Dispatches from the Field: Return Migration in Mexico
Can Mexico exploit its new demographic dividend? (slideshow available)
Academic Brain Drain
A recurrent theme in the immigration debate is how the United States can keep and attract the world’s brightest minds. President Barack Obama and others favor maintaining and perhaps even expanding the number of visas for high-skilled immigrants. In his 2013 State of the Union address, Obama said the U.S. needed to “attract the highly … Read more
Protest U.
Millions of students have taken to the streets across Latin America in recent years in protests that reflect an unprecedentedly broad mobilization of popular opinion. Following massive demonstrations led by secondary school students in 2006 in Chile, university students launched a series of protests in May 2011. Powered by a coalition of public and private … Read more
The Pull and Example of Science Education in the United States
I expected high school biology students. Instead, I was facing 120 middle school students who were on an outing to Maloka, an innovative science museum in Bogotá. On the fly, I changed my presentation on how the brain works into a series of demonstrations. At the end, I was awed by the questions: “My mother … Read more
La Jaula de Oro
Hoping to protect herself from the journey ahead, 15-year-old Sara cuts her hair, binds her chest, and changes into a dirty T-shirt and a baseball cap. Emerging as a slouching teenage boy, she leaves her home in a Guatemalan slum for a better life in the United States. This poignant scene opens director Diego Quemada-Díez’s … Read more
Latin America at the Winter Olympics
Latin American and Caribbean countries may not be as well-known for their winter sports as Canada, Russia or the United States, but the region does have a storied tradition at the Winter Olympic Games. Argentina, the first Latin American country to participate, sent a five-man bobsled team to the second-ever Winter Games in 1928. Chile … Read more
From the Think Tanks
Human Rights Watch, Brookings Institution, Corporación de Estudios para Latinoamerica The Venezuelan government’s response to the protests that began on February 12, 2014, led to accusations of human rights abuses. In its report, “Punished for Protesting: Rights Violations in Venezuela’s Streets, Detention Centers, and Justice System,” Human Rights Watch analyzes 45 allegations of abuses perpetrated … Read more
Dispatches: Mexico’s New Demographic Dividend
With contributing research from Miryam Hazán and Carlos López Portillo Maltos of Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together (MATT). Read a sidebar on Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together (MATT’s) electronic job bank. Read a sidebar on Mexican migrants’ return to restaurant work. José Antonio Pérez remembers as a child seeing migrants climbing onto La Bestia (“The … Read more
Policy Advocacy: NAFTA and the New Regionalism
The world has changed dramatically since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed. Today, 20 years later, we live in an era of mega-regionalism. This new reality calls for a new strategic vision for North America. “Distant neighbors.” That’s how Alan Riding, then The New York Times bureau chief in Mexico, labeled the … Read more
Ask the Experts: Higher Education
Artur Cherbowski Lask answers: It’s important to keep in mind that a region consists of different countries, each with its own needs and strengths, and bound to its particular culture and history—although tied firmly to a common, shared history and culture. In this mosaic, universities try to respond to their regional, national and local demands. … Read more
Behind the Numbers: Women’s Rights
The gender-based data on social inclusion clearly indicate the opportunities and obstacles facing women in Latin America—as well as numerous contradictions and complexities. An examination of new trends, laws and policies brings to mind the Spanish expression, “Del dicho al hecho, hay mucho trecho.” In other words, even in many areas where there appears to … Read more
Short and Long-term Solutions to Migration in Central America
During the past few months, the United States, Mexico and Central American governments have brought attention to the number of unaccompanied minors fleeing towards the U.S. from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that the number of unaccompanied children ages 12 and younger caught at the … Read more
Approval of Reforms Jolts Mexican Telecommunications Powerhouse
Mexican telecom giant América Móvil stands to lose its stronghold on the telecommunications market after the Mexican Congress approved legislative reforms on Wednesday intended to break down telecommunications monopolies in the country. President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed the reforms on March 24 as part of his campaign to create more competition in the Mexican telecommunications … Read more
Monday Memo: Argentine debt – Putin in Latin America – Italy investigates Plan Cóndor – Earthquake – Trapped Honduran Miners
This week’s likely top stories: Argentine negotiates with holdout creditors; Russia’s Vladimir Putin will visit Cuba, Argentina and Brazil; Italy investigates dictatorship-era murders; an earthquake hits Mexico and Guatemala; and Honduran authorities search for eight missing miners. Argentina begins debt negotiations: Argentina will begin negotiating a settlement today with its holdout creditors, who are owed … Read more
In World Cup, on to Round Three…
With the second round of the World Cup soccer tournament concluded the main storylines have been the success of teams from the Americas, the early exit of previous stalwarts England, Italy and Spain, the relatively high number of goals, and—at least in the United States—the sudden realization that soccer actually has a strong and passionate … Read more
