July 2021 - Global Americans

In blow to anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala, prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval removed by Attorney General

Last Friday, Guatemalan Attorney General María Consuelo Porras removed Juan Francisco Sandoval from his position at the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), an anti-corruption task force created by the United Nations-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was removed from the country in 2019.

admin July 30, 2021

Otra oportunidad perdida: la reforma tributaria en Colombia

Las crisis económicas son siempre una oportunidad para impulsar reformas estructurales. En la historia reciente de América Latina sus dos grandes crisis—los años 30 y la década perdida de los 80—han terminado con cambios profundos en sus sistemas de desarrollo y con importantes reformas económicas. Colombia, sin embargo, no ha seguido ese mismo patrón.

admin July 30, 2021

Can Pedro Castillo deliver on his promises of reform? Experts are skeptical.

With his historic inauguration, Pedro Castillo put one crisis to rest and turned his attention to numerous others: foremost among them, how to repair a healthcare system devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and overhaul a brittle and uneven economy that has failed many Peruvians.

admin July 29, 2021

Una nueva agenda de desarrollo para América Latina

América Latina, una de las regiones más desiguales del mundo, necesita una nueva agenda de desarrollo. José Antonio Ocampo propone un plan para salir de la crisis y asumir los retos de los países latinoamericanos.

admin July 26, 2021

With Ariel Henry installed as Prime Minister, tensions in Haiti continue to simmer

On Tuesday, Ariel Henry—a trained neurosurgeon and former Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities, who had been named prime minister-designate by Moïse only two days before his death—was sworn in as Prime Minister and acting President of Haiti in a ceremony in Port-au-Prince, replacing former interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who had ruled the country as de facto head of state since Moïse’s killing. Joseph, who will evidently retain a ministerial role as Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced over the weekend that he would step down, ceding power to Henry “for the good of the nation.”

admin July 23, 2021

Apostle of the City: Remembering Jaime Lerner

In May, Jaime Lerner—Brazilian architect, politician, and pioneer of urban planning—passed away from a chronic kidney condition at the age of 83. His vision for the world, however, lives on.

admin July 22, 2021

The Chilean Constituent Assembly: The Identity Experiment

The 155 delegates to Chile’s constitutional convention share an obvious goal—drafting a constitution—but it is far from clear whether they share a common view on much else. What will their unprecedented focus on personal and collective identities mean for Chile’s new constitution and the future of Chile’s existing institutional order?

admin July 21, 2021

Historic wave of protests washes across Cuba

This past Sunday, the largest popular protests in decades erupted in Cuba, with thousands of demonstrators across the island taking to the streets to decry acute shortages of basic necessities (including food and medicine), rolling blackouts, and suffocating restrictions on political freedoms that persist over six decades after the Cuban Revolution.

admin July 16, 2021

Colombia’s potential as a global breadbasket is stymied by a lack of rural reform

A persistent lack of development in rural areas continues to be a major impediment for Colombia as it seeks to reach its potential for growth in the agricultural sector and achieve its human development goals in the countryside. This reality only underscores the urgent necessity of structural agrarian reform in Colombia, an initiative which no recent government has had the appetite nor the political capital to attempt. As the official commencement of the 2022 electoral campaign grows nearer, rural issues are likely to become even more central to the Colombian political discourse. Will real change finally follow?

admin July 14, 2021

If sanctions failed to solve Nicaragua’s crisis, will more sanctions succeed?

Hopes for a peaceful, diplomatic outcome may seem slender. But confidence that tougher sanctions will do the job on their own may be even more misplaced.

admin July 13, 2021