The question isn’t how the majority of Venezuelan citizens will vote in the December 6 national assembly elections but what conditions the balloting will be conducted under… and whether the government will accept the results.
En los últimos años, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos se ha encontrado bajo constantes ataques diplomáticos destinados a debilitar el alcance de su mandato y privilegiar la soberanía nacional.
Should Latin America continue to put all its eggs in the commodity basket hoping for a return of the good times? Of course not. The region must diversify its economic base to focus on manufacturing and services as well. In the meantime, the agricultural sector needs greater unity across the sector to improve productivity, efficiency, and innovation.
The World Bank annual meeting in Lima, Peru this weeks offers a unique opportunity. While China’s massive investments in infrastructure are much-needed, they come with huge risks. The World Bank can reduce those by working with these new efforts—with all their capital—to apply the Bank’s experience in protecting the environment and local communities.
This week’s snapshot looks at Latin America’s rankings in the recently released Global Competitiveness Index, produced by the World Economic Forum. While the so-called ALBA countries continue to occupy the bottom of the regional pile, the biggest surprise is Brazil, which sunk 18 places.
UNASUR’s statement that it would not question the judicial decisions of its member states over the recent sentencing of Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was as predictable as it was troubling. It’s a perfect example of how the region has regressed, with little respect for its troubled past and a warning of things to come.
Was the death of South American rock idol Gustavo Cerati yet another example of Venezuela’s interminable collapse?
How tolerant are citizens across the Americas of LGBT political rights and marriage equality? While support for political rights is higher than support for the rights of LGBT couples to legally wed, the results track largely with levels of economic development in the region, with two notable exceptions.
Venezuelans are having children at higher rates than their counterparts in other countries, despite the economic crisis (aided, perhaps in part, by the condom shortage). The resulting non-working, dependent population will make it increasingly difficult for the government to sustain its high levels of redistribution, even if oil prices improve. Ultimately, demographics may be what doom the Bolivarian revolution.
August marks the beginning in a decisive stage in Venezuela’s electoral process and, quite likely, the future of elections in the polarized country. Three scenarios seem the most likely, with only one of them remotely positive for the country’s vitiated democracy.
