NICARAGUA: Migration Flows and Political Instability
By Glenn Ojeda Vega - Latin America Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy: At the Peñas Blancas land crossing between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, one can see the migrant camps inhabited…
Hugo Chavez
OP-ED: INTERNATIONAL: Russia & Venezuela: From Allies to Patronage?
By W. Alex Sánchez and Brittney Figueroa; originally published on International Policy Digest - Venezuela’s political and economic meltdown continues while President Nicolas Maduro’s priority is to remain in power. Meanwhile,…
COLOMBIA: Reconciling Post-War Terrorists - Contextualizing the New FARC in History’s Shadow
Colombian journalist Daniel Samper recently conducted a light-hearted YouTube challenge…with FARC leader Jesus Santrich. Participating in a viral stunt, it involved squeezing lemon juice into their eyes and seeing who endured…
VENEZUELA: The Necessity of a Negotiated Political Transition
By Glenn Ojeda Vega; Young Professionals in Foreign Policy - A few weeks ago, Venezuela’s government announced that it will initiate the process of withdrawing from the Organization of American…
OP-ED: VENEZUELA: What the Venezuelan Government Must also Recognize About Equal Opportunity
By Kate Harveston - At first glance, socialism appears to be a dreamer’s humanist philosophy made political, and who doesn’t desire a fair chance for all? However, the effects of…
OP-ED: POLITICS: Can Leftist Populism be Defeated in South America?
(Cross-posted article by Facundo Barbaro; Young Diplomats) - The latest elections and polls led the world to believe that the depleted and drifting leftist governments of the region were about to…
ECONOMY: The Limited Resilience of South America’s Commodity Boom
(By Barbara Hogenboom and Marjo de Theije) - In the last decade, South America has seen substantial economic growth combined with impressive social progress. While the surge in social spending…
SECURITY: How Does a Narco-State Work?
(By Rosario Hernandez; Young Diplomats): A Narco-State, by definition, is an area or government that is involved in drug trafficking directly or indirectly. It varies from having a figure as important…
CUBA: Former Cuban Revolutionary Leader Fidel Castro Dies at Age 90: A Mixed Legacy
(Cross-Posted by Vincent Lofaso from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs / COHA) - On November 25, 2016, the fiery Cuban revolutionary who perpetrated massive violations of human rights and his ability…
EDITOR’s NOTES: CUBA: Fidel Castro’s Divided Legacy - 12 Pro and Anti Arguments
It is not a hoax this time. Ex-President and co-founder of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, died yesterday on the 25th of November, 2016, at age 90. The world is…
EDITOR’S NOTES: The Economic and Political Power of Telenovelas
How do telenovelas - idols of entertainment and popular culture - exist in the name of agendas they attempt to escape? As the popularity of Latin American telenovelas expand into…
EDITOR’S NOTES: How Mixed Accounts in Mass Media Influence Daily Life and Historic Policies
What does the Venezuelan crisis and Mexican Singer Juan Gabriel’s death have in common? Or one could approach the same big-picture question another way: Many cultured book worms enjoy when the same…
MERCOSUR: Venezuela Crisis and Big Picture Regional Implications
Venezuela’s assuming of the Mercosur pro-tempore presidency has not only tested the regional economic bloc’s crisis-era resilience, but furthermore right and left-wing governmental relations - public and private. The re-questioning…
NICARAGUA: Opposition Accuses Ortega of Parliamentary Coup Detat
Editor’s Note: “Coup detat” is one of those timeless, epic, head-turning words in Latin American political lingo. It’s happened before, and people have no reason to believe that it won’t happen…
EDITOR’s NOTES: Panama Papers Behind the Scenes
At this point, you’re probably familiar with the news that 370 journalists from around the world have participated in an intensive international investigation into tax havens, culminating with the release…
ANALYSIS: The Latin American Leadership Question
A fundamental question of the role of Latin American leadership is more pivotal than ever. Highly popular ex-union leader Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva stopped being Brazilian president in 2010. And yet Lula…
VENEZUELA: Maduro Calls OAS Leader “Mr. Trash” For Condemning Opponent’s Death
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro as “Mr. Trash” for condemning the controversial death of an opponent earlier this week. The name calling follows Almagro’s publically expressed concern about the…
Mercosur: A brief history
48th Mercosur summit closes with Bolivia becoming full member; Mercosur world’s fourth largest trade bloc, Mercosur created because of historical rivalry between Argentina and Brazil; Joined with CAN to…
Pope Francis’ Political Influence in Latin America
It is during the Vatican’s continued efforts to reestablish credibility after years of corruption allegations that Pope Francis makes a second trip to one of the most Catholic-dominant regions on…
VENEZUELA: Diosdado Cabello: Victim or drug trafficker?
As political crises intensify, so does the crisis of which its main actors face. As the Maduro government prolongs opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Daniel Ceballos’ imprisonment to the point…
VENEZUELA and SUMMIT of the AMERICAS: Beyond Cuba-US
Last week, the VII Summit of the Americas brought together heads of state from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The function of these once-every-three-year summits is to…
VENEZUELA: Two songs, two revolutions
Music is fundamental to passion and culture. In Venezuela, passion and culture have also amounted to revolution. But Chávez-supporters (aka ‘Bolivarians’) are not the only ones rallying nationalism and certainly…
Venezuela: Congress majority leader dismisses cartel links
Diosdado Cabello, majority leader of the Venezuelan congress, is forced to categorically deny any ties with cartel after claims surface from a defected former bodyguard of the senior Chavista official….
Economy: A divided Latin America
The absence of Latin America’s leftist governments at the recent Ibero-American summit highlights the region’s divide, but it is primarily a question of politics rather than one of economics. Lined…
Feature: Can we learn from Morales?
Last Sunday, 12 October, saw Evo Morales and his party Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism - MAS) claim a victory of 60.9% in the Bolivian presidential elections. Leftist leaders…