Monday Memo: Marches in Venezuela—Guatemalan Protests—Chilean Education Law—Transgender Inmates in Rio—Colombian Murder Trial
Thousands Amass in Venezuela for Anti-Government Protest: Nearly 3,000 Venezuelan demonstrators clothed in white marched in Caracas on Saturday in the largest protest since last year’s surge of anti-government demonstrations. In a video filmed from his jail cell prior to the protests, former opposition Mayor Leopoldo López encouraged supporters to protest peacefully to demand the … Read more
Is Brazil’s World Cup Next on the List?
The U.S. Justice Department accused more than a dozen people this week of being involved in a massive FIFA corruption scandal that spanned more than two decades. Several high-level officials were arrested in a luxury Zurich hotel Wednesday, including former Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (Brazilian Football Confederation—CBF) President José Maria Marin. “Our investigation revealed that … Read more
Rousseff Signs Investment Agreements with Peña Nieto
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff met Tuesday with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City to foster a closer relationship between the two largest markets in Latin America and the Caribbean. This event was Rousseff’s first official visit to Mexico since she first became president in 2011. Rousseff kicked off her official visit to Mexico … Read more
Pinochet’s Former Secret Police Chief Receives Additional Sentence
Manuel Contreras, the former police chief during Chile’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet, received a 15-year sentence for murder on Wednesday, adding to the 490-year term he is currently serving. In 2013, the Supreme Court convicted Contreras, 86, for the December 1974 disappearance of Alejandro de la Barra and Ana Maria Puga, members of … Read more
The Next Chapter for China in the Americas
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang begins an eight day trip to South America today, landing in Brazil with a promise of some $50 billion in Chinese investments in Brazilian infrastructure. This trip follows on and is consistent with the promise that President Xi Jinping made in January to invest $250 billion in Latin America and the Caribbean … Read more
Monday Memo: Guatemalan Protests—Costa Rican Discrimination—Chinese Investment—Guyana Election—Technology in Honduras
Demonstrators Call for Pérez Molina’s Resignation: Thousands of protestors marched across 13 cities in Guatemala on Saturday to call for President Otto Pérez Molina’s resignation. The protests came as a response to a customs tax fraud scandal uncovered by the Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala—CICIG) in April … Read more
Brazil: Up for Sale
Brazil is up for sale, and bargain-hunters from Sam Zell to Stephen Schwarzman are looking for deals. If the country’s economy could be spread onto a monopoly board, distressed domestic utilities like Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais S.A. (Cemig) would be selling for a bargain, while infrastructure like airports and railroads would be begging for … Read more
Brazil’s Lower House Passes Amendment to Austerity Bill in Setback for Government
On Wednesday, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies passed its second austerity bill in a week, just hours before approving an amendment that changed the bill’s direction and increased federal spending for retirees. If passed by the Senate, the amended bill faces a possible presidential veto and represents a roadblock to the government’s strategy for increasing revenues. … Read more
Monday Memo: Castro visits Pope—Chilean Cabinet—Colombian Coca—Guatemalan Corruption—Central American Geothermal
This week’s likely news stories: Raúl Castro has an audience with the Pope; Michelle Bachelet shakes up her Cabinet; Colombia bans coca spraying; a Guatemalan judge is linked to a corruption scandal; Germany will invest in Central American geothermal projects. Cuban President Meets with the Pope: Cuban President Raúl Castro met with Pope Francis this … Read more
AQ Video: Entrevista con el Sr. Alcalde Pedro Edmunds Paoa
Americas Quarterly conversó con el Alcalde Pedro Pablo Petero Edmunds Paoa, el alcalde de la Isla de Pascua, conocido como Rapa Nui en el idioma nativo, durante su visita a Nueva York en diciembre del año 2014. De origen rapanui, Edmunds Paoa ha desarrollado su carrera política en la Isla de Pascua, donde ha llevado … Read more
Unpopular Austerity Measures May Be Brazil’s Best Path to Growth
A proposed government austerity package may keep Brazil from a credit rating downgrade, but could cost President Dilma Rousseff some of her biggest supporters: the country’s labor unions. Lawmakers in Brazil’s lower house passed a proposed bill this week that would limit thousands of workers’ access to social security benefits. The MP 665 bill was … Read more
Sixty Percent of Latin Americans Will Have Internet Access in 2016
The number of Latin Americans with access to the Internet will increase by 20 percent over the next twelve months, according to the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry (LACNIC). The Uruguay-based NGO is one of five Regional Internet Registries in the world that assigns and administers IP addresses to local Internet service providers—it also advocates for Internet development in … Read more
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Asks Cabinet to Resign as Disapproval Hits Record High
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet called for the resignation of her cabinet Wednesday as the fallout from a corruption scandal among top-level officials continues to take its toll on her administration. The president announced her plans to reshuffle the cabinet the same day a new poll put her disapproval amongst Chileans at a record high. “A … Read more
Festivals: Brazil’s Boi-Bumbá
If Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval is the greatest party in the world, then Boi Bumbá (beat the bull) is a close second. Every June, thousands of Brazilians flock to the small Amazonian river town of Parintins, Amazonas—halfway between Santarém and Manaus—to celebrate Brazil’s second-largest annual festival. Boi Bumbá pits the city’s two samba schools—the Garantido … Read more
The Washington Dissensus
Brazil is little understood or appreciated in the United States. The lack of knowledge about the world’s seventh largest economy—and the second largest democracy in the Western Hemisphere—is particularly evident in Washington beyond a small circle of “Brazil hands.” When the subject of Brazil comes up at all in Beltway policy circles, it is usually … Read more
