early Prison Releases, Venezuela’s Opposition is Still Under Pressure

Retired General Raúl Baduel, a former Venezuelan defense minister and vocal government critic, was granted an early release from prison this morning after serving six years of an eight year anti-corruption sentence. His release comes just 24 hours after Daniel Ceballos, an opposition leader and former mayor, was granted house arrest due to poor health stemming … Read more

The Peruvian Success Story

Trade and investment are vital for a middle-income economy like Peru, which requires access to export markets and a steady supply of external capital flows in order to thrive. Peru’s foreign trade of goods and services measured by value is equivalent to 48 percent of its GDP.1 For over a decade, Peru has sustained an … Read more

FARC Seeks Helping Hand from the Pope in Peace Process

It seems we can add the FARC leadership to the growing list of unlikely admirers—including Cuban President Raúl Castro and Bolivian President Evo Morales—of the Roman Catholic pontiff. Speaking from Havana, Iván Márquez, the chief negotiator for the FARC in the Colombia peace talks, called the possibility of meeting with Pope Francis “something extraordinary.” “Imagine the … Read more