latin america
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It is difficult to say when Mexico’s “Drug War” began. For nearly a century, the United States and Mexico have been engaged in operations to halt the production of drugs south of the border as well as their shipment to the United States, which is the world’s largest drug market. However, the genesis of the…
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looks to be losing his grip on power. It’s been a long, slow slide, but on Wednesday, things took a dramatic turn for the worse. Two people were killed, 23 were injured, 25 arrested, and numerous buildings vandalized as radical anti-government protests continued in the capital city for a second week. Maduro…
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Last month, the Mexican government announced an initiative to “legalize” vigilante self-defense groups that have sprung up in response to drug-war related violence. The groups, known as “autodefensas” or “Rural Defense Units” have actually had some success in battling the cartels and the government has been moving from leniency to outright cooperation with them over the…
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Costa Rica held elections yesterday and the preliminary results are in. Because no candidate received more than 40% of the votes, there will be a runoff election to determine the country’s next president on April 6. Here’s a quick explanation of the background of the elections and the issues the country’s next president will face. Background Poverty…
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The US’s attention is spread pretty thin at the moment – wrangling with Russia; negotiating with Iran; drawing down in Afghanistan; “pivoting” to Asia; looking for solutions to violence and unrest in Iraq, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere. Somewhat understandably, there hasn’t been much attention paid to Latin America recently. Despite some success in ameliorating poverty…
Mike LaSusa 