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How a Changing Economy Is Leaving Afro-Cubans Behind

Whether or not President-elect Donald Trump follows through on plans to reverse the U.S.’ economic opening with Cuba, entrepreneurship on the island will be hard to get rid of. Reforms enacted by President Raúl Castro in 2011 (three years before the U.S. rapprochement began) have already led to a boom in restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, private taxis and other … Read more

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Here’s a Blueprint for a Trump-Castro Deal on Cuba

President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed “to terminate the deal” that his predecessor in the White House negotiated with Cuba’s President Raúl Castro. Trump’s incoming chief-of-staff, Reince Priebus, last week added these details in an interview on “Fox News Sunday”: “Repression, open markets, freedom of religion, political prisoners – these things need to change in … Read more

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Why Reinaldo Arenas Still Matters for Cuba’s LGBT Community

On Dec. 7, 1990, the Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, suffering from advanced AIDS, ended his life after a decade spent in exile in the United States. Arenas had become a vocal opponent of the Cuban government and, in his suicide note, personally blamed Fidel Castro for the poverty and displacement that defined much of his … Read more

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Mexico’s Energy Opening Looks Like a Success. Will It Last?

In Nov. 2013, just weeks before Mexico’s historic energy opening was signed into law, two-time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent an open letter to the CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson “informing” the executive that Mexico’s oil belonged to its people. López Obrador urged Tillerson to measure the costs of investing in Mexico should the reform … Read more

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Cardoso: The Era of Elitist and Demagogic Politics Is Over

A version of this article was first published in Portuguese on Poder 360. In a recent interview, Brazilian President Michel Temer invoked the “voice of the streets” to say he would veto a so-called “Caixa Dois” bill – a proposal that would grant legislators amnesty for irregularities involving election financing – if Congress approved it. … Read more

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How Trump Benefits China in Latin America

The timing was perfect, and the symbolism could not have been stronger. A mere week after Donald Trump’s upset victory stunned the world, Xi Jinping traveled to Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and projected China as a bastion of stability, predictability and openness. With the U.S. increasingly skeptical of globalization, Xi promised … Read more

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Brazil’s Democracy Is Dominated by Old Men. This Group Wants to Change That.

Brazil’s democracy is under assault. On November 16th, activists stormed the lower house of Congress in Brasília and openly called for the reinstatement of the military dictatorship that reigned from 1964 to 1985. On the very same day, public servants occupied the State Congress in Rio de Janeiro protesting newly introduced austerity measures by the … Read more

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Cómo un director de teatro venezolano conquistó Broadway

Read in English Una tarde de septiembre pasado, sentado en un taxi en los alrededores del centro de Manhattan, Moisés Kaufman recibió una llamada en la que le avisaban que había sido seleccionado para recibir la Medalla Nacional de las Artes, la máxima distinción artística de los Estados Unidos. “Lo primero que dije fue: ‘¿estás … Read more

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Is Latin America Winning Its Fight Against Zika?

The World Health Organization on Nov. 18 said that Zika no longer constituted a global health emergency. But that doesn’t mean the virus is no longer a threat. According to Giselle Carino of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPFF/WHR), Zika is “like no other virus we have ever known” in that it is … Read more

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What the U.S. Congress Owes Puerto Rico

The inaugural meeting of Puerto Rico’s fiscal control board lasted just 26 minutes. The seven unelected technocrats deputized in September with overseeing nearly every facet of the island’s economy met in a boardroom a few blocks from Wall Street to select a chairman and decide which of Puerto Rico’s institutions would come under their watch. Their … Read more

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Argentina’s Return to Honest Accounting Is More Than Just Numbers

Nearly four years after Argentina became the first country to be censured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for providing inaccurate data on inflation and economic growth, the international body on Nov. 9 restored the country to good standing. The move provided a win for the government’s reform agenda and offered a positive sign for hesitant … Read more

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For Latin Americans, Trump’s Outsider Win Is a Familiar Story – With a Twist

Donald Trump’s victory on Nov. 8 may represent the arrival of a true outsider to the U.S. presidency, but the rise of political newcomers is old hat in Latin America. Since the mid-1980s, by my count 21 outsiders have either won the presidency (13) or come in second place (and three of the eight who … Read more

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How a Venezuelan Playwright Conquered Broadway

Leer en español One evening in September, while sitting in a cab in midtown Manhattan, Moisés Kaufman got a phone call telling him he’d been selected to receive the National Medal of Arts, the U.S.’ government’s highest artistic honor. “The first thing I said was ‘Are you sure you got the right number?’” Kaufman told AQ … Read more

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A Note to Our Readers

Following Tuesday’s election, we believe our mission here at Americas Quarterly is as important as ever. Since our founding in 2007, we have worked hard to show you the real Latin America – a region where the middle class is now a majority, democracies are strengthening, and the rule of law is slowly but inexorably on the rise. No … Read more

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The Senator Behind Colombia’s Gay Adoption Fight

With negotiators hurriedly trying to salvage Colombia’s rejected peace deal, one legislator is stirring up conflict of a different sort. For more than a year, Viviane Morales has been pushing a bill that, if passed by Congress and approved in a referendum, would prevent anyone not in a heterosexual marriage from adopting children. Not surprisingly, … Read more