Central America & Caribbean Archives - Page 31 of 48

Dinamismo en los Partidos Políticos de El Salvador

Los salvadoreños nos encontramos, de nuevo, a escasos cinco meses de una nueva contienda electoral. Mientras muchos aún no terminan de recuperarse de la resaca de la última elección presidencial, otros esperan con ansias la llegada de los próximos comicios. Generalmente, en épocas cercanas a elecciones es cuando muchos empezamos a prestarle atención a los … Read more

Cuba and Colombia

Articles: published article?1 A Skeptic’s View on the “Peace Dividend” by Alberto Bernal The economic benefits are neither direct nor certain. The Obstacles to Political Integration Post-Peace by Juanita León The obstacles to political integration. Full text available. Law and Reconciliation in Colombia by Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes and Nelson Camilo Sanchez Here’s how to achieve … Read more

Righting Guatemala’s Broken Judicial Selection Process

This year has been important for Guatemala’s judicial system. A number of judicial posts are due to be filled in 2014, and so far this year, a new electoral tribunal and attorney general have already taken office. In July, the selection process for Supreme Court and appeals court magistrates began. However, these two selection processes … Read more

Monday Memo: Canadian Executive Jailed – Missing Mexican students – Venezuelan Bolivar – Murder Suspects in Peru – Colombian Hackers

This week’s likely top stories: Canadian businessman Cy Tokmakjian is sentenced to 15 years in Cuba; Mexico searches for 58 missing students; Venezuela’s bolivar hits a new low; Peru arrests two suspects in the murder of Indigenous activists; Colombian peace negotiator Humberto de la Calle says his e-mail was hacked. Canadian executive jailed in Cuba: … Read more

Mesoamerica’s Infrastructure Projects and Reducing Climate Change

This week, New York City hosted the Climate Summit 2014, an event aimed at shaping the world’s future developmental policies. Just one month earlier in Nicaragua, delegates from the Mesoamerican region met to analyze the social, environmental and economic impacts of severe droughts this year. Proyecto Mesoamérica (Mesoamerican Project), launched in 2008 by heads … Read more

Monday Memo: UN General Assembly and Climate Summit – Leopoldo López – El Salvador – Conflict in Guatemala – Clorox

This week’s likely top stories: World leaders gather for the UN General Assembly; Leopoldo López’ trial resumes in Venezuela; U.S. to approve aid to El Salvador; 8 killed in Guatemala conflict over cement plant; Clorox discontinues operations in Venezuela. World leaders converge in New York; thousands march for action on climate change: Some 140 heads … Read more

Rape Another Threat on Migrant Women’s Journey North

For the majority of Central American women and girls crossing Mexico en route to the U.S., rape is another step along the path to the American dream. Exact statistics don’t exist. Previously, nonprofits including Amnesty International estimated that, in 2010, roughly 60 percent of migrant women and girls were sexually assaulted in Mexico, based on … Read more

Arrest of Director of Prisons Helps Take Down Extortion Ring

Guatemala’s Director of Prisons, Edgar Camargo, was arrested on Wednesday, September 3, helping to bring down an alleged extortion group that raked in millions of dollars, property and luxury cars. Also charged were the former deputy director of prisons, Edy Fischer, and Byron Lima Oliva, the purported mastermind of the operation, who was serving time … Read more

CICIG Investigation Could Be a Game-Changer for Guatemala

On September 3, 2014, Guatemala’s director of the penitentiary system, Edgar Camargo, and its former deputy director, Edy Fisher, were arrested—as were several others—for their participation in a crime ring run by a convicted felon from inside a Guatemalan prison. These arrests were produced following an investigation done by the Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad … Read more

How to Grow a City: A Look Inside Honduran ZEDEs

When an outsider looks at Honduras, it’s hard not to see the worst: poverty, institutional corruption and violence run rampant. When a country grabs international headlines for its president being ousted by the military after attempting to extend his own term, or for having by far the highest murder rate in the world, or for … Read more

Monday Memo: U.S. Immigration – Petrobras Scandal – Francisco Flores – Private Equity – Chile’s September 11

This week’s likely top stories: Barack Obama delays executive action on immigration; a former Petrobras director names 40 politicians in scandal; former Salvadoran President Flores turns himself in; private equity fundraising in Latin America this year could reach $8 billion; Chileans remember September 11, 1973. Immigration reform stalled: U.S. President Barack Obama’s promise to use … Read more

These Are a Few of My Favorite [AP] Words

If there are two things that inspire me it’s a ramped up, over-the-top, scurrilous AP story about democracy promotion and a Broadway musical–especially a Rodgers and Hammerstein production. So, here is my adaptation of the classic Sound of Music, “My Favorite Things,” based on the recent series of articles published by AP on USAID’s democracy … Read more

Cuba and the Summits of the Americas

If the U.S. wants to keep the Summit of the Americas process on track and regain some measure of influence in the hemisphere, it will have to change its Cuba policy, pronto. Reframing our policy and saving the Summit process isn’t as tough as it seems; it just takes leadership. In coming months, the United … Read more

Guatemalan Armed Forces Chief Dies in Helicopter Crash

General Rudy Israel Ortiz Ruiz was one of five military officials involved in a helicopter crash Wednesday morning. After the Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Air Force—FAG) helicopter Bell 206 took off from Huehuetenango for a routine fly-over inspection of units along the Mexican border, the pilot rerouted from landing in Ixquisis to Las Palmas due … Read more