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Protests in Honduras continue amid calls for president’s resignation
Hondurans have been protesting for over two months. In mid-June, the government deployed the army and military police onto the streets to repress growing crowds, and security forces have so far killed three people and injured dozens. Teachers and health workers triggered a wave of demonstrations in April as they articulated their opposition to government-imposed reforms to privatise the country’s health and education systems, but protests quickly grew into something much more universal. Violence, poverty and an administration dogged by corruption accusations have brought Hondurans together to demand one thing: the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernández. Demonstrations grew in force […]Read more...
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Opinion: The FARC share the blame for the peace agreement’s failure
It’s fair to say that the implementation of the landmark peace agreement that the Colombian government signed with the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is running on fumes. Much of the blame has fallen on the government and the governing party, who insist on making modifications to the agreement while they still have a lot to do on integral rural reform and protection of ex-combatants. The FARC, however, are also to blame. Their leadership has fallen short on its commitment to giving reparations to victims, surrendering to justice and abandoning drug trafficking entirely. We have heard over and […]Read more...
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UN report reveals systemic human rights violations in Venezuela
On July 4, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report detailing the grave human rights violations that are occurring in Venezuela, which include extrajudicial executions and torture. The report comes after UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet visited the country at the end of June, and much of it is based on first hand reports of these violations. It calls for “immediate measures” to stop systemic state-implemented human rights infractions in Venezuela. Death Squads In its investigation for the report, the OHCHR interviewed the families of 20 men who were killed by […]Read more...
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Colombian government denounces planting of anti-personnel landmines to protect coca crops
The National Liberation Army (ELN) and Clan del Golfo are resuming the plantation of anti-personnel landmines in Colombian territory, High Commissioner for Peace Miguel Ceballos denounced this week at the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly. The ELN, Colombia’s last remaining left-wing guerrilla movement, and Clan del Golfo – a right-wing paramilitary organization also known as the Urabeños or Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – are the primary criminal organizations in the country. Both are important actors in the illegal drugs trade. According to Ceballos, who spoke at an OAS press conference in Medellín last week, both groups have strategically […]Read more...
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How progressive is LGBTQ rights legislation in Latin America?
Earlier this month, Ecuador joined Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay in becoming the sixth Latin American country to legalize same sex-marriage, although each country varies in progressivity when it comes to the nuances of LGBTQ legislation. As this year’s pride month draws to a close, we take a look at the status of LGBTQ rights in these six countries. Despite traditionally being one of the most devout, Catholic and conservative regions of the world, Latin America is also home to some of the most progressive legislation with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity. According to research (PDF) […]Read more...
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Female entrepreneurship in Latin America flourishes in the face of adversity
Every two weeks, a group of female entrepreneurs congregate at Flamingo coworking space in Santa Marta, Colombia. Luz Alexandra Moran, the head of a female entrepreneurship group called Mujer Samaria, uses the space to give workshops–the most recent one in June focused on startup management. She spoke to Latin America Reports over the phone about the problems women face when starting their own business. “Women always have barriers and obstacles when they try and open their own businesses because of the condition of being a woman and the roles expected of us,” Moran told Latin America Reports. “Sometimes even the […]Read more...
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Why are people protesting the advent of 5G in Uruguay?
In April, Uruguay became the first country in South America to launch commercial 5G internet connectivity, which the national government claims to be ten times faster than previous internet networks. State internet provider Antel, in collaboration with international phone company Nokia, set up 5G base stations in La Barra and Nueva Palmira in the states of Maldonaldo and Colonia respectively. The president of Antel, Andrés Tolosa, also stated at the launch ceremony that the company plans to extend 5G coverage to the rest of the country this year. Earlier this month, however, residents of the small seaside town La Barra […]Read more...
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Colombia to resume aerial spraying of coca crops
On June 8, Colombian Defence Minister Guillermo Botero told Blu Radio that helicopters will resume aerial fumigation of coca crops within 12-16 weeks. President Ivan Duque confirmed this on a recent visit to the UK, in a conversation with the The Guardian. Priority zones will be the departments of Nariño, Catatumbo and Putumayo, Botero said. According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report published last year, Nariño and the municipality of Tumaco are still home to the most concentrated cultivations of coca across the country, the raw material used to make cocaine. Speaking to the Colombian […]Read more...
