Colombia’s remaining guerrilla group, the ELN, is finally coming to the negotiating table. But the government is in a very different negotiating position with the ELN than with FARC, a point reflected in the vague, poorly worded negotiation agreement announced March 30th.
The government of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén has launched a new, expansive (and expensive) anti-crime package targeting gang leaders, reforming prisons and establishing renewed police presence in select municipalities. Will it work?
Latin American and Caribbean states have been astoundingly cheap in supporting the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2013, Chile only contributed $80,000, and the same year Brazil and Venezuela gave nothing to the Commission.
I was one of the beneficiaries of President Obama’s DACA initiative. But the real beneficiary of the policy is not just me and others like me, but the U.S. and its future.
Impeachment processes are always messy political processes (remember Bill Clinton’s in 1998?). In the case of Brazil, by providing a constitutional exit for unpopular executives, impeachment may be what ultimately preserves Brazilian democracy.
Patricio Aylwin, Chile’s president from 1990 to 1994, passed away on April 19th. He will be remembered as a symbol of the country’s transition to democracy. Today’s political leaders, in Chile as well as the rest of Latin America, would do well to learn a few lessons from his political career.
A recent Spanish report by DeJusticia details the modern challenges of the inter-American system of human rights: political consensus; countries refusing to pay their obligations; and countries cutting their contributions when they receive decisions they don’t like.
Change in Canadian politics is not limited to the election of the 44-year-old Justin Trudeau. The NDN party of the left and the Conservative Party are all undergoing leadership changes that will shift Canada’s party system in uncertain ways.
Since 1919, Panama’s economy has thrived on shipping and banking laws that shielded those who wanted shelter. With the revelations of the Panama Papers, can a reform-minded president deliver transparency without undermining the country’s economy?
From former guerrilla to fast-rising protege of her predecessor Lula da Silva, she was supposed to preside over Brazil’s rise. Instead, the Brazilian president’s career may soon be over for good.
