latin america

  • Negotiations with the FARC Hit One-Year Mark

    Today marks the one-year anniversary of the inception of peace talks with the FARC. Last week, the Colombian government and the FARC signed a deal to allow for the FARC’s participation in the country’s political system should a final agreement be reached in the peace negotiations. As President Santos put it, “Never before have we…

    Read more →

  • Gimme Shelter: Gangs, Violence, Corruption, and Exclusion in Brazil’s Favelas

    I wrote this for a class on Brazil’s ongoing transition from “developing” to “developed” country. Some snippets: Residents of Brazil’s favelas (and other slum-like urban settlements, which will be distinguished below) exist in a strange limbo of legality. They often have no title to the lands they occupy, their living is often made in informal…

    Read more →

  • A Thousand Twangling Instruments: Racial and Ethnic Political Identities in Modern Latin America

    I wrote this for a class on Latin American comparative politics. My conclusions: …Indigenous movements are just one section in the symphony of “a thousand twangling instruments” that comprise the social movement scene in Latin America. The present period seems may be like the cacophony on before the concert as the musicians separately tune their…

    Read more →

Portrait illustration of Mike LaSusa

Mike LaSusa