Colombian protestors have found an unexpected ally: fans of Korean pop music, or K-pop. What can we learn from their use of hashtags to influence politics?
Following its first electoral defeat in 15 years, correísmo in Ecuador faces the challenge of remaining relevant.
When United States Vice President Kamala Harris said she wants to help bring hope to the people of Central America—and do it in partnership with local organizations—I was inspired. Generating hope requires rallying all stakeholders around solutions that work. Bringing private sector resources and civil society to the table, as Vice President Harris has recently done ahead of her upcoming visit to Guatemala and Mexico, is a critical step forward.
The following interview between Global Americans’ Executive Director Guy Mentel and Richard E. Feinberg took place this week, in light of recent and upcoming trips to Central America from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris. The purpose of this interview was to glean insight from Mr. Feinberg as an expert with decades of engagement with inter-American relations, and evaluate the Biden administration’s leading agenda items: migration, corruption, foreign investment, and more.
On April 11, 2021, Peru achieved a dubious distinction that has yet to receive much public attention: for the first time in the history of global electoral democracy, the total of blank and null votes exceeded the amount of votes received by any single candidate running to serve as a country’s head of state.
Global Americans convened a panel of regional experts and analysts to weigh in on the implications of Blinken’s visit to Central America, seeking to answer the following questions: What can Costa Rica teach its Central American neighbors with respect to economic stability and transparent governance? How should the U.S. balance its hemispheric national security priorities with the thorny quandary of calling out democratic vulnerabilities and shortcomings? And, generally, which way forward for U.S.-Central American relations once Secretary Blinken has departed San José?
A recent publication by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) highlighted the need for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to “stay abreast of emerging S&T (Science and Technology) around the world, leverage others’ investments and seek out collaborations in areas where researchers need to remain at the leading edge.” The report makes clear that, in order to confront the challenge posed by revisionist powers (RPs) in Latin America, a far larger S&T engagement strategy that encompasses a “whole-of-government” approach must be undertaken.
Guillermo Lasso was inaugurated as Ecuador’s 47th president on Monday. Given a divided legislature, the new president should prioritize unity.
Two things stood out when Chileans went to the polls for last October’s national plebiscite on the drafting of a new constitution. First, nearly 80 percent voted in favor of commencing the process to eventually draft a new constitution, signifying a fairly broad popular consensus that the path toward fixing the country’s ills would be an institutional one—quite a relief after the experience of the 2019 protests. Second, there was a high voter turnout: over 7.5 million Chileans, more than 50 percent of eligible voters, cast a ballot, marking the highest turnout since 2009 (in the middle of a pandemic, no less).
Vaccine developments at the beginning of 2021 represented a crucial step toward overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, and inaugurating a new era for all of Brazil. Nevertheless, another task remains crucial for the country: the development of an alternative to the government of President Jair Bolsonaro.