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Reactions to The Intercept’s Operation Car Wash Exposés
On Sunday, June 9, the editorial staff at The Intercept broke the first part of one of the most significant scoops in Brazil’s recent political history. The investigative news outlet, which has a sister site in Portuguese, was presented with a large archive of files labeled “The Secret Messages of Operation Car Wash,” by an anonymous source. They have been gradually publishing its excerpts over the last ten days. Last year, former President Lula da Silva and a member of the Workers’ Party (PT), was sentenced to twelve years in prison as part of the Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash) […]Read more...
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How one power cut affected nearly 50 million people
At around 7 a.m. on Sunday, June 16, Argentina had a large-scale power outage that left the entire mainland without electricity for over 14 hours. The interconnected electrical grid system affected the whole of Uruguay, as well as some cities in Paraguay, Brazil and Chile. According to the New York Times, businesses in Buenos Aires didn’t open their doors and traffic slowed to a crawl as signal lights stopped functioning. AySA, the water provider in the capital, told inhabitants via Twitter to ration water, as the main water supply to the city relies partly on electrical pumps. Across Argentina, local […]Read more...
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Who are the two remaining presidential candidates in Guatemala?
Two candidates remain after the first round of voting in Guatemala on Sunday, June 16. Social democrat Sandra Torres took the top spot with 25 percent of the vote, and conservative Alejandro Giammattei came second with 14 percent. According to the Supreme Electoral Tribune, overall voting turnout rate was low at 53 percent, and over 13 percent of votes were blank or spoiled. Because no candidate received a majority, a second and final vote between Torres and Giammattei will take place Sunday, August 11, and the chosen president will take office in January 2020. Read More: Guatemala’s voters weigh […]Read more...
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Guatemala’s voters weigh in on 2019 election
The first round of Guatemala’s elections on Sunday has the country in a state of flux. The country’s Supreme Court disqualified two of the most popular presidential candidates, Zury Ríos and ex-Attorney General Thelma Aldana, from the race in May and there have been two more disqualifications for corruption. One of these candidates, Mario Estrada, was arrested in Miami for conspiring with the Sinaloa cartel in April. Although there are almost twenty candidates, former first lady Sandra Torres is the current front runner. She has also been accused of criminal association in the illicit financing of her 2015 presidential bid […]Read more...
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Nicaragua grants amnesty for all actors in anti-government protests
A total of 106 political prisoners have now been freed in Nicaragua after a controversial amnesty law was passed by Congress on June 8, granting freedom to those who participated in last year’s anti-government protests, including both demonstrators and police. The law, backed by President Daniel Ortega’s government, has provoked heavy criticism from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has publicly stated that it could “impede the processing of potentially responsible persons for grave violations of human rights.” Likewise, Human Rights Watch has also called for the United States to impose sanctions against senior Nicaraguan government officials […]Read more...
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Mexico’s National Guard will be used to reduce immigration after negotiations with the U.S.
Six thousand National Guard troops will be sent to the country’s border with Guatemala in order to curb immigration, reported the BBC. This is the result of marathon negotiations with the United States to avoid being hit with tariffs that could reach up to 25 percent. The agreement which was signed on Friday, June 7, also requires the Mexican government to expand the initiative to return asylum seekers from the U.S. border to Mexico while they wait for their claims to be processed. And earlier this week, Ebrard announced that the government had already started deploying some of the six […]Read more...
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Q&A with “Que Sea Ley” director about Argentina’s fight for legal abortion
The phrase, “In Argentina, one woman dies every week because of an illegal abortion,” flashes up on the screen, in white capital letters against a black background. The sound of drums crescendos almost unbearably before the screen cuts to footage of one of the many marches for legal abortion in Argentina in 2018, in which women dressed in green stamp their feet and beat their drums in unison. The message is clear: they are loud, they are united, and they are not giving up. In 2018, the bill for legal abortion was presented before the Argentine government for the seventh […]Read more...
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Why are inmates still dying in Brazil’s violent prisons?
