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A Closer Look at the Latin American Women that Could Lead the UN
Christiana Figueres doesn’t drink coffee. The Costa Rican told AQ that despite hailing from a major exporter of the world’s favorite bean, she bounces around perfectly well without it. After witnessing her formidable leadership as head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat for the past six years, it is hard to disagree. On July 5, … Read more
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Why the World’s Top Mathematicians Are Coming to Rio
Rio de Janeiro is preparing to host a major international contest of skill, talent and mind-boggling human feats – and it’s not the Olympics. The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), an annual competition for pre-collegiate math whizzes, is coming to Brazil for the first time next year. And as with the Games, officials are hoping that … Read more
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Podcast: The Threats to Brazil’s “Car Wash” Corruption Probe
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. There are several threats facing the probe into corruption at Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, according to José Ugaz, global chairman of Transparency International. Ugaz, who is based in Peru but visited Brazil last week, said some Brazilian politicians are trying to obstruct the investigation – although they likely … Read more
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This Week in Latin America: Venezuela’s Political Prisoners
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered to your inbox every Monday. Appeal for López: Venezuela’s imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo López will appear in court Thursday to appeal a nearly 14-year sentence handed down last September for charges of incitement to violence and criminal association. The delayed hearing comes as Venezuela has expressed its willingness to restore diplomatic relations with the U.S., which … Read more
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Podcast: Brazil’s Economy Under Temer
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. Interim President Michel Temer’s economic team has the unique challenge of attempting to fix Brazil’s worst economic crisis in decades – while also trying to ensure they survive a critical vote in August. Much needed reforms are unlikely to be passed until the conclusion of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial, … Read more
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Congress Offers Broken PROMESA to Puerto Rico
The U.S. Senate this week voted to pass the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, known as PROMESA (“promise” in Spanish), without amendments. Cast as “Puerto Rico’s last chance” before a July 1 default, the bill is a classic congressional compromise in which neither Democrats nor Republicans are completely satisfied. The bill offers Puerto Rico the … Read more
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Another Dent in Enrique Peña Nieto’s Reform Agenda
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto seems to always pack a media relations strategy when traveling abroad, and this week’s trip to Canada has been no exception. Ahead of today’s North American Leaders’ Summit in Ottawa, Peña Nieto and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared policy concessions over social media, were spotted getting chummy at public … Read more
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Taking the Long View on Latin American Democracy
When the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) was founded in 1966, there was a clear need for dialogue and debate over the direction the region was headed. Military dictatorships were in power across the Americas, from Honduras to Argentina. Democracy, far from the rule, was the exception. Just 50 years after a future of alternative … Read more
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Why Brazil Shouldn’t Turn Its Back on the BRICS
Almost a decade ago, in 2007, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was one of the star speakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Investor money was pouring into one of the world’s most exciting emerging markets, and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim – who would go on to be called the “world’s best foreign … Read more
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This Week in Latin America: Preparing for Brexit
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered to your inbox every Monday. UK Impact: Latin America is already feeling the aftershocks of the UK’s Brexit vote, with Ecuador’s president saying that Britain’s decision to leave the EU had “spoiled” a major bond issue scheduled for this week and Mexico announcing it would cut an additional $1.7 billion from its … Read more
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How Brexit and Trump Could Turn Latin America Upside-Down
Like waves caused by a faraway hurricane, big global events eventually tend to wash up on Latin America’s shores. In the 2000s, the rise of China and its appetite for commodities gave rise to a new Latin American middle class and a “pink tide” of left-leaning leaders who handed out the spoils. In the 1990s, … Read more
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How to Get Brazil (And Latin America) Completely Wrong
It’s been yet another rough week for Brazil’s international image, with an Olympic mascot shot dead in an absurd accident and another national political figure dragged into scandal. But the biggest blow of all came from Declan Ryan, co-founder of the Irish budget airline Ryanair, who told an Argentine newspaper that he was considering expansion … Read more
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Brazil’s Big Bet
This piece was updated on June 22 In 1946, the last year casinos were legal in Brazil, the ritzy Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro was pulling in nearly $100 million a year from roulette and other table games. A frequent gambler was Benjamin Vargas, brother to a former president, who was notorious for chasing … Read more
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This Week in Latin America: Cash Scandal in Argentina
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered to your inbox every Monday. Cash Scandal in Argentina: Questioning will likely begin this week in an embezzlement investigation involving one of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s closest former aides. José López, who was public works secretary under both Fernández and her late husband, was caught last weekattempting to hide $8.9 … Read more
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Threats to Environmental Activists Put Colombia’s Indigenous at Risk
While Colombia has made remarkable strides in reducing violence over the last two decades, the country remains a dangerous – and even deadly – place for environmental activists. According to a report released June 20 by the advocacy group Global Witness, at least 26 land and environmental activists were killed in the country in 2015. … Read more
