Despite having advanced economically in the last few years, Brazil still needs to manage to overcome the political barriers that characterize the bottom billion countries.
Similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental disasters hit marginalized communities the hardest. Not just because they are more exposed to risk, but because of social vulnerabilities and inequalities that prevent them from responding to these events.
Although Argentines responded positively to the Fernández administration’s strict quarantine measures at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the number of COVID-19 cases increase, these same measures have become politically and economically untenable.
The Trump administration is making noises that it will re-focus U.S.-Central America Plan for Prosperity aid on security. But poverty and natural disasters are bigger contributors to migratory flows.
Rising temperatures, extreme weather and lack of infrastructure are threatening Guatemala’s food security. But the government has done little to recognize the trends and prepare for the fall out.
A week before the Donors’ Summit in San Salvador I was able to catch up with Kathy Hall of the Summit Foundation. In a wide-ranging interview she discusses the failures of governments in Central America to provide for the younger generation, the need for the U.S. to condition its assistance to local governments meeting their own commitments, and the moral obligation of donors to collaborate and ensure greater transparency.
Poverty without the violence and economic chaos of Venezuela? CaracasChronicles.com founder Francisco Toro reflects on the different meanings of poverty, inequality, decay, and civility on a stroll through the streets of Kampala’s slums.
