Latin America
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The scene at the World Cup final today could serve as a slightly absurd metaphor for the tournament as a whole. The crowd at Maracanã stadium, the site of Brazil’s infamous 1950 defeat to Uruguay, shouted crude insults at the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Dilma, grimacing, handed the trophy to the victorious German team “like a hot potato.” The song…
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At a public appearance in the working-class Caracas neighborhood of Los Magallanes de Catia on 1 July 2014, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced a “shake-up” in his government. He promised “a complete and profound revolution within public administration.” The nation is certainly seeking solutions to ongoing issues such as high rates of inflation and violent crime,…
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At the 27 June 2014 Central American Integration System (SICA) meeting, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera described the flight of emigrants and refugees (especially unaccompanied children) from the so-called Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as “one of the greatest tragedies of our region…” Read this piece in its entirety at Southern…
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Although the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) only has an estimated 20 to 100 combatants, the government of President Horacio Cartes has made it a top security priority. Cartes did not seem very concerned with the group when he was inaugurated in August 2013, but after a series of high-profile attacks by the rebels early in…
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Over the past few weeks, the sudden explosion of unaccompanied child migrants from Central America entering the United States has received a lot of press. On June 2, President Obama announced that his administration was seeking congressional approval for an extra $1.4 billion in federal funding to help alleviate what he described as an “urgent humanitarian situation.” According to…
Mike LaSusa 