Beyond the economics of the 30 million Latin Americans living abroad, out-migraton from the region has also created a looming a political problem. Countries and societies are losing political and civic talent and leadership, precisely at a time when Latin America confronts complex, technical policy and economic reforms.
In 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize the possession, cultivation and distribution of marijuana. The bold move unlocked the discussion on drug policy reform in the Americas. But is it working in its purported objectives in reducing violence, illegality and health risks?
This past May, El Salvador suffered its highest murder rate since the end of the country’s civil war 23 years ago. But this grisly flash of news—what journalists in the region call the nota roja—doesn’t give the wider context. There’s another story to be told here beyond the numbers: how Latin American journalists are affected by the violence they cover and how, in turn, their coverage is creating a cultural acceptance of violence.
When Presidents Obama and Rousseff gather next week in Washington, DC, one topic, unfortunately, is unlikely to get much attention: the roiling global rights crisis. But there is a common agenda on which both democratic leaders could establish a much-needed, progressive consensus, involving digital freedom and promoting dialogue and human and democratic rights in Cuba and Venezuela. Will they?
Using ECLAC data, we constructed a graph tracing the past 20 years of exports from South America to China as a percentage of their total exports. In this light, it’s not surprising that those are the same four countries the Chinese premier visited last month.
Since October, eleven journalists across six countries—two in Colombia, two in Honduras, three in Mexico, two in Brazil, one in Paraguay, and one in Peru—have been murdered, according to the Inter-American Press Association.
Using the data provided by the Human Rights Watch Votes Count website, we took a look at how Latin American and a few other countries on the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on issues relating to Syria.
The shifting of the balance of world power away from the developed world to the Global South has raised an urgent question: can the post-WW II normative framework and the body of international law and practice be adapted and preserved?
Latin America invests about 2% of GDP on infrastructure. Between 1992 and 2011 China invested an average of 8.5% of GDP in infrastructure per year. Given the demonstrated effects of infrastructure on development and poverty reduction, it’s time for the region to make a concerted effort to attract foreign investors.
When we started this website, the idea was to begin a broad discussion of Latin America’s emerging foreign policy and its implications for inter-American relations, economic development and democracy and human rights. Here is the outline for a book chapter I’m working on on the topic of Latin America foreign policy—part of a larger book project by New York University and, later, my own book. Here I post the precis for comments. Any and all are welcome—in the spirit of the website and public debate. (Please forgive any typos.) The goal is to provoke discussion. Your comments will help.
