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Latin America Reports: The Podcast
Marcela Torres is the former CEO of Hola Code, a Mexican social enterprise that provides software development training for refugees and migrants who have returned to Mexico after having lived in the U.S. She was recently named winner of the ‘Entrepreneur’ category in the list of Latin America’s top innovators under the age of 35 published by MIT Technology Review. In honour of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science earlier this month, we interviewed Torres about being a female CEO of a tech company in Latin America, a region lacking support and funding for women working in STEM.
LATEST NEWS
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How emerging fintech can help Latin America deal with the challenges of COVID-19
Latin America has long suffered from economic instability, inequality and financial exclusion. The region’s economy has grown less than one percent per year since 2014, and Venezuela – once South America’s richest country – has a hyperinflation rate of 19,900 percent. Access to banking is a critical issue for everyday people in Latin America, where only 51 percent of the population have bank accounts at a formal financial institution. The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has therefore placed heavy strain on the region’s economies. As businesses are forced to adapt or close, more than two-thirds of business executives in […]Read more...
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Publicize launches bartering platform to aid entrepreneurs and startups in times of constraints
Publicize, the PR agency for tech sector startups, today announces the launch of the Publicize Swap Shop. This free-to-use online marketplace creates an alternative way for businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide to access products and services through an exchange system. The internationally available online platform contains a feed with offers and requests that have been posted. Swappers who have something to offer first need to create an account and publish the details of the offer, along with a suggested ‘ask’ of what they need in return, if anything. Anyone can browse the platform and the deals that are on offer. Once […]Read more...
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Colombia’s government is digitalizing social inclusion, expanding connectivity
Colombia’s Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MinTic) is currently rolling out a three-pronged digitalization strategy to encourage the social and economic inclusion of marginalized population groups in Colombia. These groups include indigenous communities, Afro-Colombians, Romani communities, Raizal groups of the San Andres Archipelago, and the Palanquero groups of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. According to Iván Antonio Mantilla Gaviria, Colombia’s Vice Minister for Connectivity and Digitalization, they have been historically excluded from the country’s social fabric and public policy. “These communities have not been favored in our country’s history” — Colombia’s Vice Minister for Connectivity and Digitalization A 2018 census carried out by […]Read more...
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MIT Technology Review announces the winners of Innovators Under 35 LATAM
Solar panels derived from micro-algae, a program that gives migrants the opportunity to learn how to code, and a way to use discarded prawn shells to help remove polluting textile dyes from waterways were just some of the projects recognized at MIT Technology Review’s Innovators under 35 Latin America 2019 last week. At the awards ceremony, which was held on January 30 at Mexico City’s Parks BBVA Polanco, 35 finalists were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and their projects. Five winners were chosen from the pool, and will go on to compete in MIT Technology Review’s Global awards. “This […]Read more...
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What’s driving global tech companies to Latin America
Global tech companies are focusing on expansion in Latin America, a sign that the region is ripe with opportunity for market growth and innovation. Latin America’s tech sector has made a name for itself with star startups such as the Colombian unicorn, Rappi, the Brazilian online food delivery platform, iFood, and the Panama-based hospitality brand, Selina. Now, global tech companies see Latin America as the place to focus their expansion. Below are a few key reasons why Latin America offers significant growth potential for global tech companies. 1. Expansive mobile Internet connectivity Internet connectivity is essential for tech company success, and Latin […]Read more...
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How one Venezuelan entrepreneur intends to rescue the shoe industry
The footwear industry has a disproportionately large carbon footprint. Combined with apparel, the two industries generated between five and 10 percent of global pollution impacts in 2016, according to sustainability metrics published by Quantis International. The lifecycle of a shoe begins with the extraction of raw materials, which are then processed and then used to manufacture the shoe itself. The footwear is then assembled, packaged, and transported to its sale destination and then eventually disposed of by its owner when it becomes either damaged or unwanted. Footwear manufacturing methods — such as stitching, glueing and welding — have existed for […]Read more...
