Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas
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Brazil’s Year of Living Dangerously

In May 2016, the Brazilian Senate impeached President Dilma Rousseff in the middle of her second term, amid economic recession, corruption scandals and street protests. She was replaced by her vice president, Michel Temer. One year later, Brazilians are discussing Temer’s impeachment, amid economic recession, corruption scandals, taped recordings that could incriminate the chief of … Read more

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Amid Growing Violence, Brazil Is Weakening Indigenous Rights

Brazil has some of the world’s strongest protections for indigenous rights – on paper. In reality, dozens of indigenous people are killed each year in conflicts over land and resources. Brazil is the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders. Even as this violence escalates, the current government is working to weaken these … Read more

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We Need to Talk About Lula

He is – still – the most popular president in Brazil’s history. He is as responsible as anyone for its worst recession on record. He is facing numerous corruption-related charges that could imprison him for the rest of his life. He is leading in the polls to be elected president again in 2018 – and … Read more

womentech

Women Are Changing the Face of Tech in Brazil

Camila Achutti grew up fascinated by code. Her father was a programmer and as a kid she’d listen intently as he dictated lines of COBOL, an English-like programming language, by phone. “It was this language that only select people spoke,” says the 25-year-old tech entrepreneur from São Paulo. “I wanted to be part of that … Read more

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Why Brazilian Politics Needs a Radical Makeover

Brazil is one of the top 10 economies globally, but it fails to meet too many of its population’s basic needs. It is one of the OECD countries with the highest public spending on education – yet Brazilian students perform worse on international tests than those in other OECD countries. Half of all Brazilians still lack access to basic sanitation and 35 million lack … Read more

distinguished citizen

Film Review: “The Distinguished Citizen”

This article is adapted from AQ’s special issue on the U.S.-Mexico relationship. To receive AQ at home, subscribe here. Early in The Distinguished Citizen, Daniel Mantovani (Oscar Martínez) says the only thing he’s ever done is escape the town of his youth. The truth is that his past sustains him more than he would like to admit. Daniel, the “distinguished … Read more

pano_10things

10 Things to Do: Northwest Argentina

This article is adapted from AQ’s special issue on the U.S.-Mexico relationship. To receive AQ at home, subscribe here. Argentina’s northwest corner owes much of its appeal to the convergence of Andean deserts and fertile valleys, offering visitors an array of stunning natural landscapes to get lost in. Its isolation from the rest of the country, meanwhile, has helped the … Read more

panorama

Argentina on Display

This article is adapted from AQ’s special issue on the U.S.-Mexico relationship. To receive AQ at home, subscribe here. From London’s Frieze to Miami’s Art Basel, art fairs are the zenith of the art market, providing a platform for gallerists, artists, curators and collectors to interact. Buenos Aires, once isolated from the rest of the art world, is now attracting … Read more

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Francis Mallman: From Patagonia to the World

This article is adapted from AQ’s special issue on the U.S.-Mexico relationship. To receive AQ at home, subscribe here. Francis Mallmann, widely acknowledged as Argentina’s top chef, is credited with bringing southern Argentina’s traditional wood-fired cuisine of grilled meats to the world. “I think I have developed a particular language that allows me to communicate beyond taste,” said the French-trained … Read more

Fever Dream

“Fever Dream”

This article is adapted from AQ’s special issue on the U.S.-Mexico relationship. To receive AQ at home, subscribe here. “Haunting” is one of those literary descriptors that are applied perhaps a bit too liberally: We might read about illness or lost love, shipwrecks or close encounters, and find the term is as close as we can get to describing our … Read more

Brazil

Brazil’s Foreign Policy Is “Back In the Game”

Latin America faces many challenges to ensure a better life for its citizens. The best tool to tackle such challenges is improving democratic governance, which does not always find fertile ground to thrive. The main obstacle to democratic governance continues to be populist politicians and their shaky commitment to democracy. The making of a democratic … Read more

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3 Winners and Losers From Brazil’s Latest Corruption Revelations

After months of anticipation, Brazil’s Supreme Court released on Tuesday the names of dozens of politicians who will be investigated as part of the ongoing probe into corruption at state oil company Petrobras. The list is a veritable who’s-who of Brazilian politics, and includes nearly a third of President Michel Temer’s Cabinet and a third … Read more

Trans

As Threats to LGBT Brazilians Rise, These Trans Singers Take Center Stage

It’s one thing to perform for hundreds of spectators at Salvador, Brazil’s world-famous carnaval. It’s quite another to take the stage as a transgender woman in a region that has become a focal point of rising violence against Brazil’s LGBT community. That reality wasn’t lost on trans musicians Assucena Assucena and Raquel Virgínia as they … Read more

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Trailblazing Leaders on How to Make Latin American Politics More Inclusive

What do a Zapotec woman from Mexico, an Afro-descendant advocate from Uruguay, and a gay rights activist from Chile have in common? Quite a lot, it turns out. On March 27, Mexico’s Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza, Uruguay’s Edgardo Ortuño, and Chile’s Jaime Parada Hoyl – three Latin American politicians who have broken glass ceilings in their … Read more

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The Real Reason Brazil’s Government Is Struggling

On the surface, they seemed like two unrelated cases of bad luck. Just as Brazil’s economy was showing fragile signs of recovery, a new corruption scandal erupted on March 17 threatening to paralyze the country’s $130 billion beef sector. Days later, the pillar of President Michel Temer’s market-friendly economic agenda, a reform to the social … Read more

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