When Cuba’s Communist Party convenes in Havana from April 16-19 for its 8th Party Congress, Raúl Castro, at the age of 89, will step down from center stage. The long, long Castro era is coming to an end. What lies ahead and what remains, however, is more uncertain than ever.
The public spat between the United States and China at the recent bilateral summit held in Alaska clearly showed that future relations between the two world powers will not only be very difficult but could also escalate dangerously.
This piece examines the evolution of China’s position in Panama under the Cortizo government. It finds that China’s advance has suffered significant, if not necessarily enduring, setbacks under Cortizo, reflecting a combination of enhanced legal scrutiny, problems inherent to the Chinese projects themselves, and the adverse effects of the pandemic and corruption on the commercial and administrative environment in the country.
Ahead of presidential and congressional elections scheduled for Sunday, Peru is battling a record spike in COVID-19 deaths, underscoring the public health challenges that the next administration will be forced to address and potentially setting the stage for additional surges, as millions of Peruvians gather at the polls.
On the day before the Easter holiday, the Colombian Attorney General’s office issued an indictment against the former governor of the Antioquia Department and current presidential contender, Sergio Fajardo, for fund mismanagement alleged to have taken place in 2013. Fajardo’s response to the allegations against him may redirect his candidacy just one year before Colombia’s presidential election.
The Essequibo territory remains a point of contention between Guyana and Venezuela, and the stage is now set for the ICJ to step in and render a judgment.
The race to research, develop, test, approve, and distribute effective COVID-19 vaccines has turned the search for global normalcy into yet another frontier to be exploited for geopolitical gain, with Russia taking the opportunity to use vaccines as a means to advance relations throughout Latin America.
As Brazil spirals deeper into the epidemiological crisis caused by COVID-19, a new political dilemma has also arisen in the South American nation. Following President Jair Bolsonaro’s sudden and unexpected firing of Minister of Defense General Fernando Azevedo e Silva last Monday, the chiefs of the Brazilian army, navy, and air force all announced their resignations in response.
Over the past four years, Colombia has eradicated nearly 300,000 hectares (more than 1,000 square miles) of coca while seizing more than 2,000 metric tons of pure cocaine and cocaine base, but the country remains plagued by illicit drug activity.
Immigrants are not coming to the U.S. because they are attracted by President Joe Biden’s inclusive language, and they were not repelled by former President Donald Trump’s use of racist imagery. Such a narrow focus may provide clickbait for media outlets but facilitates no concrete policy progress. Real understanding and positive change in the migration debate can only come by keeping structural factors at the forefront of any discussion.