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MIT Technology Review reveals 2019 list of Innovators Under 35 LATAM
Earlier this week, the MIT Technology Review published its 2019 list of Latin America’s most innovative young people under the age of 35. The list includes men and women who hail from 11 countries and whose projects cover a wide spectrum of topics ranging from biotechnology, medicine, sustainability, artificial intelligence, software and hardware. For over 10 years, the MIT Tech Review, founded in 1899, has partnered with the Spanish-based global consultancy firm Opinno (short for “open innovation”) to mine the Latin American region for its most innovative young minds . In a conversation with Latin America Reports, the Mexico-based Latin America […]Read more...
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How the town behind Colombia’s most iconic ‘sombrero’ can cash in on the Orange Economy
The sombrero vueltiao is arguably the most emblematic piece of fashion to come from Colombia. They adorn the walls in every gift shop in the country. In major Colombian cities like Bogota and Medellín, vendors can be seen hawking these hats among a jumble of key chains and t-shirts. In rural areas, farmers and townspeople alike shield their faces from the sun by brandishing the iconic hat on their trips into the town square. Next to the fluorescent yellow of the Colombian National soccer team jersey, nothing encompasses “Colombia” in one article of clothing more than this hat. Despite how […]Read more...
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Uber’s departure from Colombia sparks debate over app regulation
Colombia’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce ruled last week that the multinational ride-hailing app Uber is operating “unfairly,” forcing it to cease operations in the country. The court’s decision means that on February 1, Colombia will become the first country in Latin America to lose access to Uber, although the food delivery platform UberEats will continue to operate. The lawsuit against Uber was originally filed by the Colombian taxi union Cotech, which had been campaigning against Uber for years. Cotech claimed that the app was “dishonestly” diverting customers away from hailing the nation’s trusty yellow cabs, giving Uber drivers an […]Read more...
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Mexico City to host MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35
On January, 30, one of the largest global communities of innovators, pioneers, and social change agents will come together for the 30th edition of Innovators Under 35 in Latin America. The finalists will be announced a week before the event is hosted in Mexico City, Mexico at the BBVA tower. Each year, MIT Technology Review publishes a list of 35 innovative young people who are behind projects and initiatives that are aiming to solve the world’s most pressing problems, through technology and innovation. This year, Mexico is one of the Latin American countries with the largest number of innovators on […]Read more...
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Buenaventura awaits answers for two young men killed by security forces during Colombia’s national protests
Four days before the death of student protester Dilan Cruz – who succumbed to injuries suffered from the impact of a tear gas canister being launched at his head by anti-riot police in Bogotá, Colombia – sparked nationwide outrage, two young men were gunned down by security forces during the country’s national protests over 500 kilometers away in the port city of Buenaventura. Spare some coverage in local media, their deaths have mostly gone unreported. According to official communiques, interviews with officials close to the investigation, and statements from witnesses made to Latin America Reports, on the evening of November […]Read more...
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2019: A year in civil rights
This year has been unpredictable when it comes to the rights of marginalized groups in Latin America and those who work to protect them. We take a look back at our coverage of several marginalized groups in the region — women, indigenous peoples and the LGBTQ community — and their fight for equal rights over the course of 2019. WOMEN A Latin America Reports interview early in the year with Argentina’s former foreign minister Susanna Malcorra warned of a “setback,” in women’s rights across the region. Read: Q&A with Argentina’s Former Foreign Minister: The state of women’s rights in Latin […]Read more...
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Latin America is more prosperous but less equal
Despite enjoying steady economic growth over the last couple of decades, Latin America has some of the highest levels of income inequality in the world. As protests — many demanding better social equality — sweep the region, a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report examined wealth distribution in these countries. Read more: 2019: A year in protests Published last week, the report states that 10 million people in Latin America have transitioned out of poverty between 2003 and 2013, but adds that many of them are at risk of falling back into it. Factors that decrease a household’s chance of […]Read more...
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Is AMLO’s approach to crime working after one year?
Since the start of 2019, an average of 95 people per day have been killed in Mexico, according to government statistics published in November. This places Mexico among some of Latin America’s most dangerous countries, alongside El Salvador, Honduras and Brazil. During the first half of the year in particular, homicide rates in Mexico reached the highest on record, according to Reuters. A total of 17,608 people were killed in the country from January through to June, reports from Mexican news outlet Animal Politico indicated. These high homicide rates raise questions over President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), whose presidential […]Read more...
