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Brazilians Vent Rio Olympics Frustration in Graffiti – Photo Essay
The graffiti marking nearly every building in Rio de Janeiro’s Vila Autódromo favela isn’t the work of idle teens. With five months to go before the Summer Olympics, the small community is being demolished to make way for Rio’s planned Olympic Park. The favela has become a focal point for anger over Olympics development, as … Read more
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This Week in Latin America: Preparing for Cuba
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered straight to your inbox every Monday. Cuba Groundwork: A flurry of deals is expected ahead of President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba from March 21 to 22. Obama is expected this Thursday to announce measures to ease travel and trade that would loosen banking rules, revise regulations on usage of … Read more
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Peru Election Is ‘Scandalous,’ Says Barred Presidential Candidate
Julio Guzmán is running out of options. Barred from running for president in Peru’s April 10 elections on a technicality, Guzmán late on March 13 lost what appears to be a final legal appeal for his candidacy to be reinstated. A center-right technocrat who worked at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington for 10 years, … Read more
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How a Film About a Bear Got Chile to Reckon With Its Past
When Chile won its first-ever Academy Award on February 28 for the animated short film “Bear Story” (Historia de un Oso), the nation got more than a gold-plated statuette. It was also jolted into confronting the still-taboo subject of forced exiles and political disappearances under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. An estimated 200,000 Chileans fled … Read more
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Don’t Let Brazil Become Venezuela
This piece was updated on March 7. The next week will be critical to the future of Brazilian democracy. The temporary detention of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for questioning related to the Petrobras probe is indeed a sign that no one in Brazil is above the law. But it also brings the … Read more
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News Quiz: Did It Happen in Brazil or “House of Cards?”
A special thanks to Nexo, which first published this piece in Portuguese. “House of Cards” has inspired a political science class in Chile, the meme #CasadeNaipes in Argentina, and the parody “House of Narcs” in Mexico. But Netflix’s political series has hit a special nerve in Brazil. President Dilma Rousseff is fending off record-low popularity … Read more
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The Brilliant Names of Brazil’s Anti-Corruption Operations: A Guide
This piece was updated on March 7. Operação Lava Jato, or “Operation Car Wash,” isn’t the only odd-sounding police sting to make waves in Brazil in recent years. Here are some of the names and stories behind the country’s most scintillating anti-corruption busts: Operação Lava JatoIn March 2014, a Brazilian currency exchanger named Alberto Youssef was caught … Read more
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Peru’s LGBT Community Frustrated By Violence, Presidential Election
With less than six weeks to go before Peru’s presidential election, gay rights activists are fighting to put LGBT inclusion on the national agenda and find a candidate to rally behind. It isn’t easy, says Carlos Polo in Lima. Over Valentine’s Day weekend, Polo was beaten by police while kissing his boyfriend during a small … Read more
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Brazil’s Historic Corruption Probe May Be at Risk
To date, President Dilma Rousseff has done a mostly admirable job of handling the historic corruption probe underway in Brazil. Even as the investigation of graft at state-run oil company Petrobras drew closer to her inner circle, and threatened to culminate in her impeachment, Rousseff allowed federal police and prosecutors to do their work with … Read more
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This Week in Latin America: Brazil’s Environmental Disaster
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered straight to your inbox every Monday. Samarco Settlement: Nearly four months after a burst mining dam in Brazil killed 19 people and caused a wave of toxic sludge to pollute major water sources, mine owner Samarco Mineração S.A. is expected Monday to announce a financial settlement with the Brazilian government. Joint … Read more
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Uribe: Colombia Peace Deal Is “a Capitulation” to FARC
It’s been a challenging few years for Álvaro Uribe. His 2002-10 presidency of Colombia is still credited with a historic drop in violence and robust economic growth rates. But since leaving office with an approval rating upward of 75 percent, Uribe has watched the country move in a different direction. His chosen successor Juan Manuel … Read more
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Cassação, Impeachment and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff: A Guide
Correction appended below Just when Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff seemed to be clearing the threat of impeachment, another challenge to her presidency is gaining momentum. The arrest of one of Rousseff’s top political advisers on allegations he received $7.5 million in illicit funds has fueled speculation that the government could be toppled by cassação, or … Read more
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‘Embrace of the Serpent’ Is a Haunting Tale of Colombia’s Amazon
In Colombia’s first Oscar-nominated feature film, director Ciro Guerra offers both an ode to humanity’s capacity to hope and a eulogy for the loss of Latin America’s indigenous culture and knowledge. “Embrace of the Serpent” takes place during Latin America’s rubber boom in the early 20th century. The film’s message is delivered through Karamakate, a … Read more
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How Mauricio Macri Plans to Fill a $1 Billion Hole at Aerolíneas Argentinas
Last year was a good one for global airlines. Thanks to falling fuel prices and an increased demand for air travel, the industry earned an estimated $33 billion in 2015. Carriers around the globe earned near-record profits. Not so in Argentina, where according to official figures state-run Aerolíneas Argentinas operated at a loss of nearly … Read more
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AQ Corruption Busters Celebrate Successes, Urge Even Greater Progress
To watch a video of the event, click here. “He stole, but just a bit.” “Corruption is just something we live with.” Declarations such as these were once a common refrain in Latin America. But from Brazil to Guatemala, a historic crackdown on corruption is making the old tropes obsolete. Leading this dramatic shift is … Read more