On June 16 the Americas Society and Council of the Americas will host the official Colombia launch of the Winter 2010 issue of Americas Quarterly, dedicated to the new generation of leaders in the Americas. The issue features articles by young leaders in business, politics and civil society from throughout the hemisphere. The Bogotá launch will look at ”Connectivity and Youth.”  Colombia’s Minister of Information Technology and Communications, Daniel Medina, will open the event, followed by a panel with representatives from Microsoft, CA Technologies and young Colombian entrepreneurs discussing the role of information technology in development, entrepreneurship and education.

The launch will be held at the Universidad de los Andes campus in Bogotá from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m with a welcoming reception beginning at 4:00 p.m.

For more information about the launch, or to register for the event, please click here.

When Americas Quarterly young leader and blogger Jenny Manrique visited New York last February, she was getting ready the upcoming legislative elections in Colombia.

Now she and her colleagues at VoteBien.com are gearing up again, this time for Sunday’s presidential election, which is a close race between former Bogotá Mayor Antanas Mockus and former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos. (Read more coverage of the election on the AQ blog).

As part of the coverage, VoteBien.com has prepared interactive profiles of each candidate with official biographies, financial overviews and other details that help to educate and inform voters. They’ve also pulled back the curtain to look at the political machinery and powerful supporters behind each candidate, as well as the internal operations of the campaigns themselves.

We took a few minutes of Jenny’s time to hear more about what’s happening with VoteBien as Colombia prepares to elect its next president (or at least set the roster for a run-off on June 20).

Un Techo Para Mi País was featured as a civic innovator in the Fall 2009 issue of Americas Quarterly. This piece by Claudio Castro is featured in Viewpoints Americas on AS/COA Online.

The story of Haiti’s devastating earthquake is still being written today. Haitian youth, Dominican university students, and others are working hand-in-hand to rebuild homes and do their part in reconstructing the country.

This team—brought together by Un Techo Para Mi País (A Roof for My Country)—is on pace to build 2,000 homes by year end. By 2014, the goal is to provide housing for 10,000 families. Founded in 1997 and highlighted as innovators in the Fall issue of Americas Quarterly, Un Techo is the inspiration of Chilean university students who see adequate housing as a way out of the deep poverty witnessed both at home and throughout the Americas.

Welcoming Remarks: Susan Segal, President and CEO, AS/COA, Publisher, Americas Quarterly

Keynote Speaker: Sérgio Cabral, Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Panelists:

Rodrigo Abreu, President, Cisco do Brasil, Ltda.

Dr. José Mariano Beltrame, Secretary of Security for the State of Rio de Janeiro

William Bratton, former New York City Police Commissioner, Los Angeles Police Chief and AQ contributor

Kevin Casas-Zamora, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, former Vice President of Costa Rica and AQ contributor

Thereza Lobo, Executive Coordinator, Rio Como Vamos

Christopher Sabatini, Editor-in-Chief, Americas Quarterly, Senior Director of Policy, AS/COA (Moderator)

Summary:

Security experts from the private sector, government, and civil society launched the “Transnational Crime and Security” issue (Spring 2010) of Americas Quarterly at a program that highlighted Rio de Janeiro’s security challenges and innovations as it prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The event in Rio de Janeiro was coordinated with the state government and sponsored by Cisco.

Narcotics and transnational crime have become one of the greatest threats to democracy and democratic institutions in our hemisphere, undermining the rule of law, threatening human rights, stifling free expression, and corrupting economies.

The new Americas Quarterly (released on May 10, 2010) reveals the intricate architecture of this illicit, multi-billion dollar global economy and highlights ways in which communities and policy makers can reassert democratic control. Expert authors include former New York City Police Commissioner and chief of the Los Angeles Police Department William J. Bratton, Rio de Janeiro Governor Sérgio Cabral, former Costa Rican Vice President Kevin Casas-Zamora, and more.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Eight Steps to Reduce Crime
WILLIAM J. BRATTON and WILLIAM ANDREWS
Two U.S. policing experts propose a new strategy for Latin America.

Graphic: Crime’s Family Tree
SAM LOGAN

Washington DC-based Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) recently published a report on the right to prior consultation of indigenous peoples in Peru. It is based on materials submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in October 2009. The report, which is a joint effort between DPLF, the Human Rights Clinic of Seattle University School of Law and the Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) of Peru, addresses theoretical and practical issues surrounding the right to prior consultation. This issue has become increasingly important in recent years, as it is a cornerstone of many social conflicts in Latin America, especially those involving natural resources, land rights and territorial claims by indigenous peoples.

Read  the report here.

AQ hosted a live online discussion on March 31 about how to extend technological inclusion to minorities across the hemisphere.

The discussion took place at: www.americasquarterly.org/online-discussion-digital-barriers.

Participants dialogued with one of Brazils’ leading civic experts on how to extend technological inclusion to minorities and why this is important for Brazil and countries across the hemisphere. Editor-in-Chief of Wired.com Evan Hansen was among the other technology experts joining the discussion.

Paulo Rogério, author of The Digital Integrator in the Winter issue of Americas Quarterly and founder of Brazil’s Instituto Mídia Étnica, led the online discussion that addressed the underlying conditions behind exclusion from the digital revolution and how these challenges can be addressed. Participants posed questions to these technology experts, and added their own insight on how to improve connectivity and why this is important.

Read the full discussion thread, or a summary of the discussion. 

*This op-ed originally appeared in The Miami Herald. It has been reprinted here with the permission of the authors.

Last month, when even our key Latin American allies supported the creation of an alternative to the Organization of American States that included Cuba but excluded the United States and Canada, alarm bells went off in Washington -- and rightfully so.

This was not your traditional statement of frustration with U.S. policy, but rather an indictment of the OAS -- the institution charged with helping all countries in the hemisphere speak with a unified voice.

We agree that the OAS is an embattled institution. It has had its wins and its share of losses -- as well as missed opportunities. However, as others have said about the United Nations, if it did not exist, it would have to be created. Our task is to make the OAS better, not irrelevant.

Our hemisphere, with few exceptions, is unified in its commitment to an enduring set of noble objectives -- democracy, human rights, fairness, transparency and justice. Latin America today is home to some of the greatest democratic transition success stories of the last 50 years, and they reflect those values. But there is more work to be done. The ongoing abuses of the Castro regime, the erratic authoritarianism in Venezuela, the recent coup in Honduras and human-rights abuses in Colombia underscore that progress is not universal.

BORDER ANGELS, BORDER REALITIES AND IMMIGRATION TODAY

The New School
March 8, 2010
6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m.
Hirshon Suite, Arnold Hall
55 W 13th St

To RSVP or for additional information, please email globalstudies@newschool.edu or jcmec@newschool.edu.

Global Studies, Eugene Lang College, Latin America Forum and the International Center for Migration, Ethnicity and Citizenship (ICMEC) invite you to the talk "Border Angels, Border Realities and Immigration Today" by Enrique Morones.

Following the AQ Youth Conference, Juan Manuel Benítez of NY1 interviewed AQ contributors Karen Digbyana Baten Riquiac,  Adrián Pérez, Andrés Barragán, and Jenny Manrique on the new challenges facing human rights, strengthening democratic governments and social activism in Latin America. Watch a video of the interview.