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2019: A year in protests
As 2019 draws to a close, citizens from many countries in Latin America are either still protesting or recovering from social unrest. The reasons behind protests are as diverse as the countries themselves, but all forms of social unrest have aimed to force leaders to address common citizen concerns. Honduras In Honduras, a lack of economic stability, high levels of violence, corruption and criminal activity among politicians are the main reasons why citizens are demanding the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernández. These factors are also fueling their mass migration out of the country. Hernández came into power in 2013 […]Read more...
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OAS audit of Bolivian elections shows “intentional manipulation”
The Organization of American States (OAS) released the final report on Bolivia’s recent presidential elections, stating that the electoral process showed “intentional manipulation” and “serious irregularities.” After an agreement signed on October 30 with former president Evo Morales, the international entity sent 36 specialists from 18 nationalities to study the elections, from lawyers to calligraphy experts. The audit findings suggested that Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) was biased. During the election, TSE workers allowed electoral information to be directed to two hidden external servers, taking away their capacity to ensure the results were not being tampered with, and therefore “destroying” […]Read more...
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What could a Morales-free Bolivia mean for its indigenous people?
Five years ago, Jeanine Áñez, then-conservative senator of Bolivia, tweeted that she dreamt of a Bolivia “free of satanic rituals,” referring to the religious practices of indigenous people. The tweet was later deleted. After former Bolivian president Evo Morales was accused of meddling in the presidential elections, he fled to Mexico, leaving Senator Áñez next in-line to be the interim head of state. After some public deliberation, she took the position and climbed the steps of Palacio Quemado, Bolivia’s presidential palace, with a Bible clutched in her hands. “The Bible is returning to the palace,” she proclaimed. Right-wing opposition activist […]Read more...
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Colombia’s transitional justice mechanism uses public transport to spread message
“We are just going to ask him some questions and we’ll bring him back in an hour. ‘Don’t worry, ma’am,’ he told me,” said Luz Edith Franco. This was 17 years ago. Franco is talking about her husband, Arles Edison Guzmán, who was forcibly disappeared 17 years ago from Medellín’s Comuna 13 one month after Operation Orion: the 2002 Colombian military offensive to remove left-wing guerillas from the area. It has since been proven that military forces collaborated with right-wing paramilitary groups during the operation, and in 2017, the Inter-American Court of Rights condemned the Colombian state for its role […]Read more...
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Excessive police violence in protests cause deaths and thousands of injuries
Protests sweeping the Latin American continent have have taken their toll. In Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, and now Colombia, social unrest has resulted in thousands of injuries and over 50 deaths. According to Reuters, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has said that there will be no impunity for security officials who use excessive force, but added that protesters will also have to face consequences for their actions. Despite international human rights entities calling for police reform and condemning abuses of power, Piñera has asked lawmakers to allow him to put put military back on the streets. El País reported that public opinion […]Read more...
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Uruguay run-off election results indicate change in political status quo
For the last fourteen years in Uruguay, the center-left coalition Broad Front has governed the country. If results from the second presidential run-off elections hold up, indicating a lead for the center-right candidate Luis Lacalle Pou, the politics of the country could be shifting right, under a new coalition called Multicolor. On Sunday, November 24, Lacalle Pou, the son of former conservative president Luis Alberto Lacalle, received 48.71 percent of the vote while Broad Front candidate Daniel Martínez registered 47.51 percent. But due to how close the results were in these elections, the provisional ballots — which exceed the margin […]Read more...
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In photos: Colombia’s national strike from the streets of Medellín
Colombians brought the city of Medellín to a standstill on Thursday, November 21, during a nationwide strike over grievances with current President Iván Duque’s government. Over 250,000 people took to the streets in cities across Colombia, reported Reuters, in some of the biggest anti-government marches the country has seen in recent years. Although demonstrators were not protesting over one exclusive cause, they were united over dissatisfaction with Duque’s government’s ‘paquetazo,’ which features a series of proposed labor and pension reforms, privatizations, and tax increases. Among the list of concerns and grievances was the lack of protection of the country’s social […]Read more...
