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Rio de Janeiro’s Party Is Over. Who Pays the Bill?
I teach at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, one of the most important educational institutions in Brazil, with more than 30,000 students. Broad programs of affirmative action have ensured that many of those students are from poor backgrounds, often the first members of their families to go to college. They are part of … Read more
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Survivors of a Massacre in Paraguay Looking for Justice, Five Years Later
Marina Cué, a lightly-wooded parcel of land amid stunted fields of soybean in the district of Curuguaty, eastern Paraguay, seems like an oasis of calm today. But the casings from high-calibre rounds that locals still find in the grass tell a different story: that of a forced eviction here involving 300 heavily-armed police and a … Read more
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Immigrants Are Dying in U.S. Detention Centers. And It Could Get Worse.
Osmar Epifanio González Gadba, 32, hanged himself in March after three months in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in California while awaiting deportation to Nicaragua. Jean Carlos Jiménez-Joseph, 27, from Panama, hanged himself in ICE custody two months later, after 19 days in solitary confinement. The morning of his death, a … Read more
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Lula’s Sentencing Should Be a Sober Moment for All Brazilians
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s sentencing on Wednesday was long expected, but no less of a bombshell. Lula may have fallen from the pedestal of international acclaim and approval ratings north of 80 percent; a majority of Brazilians may think he broke the law, at a time when citizens are becoming more aware … Read more
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For Brazil’s Lula, It’s Not Over Yet
Well, now it’s officially part of the judicial record: Lula is in a category all his own. The most striking aspect of Wednesday’s ruling against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the judge’s admission that Lula warrants special treatment. This, more than any other detail, suggests the man who has dominated Brazilian politics … Read more
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My Brother, Leopoldo López, Is No Longer in Prison. But He Is Not Free – and Neither Is Venezuela.
My brother Leopoldo López, leader of Venezuela’s Voluntad Popular party, was sentenced to 13 years, nine months, seven days and 12 hours in prison for giving a speech in which he denounced the corruption and the antidemocratic repression of Nicolás Maduro’s government. He was arrested in 2014 during a government crack-down on protesters, and charged … Read more
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Why João Doria’s War on Drugs Is Doomed
When São Paulo Mayor João Doria set out to fulfil a campaign promise and rid the city of its cracolândia (crackland), an area that was home to a group of homeless people, some of whom used drugs, he did so with an overwhelming and telegenic show of force: 500 police officers armed with guns, tear gas … Read more
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How Venezuelan Refugees Are Surviving in Brazil
For most Brazilians, the disaster unfolding in neighboring Venezuela is little more than another passing topic on the evening news. The daily protests in Caracas are more than 2,500 miles away from São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, cultural ties between the two countries are limited, and the current political and economic crisis in Brazil … Read more
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A Radical Change in Chile? Don’t Bet On It
In last week’s presidential primaries, Chilean voters followed the dominant trend in Latin America and signaled that they are ready to hand power back to Sebastián Piñera, a center-right market-friendly former president (2010-2014). If Piñera wins the general election in November, Chile will complete an unprecedented 16- year run under only two democratically elected leaders … Read more
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All Venezuelans Are Under House Arrest. Now They Should Be Freed, Too.
The Venezuelan government needs to be celebrated for releasing Leopoldo López from prison to house arrest. But it should also be condemned if that’s all it does. Democracies just don’t place leaders of opposition parties in jail, and the whole case against the 46-year-old opposition leader was baseless to begin with. As such, over the … Read more
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Mid-Terms, Graduation, Fighting a Dictator: Venezuelan Students’ Shifting Priorities
CARACAS – Students at Caracas’ Simón Bolivar University (USB) haven’t had an exam in three months. Professors at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) stopped taking attendance. At the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), protests and road closures count as excused absences. As a large portion of the 3,500 people detained by security services in recent … Read more
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Brazil’s Rollbacks Jeopardize the Amazon’s Future
Brazilian President Michel Temer’s June 26 indictment on corruption allegations marked a new peak in the country’s political crisis. While the charges grabbed global headlines, they also overshadowed the environmental crisis unfolding in the Brazilian Amazon, where vast tracts of protected forests and indigenous territories are under growing threat. Brazilian forests are being felled … Read more
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Pardinas: Mexico Needs an International Commission to Explore Espionage Claims
Mexico is experiencing a dramatic crisis in leadership and should call an international commission to investigate reports that spyware bought by federal agencies to uncover criminal activity was instead turned on critics like lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists, said Juan E. Pardinas, one of Mexico’s leading transparency advocates and one of the espionage targets. Pardinas … Read more
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If NAFTA Ends, Ford’s Move to China Will Be Just the Start
Ford announced this week that instead of building its new Focus – the best-selling car in the world – in a new $1.6 billion dollar Mexico-based plant, it will ship cars for North American customers from China. Ford has promised that its decision won’t reduce its workforce. Yet even if that is true, American workers … Read more
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AQ VIDEO: A Mexico Border Tour With Alfredo Corchado
“This is the Ellis Island of the Southwest,” says author and journalist Alfredo Corchado. He knows from experience. Born in Mexico, Corchado’s family moved to El Paso when he was a boy, and he was a waiter in their restaurant just two blocks from the border itself. In this short video, Corchado shows AQ Editor-in-Chief Brian Winter how … Read more