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Colombian conservationist claims illegal wildlife trafficking is result of state neglect
The Colombian night monkey can be distinguished by its large, closely-set eyes. It is small, about the size of a squirrel, and is the only nocturnal primate in the Amazon rainforest. It is also severely threatened by illegal wildlife trafficking. These monkeys are also conservationist Angela Maldonado’s passion. Dr. Maldonado, who is the scientific director and founder of NGO Fundación Entropika, has dedicated her career to their conservation in the Amazon rainforest since 1998: an endeavor that has since put her life at risk. Her team’s fight to conserve the species has brought them into contact with different sectors that […]Read more...
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The startup that puts Latin American micro-businesses on the digital map
Brazil is geographically and economically the largest country in Latin America, but 89 percent of its micro and small businesses don’t have a digital footprint. This means it’s impossible to find any data on them online, including addresses, opening times, or even what they sell without going in-person to the business and asking. In 2016, Geoffrey Michener spotted this gap in the market and created Dataplor, a company that indexes micro-businesses and sells the information to larger companies. At first, he intended for his business venture to be based in the United States, but soon discovered that the market for […]Read more...
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Does obligatory voting strengthen democracy or violate its ideals?
Voting is an integral component of democracy, but the freedom to choose whether or not to do so is an individual’s right. Or is it? Across the globe, 22 countries have obligatory voting laws, and of those, 11 are in Latin America. As Latin America became increasingly industrialized in the early 1900s, citizens migrated to cities in large numbers to find work. This led to the creation of leftist trade unions and workers’ parties, which were easily mobilized and had a high voting turnout rate, putting right-wing leaders in danger of losing their grip on power. By making voting compulsory, […]Read more...
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Morales’ resignation leaves a vacuum of power in Bolivia
Bolivia is in turmoil after a weekend of shifting loyalties, resignations and violent protests and most poignantly, after Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, stepped down from his post after holding office for 14 years. Tensions rose at the end of last week as sources confirmed that Bolivian police began to side with anti-government groups, a signal that Morales had lost control of the situation in his country. On Saturday November 9, Morales televised an address alongside four other political parties to defend democracy in Bolivia, but the majority – including rival and presidential runner-up Carlos Mesa – refused to […]Read more...
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Colombian startups look abroad for funding opportunities
Access to capital at various stages of a technology startup’s life cycle is crucial to its survival and development. Historically, Colombia’s “biggest ceiling” to startup growth has been a lack of venture capital activity from regional investors. For instance, no Colombian investors made Latin America Venture Capital Association’s (LAVCA) list of most active investors in the region for 2018, according to LAVCA’s Annual Review of Tech Investment in Latin America. The government is trying to circumvent this dearth of local investment by attracting foreign venture capitalists to the Colombian startup ecosystem as well as sending Colombian firms abroad to meet […]Read more...
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Political violence in Colombia after the 2016 peace agreement
Using data from Colombia’s Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), a platform which promotes the freedom to exercise civil and political rights, this graphic illustrates the spread of violence against political candidates and pre-candidates in Colombia during the electoral periods for the 2015 and 2019 local elections. Since the 1940s, Colombia has been no stranger to political violence. Spikes in violence can often be traced back to the conflict with the guerrillas, most notably during the terror campaign conducted in the 1980s and 1990s against the Patriotic Union, the left-wing party associated with the rebels. Several years after the signing of the […]Read more...
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Bolivia’s election protests divide the nation
Luis Fernando Camacho, lawyer and president for the Santa Cruz Civic Committee in Bolivia, called for “decisive action” to force current president Evo Morales to step down after controversial elections last month. He called for a nationwide strike and for the military to “side with the people,” but upon arrival in La Paz on Tuesday, November 5, Morales’ supporters blocked him from entering the capital city. “The people are ready to lose everything, except their democracy and their nation,” Camacho said in a speech he gave the weekend before, reported by Colombian daily El Tiempo. “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion […]Read more...
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Op-Ed: Venezuela is proving to be too costly for Russia
Russia has long-since fueled the left-wing governments of Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela – where it sees opportunities to achieve its foreign policy goals, as well as press the United States in what it has long-considered its area of influence. When Vladimir Putin took on the Russian presidency, he sought to project the idea – both domestically and abroad – that Russia’s power on the international political stage should be taken seriously again. This has been the crux of his foreign policy to date. The Kremlin uses a mix of tools such as its oil and gas companies, sales of […]Read more...
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Protesters in Ecuador and Chile resort to violence in order to be heard
October was a volatile month for Latin America. After grievances over social inequality reached a tipping point, citizens in Ecuador and Chile refused to accept price increases, and decided to protest, sometimes violently. In Ecuador, the catalyst for 11 days of violent protests was the removal of fuel subsidies aimed to cut public spending to conform with International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements. For Ecuadorians, the IMF loan meant that life was steadily getting more expensive, while their salaries remained stagnant. The Chilean government’s decision to raise the metro prices by three percent on October 6 seemed inconsequential, but weeks later, […]Read more...
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Medellín NGO working with homeless population calls for more government support
In November 2019, Medellín’s local government will carry out another census to calculate the latest estimates of the city’s homeless population, which is the second-largest in Colombia. Current figures place the number of homeless people in Medellín at 3,500 and classify approximately one thousand more as living in a homeless “state.” In our latest video report, Latin America Reports spoke to María Paulina Domínguez, sub-secretary of population groups for Medellín’s Secretary of Social Inclusion, Family and Human Rights about the factors that perpetuate homelessness as a condition in the city, as well as ways in which the local government works […]Read more...
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Who is Claudia López, Bogota’s first openly gay, female mayor?
“Today, we finally won!” Claudia López, Bogotá’s mayor-elect, told cheering voters on Sunday, October 27. She was elected the first female mayor of Colombia’s capital city after beating rival candidate Carlos Fernando Galán by a narrow margin of 2.7 percent. The centrist mayor-elect’s victory is particularly symbolic as she will become not only Colombia’s first female mayor, but also the first openly gay mayor of a capital city in Latin America, pledging in her winning speech to combat “sexism, racism, classicism and homophobia.” “Today was a day for girls, today was a day for young people, today was a day for […]Read more...
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Colombia’s key local election outcomes mark a shift away from political elite
In Colombia’s first round of local elections held since the 2016 peace agreement, the political elite fared poorly, notably losing out in Bogotá and Medellín. Despite the violence which characterized the electoral period, according to the national registry poll, the polling stations this year were the most peaceful they have been in recent times. Headlining the results on Sunday, October 27 was Claudia López’s victory in Bogotá’s mayoral race. The Alianza Verde (Green Alliance) and leftist Polo Democratico Alternativo candidate became the first female and openly gay mayor of Bogotá, the position considered to be the second-most influential in the […]Read more...
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Where do Bolivia, Uruguay and Argentina stand after recent elections?
Over the last two weeks, voters in Bolivia, Uruguay and Argentina have been to the polls to vote for their respective new presidents. With one outright win, one second round vote, and one election tainted by accusations of fraud, we bring you an update on each situation. Argentina Elections took place on Sunday, October 27, and after 97 percent of votes were counted, center-left Alberto Fernández had already received more than 45 percent of the votes he needed for an outright win. His controversial decision to nominate former President Cristina Kirchner to be his vice-president united moderate and left-wing voters, […]Read more...
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Insufficient protection measures leave Colombia’s candidates vulnerable
Despite the efforts of the National Protection Unit to provide bodyguards and protection to public figures and President Iván Duque’s pledges to improve safety for those running in the elections, 34 acts of violence — not including threats — have been committed against candidates and pre-candidates since October 27, 2018. This figure includes 17 attacks, 16 murders and one kidnapping. It does not include the nearly 150 acts perpetrated against social leaders, party affiliates and civil servants during the electoral period. With Colombia’s local elections approaching this Sunday, October 27, Latin America Reports spoke to Ángela Gómez Vega, an investigator […]Read more...