Brazil exercises a hard-line approach to petty crime and violence. Because of the country’s pre-trial detention policy, those who commit even the smallest of crimes are automatically detained before they are put on trial. According to a 2014 study by the Center for Studies in Criminology and Citizenship, around 40% of Brazil’s prison population finds itself in this position. As a result, overcrowding in Brazil’s prisons is placing a heavy strain on the system. From 2014 to 2016 the country’s prison population increased by 20.7 percent, said a report published last year by the Brazilian Forum on Public Security (FBSP). […]Read more...
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What is the future for renewable energy in Latin America?
Coming in as Latin America’s second largest country, just falling short of Brazil, Mexico is the fourteenth largest country on the globe with a land mass of 1,964,375 area sq.km. A flight from, for instance, Tijuana on the Pacific Coast to the tourist hotspot of Cancun in the Gulf of Mexico can take over four hours flight time and a journey by land can take days. Within Mexico, the abundances of climates are divided by the Tropic of Cancer and offer anything from tropical and Mediterranean, to arid and dry landscapes. Winters are mild and summers can become staggeringly hot, and most […]Read more...
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In photos: Brazil’s second round of education protests
Yesterday afternoon, Brazil’s Ministry of Education released a statement communicating that no public education institution had the right to encourage students, teachers, other staff, public officials or parents to take part in demonstrations during school hours, nor incentivize political movements. A few hours earlier, protests had already begun. Photojournalist Ana Carolina Fernandes documented the protests that took place in Rio de Janeiro, which were the second round of demonstrations to take place against President Jair Bolsonaro’s recently-announced cuts to the national education budget, supported by Education Minister Abraham Weintraub. The states of Bahia, São Paulo, Brasília, Porto Alegre, Maranhão, Ceará, […]Read more...
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Economy takes center stage for voters in Argentina’s upcoming elections
The run-up to Argentina’s elections in October has been eventful so far. The expected stand-off between current President Mauricio Macri, criticized for his management of the economic crisis, and former President Cristina Kirchner, who is embroiled in a corruption scandal, suddenly dissipated when Kirchner decided to step down. Kirchner is now running as vice-president, which political analyst Raul Aragón expressed to Latin America Reports was a “very intelligent strategy,” and suggested that new candidate Alberto Fernández is more likely to attract more moderate voters. In the current economic climate, however, Argentinians will be looking first and foremost to economic policy […]Read more...
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New law to grant Cubans wi-fi access from their own homes
Yesterday, the Cuban Ministry of Communication announced the legalization of personal wi-fi networks across the island and its decision to permit the importation of routers and servers. Internet access will still be solely provided by state-run communications monopoly Etecsa. Previously, it was illegal in Cuba to be connected to wi-fi in your own home. This is not to say it didn’t happen, as many set up their own clandestine networks and state authorities gradually increased their levels of tolerance around the rule breakers. Now, Cubans will be able to legally set up their own private internet connections via computers and […]Read more...
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Odebrecht scandal involvement begins to unravel in Mexico
Interpol released a red alert yesterday in order to search for Emilio Lozoya Austin, the former head of Mexico’s state-run oil company, Pemex. At the same time in Mexico, a judge has temporarily suspended the arrest warrant facing Lozoya while authorities clarify if there were any anomalies in the process, reported Animal Politico. The former head of Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex could face trial for bribery and tax fraud allegations which are connected to the wider Latin American Odebrecht scandal. The investigation against Lozoya marks the first anti-corruption case that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — known as […]Read more...
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Brazil’s university students to Bolsonaro: Don’t cut the education budget
Bárbara Martins is a 21-year-old journalism student at Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University (UFRJ) who is worried that recent government cuts to the education budget will mean she will not be able to finish her second university semester of the year. “It’s the biggest university in the country, there is no way it is going to be able to operate with almost halved funding,” Martins told Latin America Reports. Earlier this month, students and employees of Brazilian public education institutions received news of the current government’s decision to freeze approximately 23 percent of the country’s discretionary education budget, equivalent to […]Read more...
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Abortion legislation in the spotlight as Argentina presents new law to Congress
Women across Argentina will take part in marches to celebrate the presentation of new abortion legislation to National Congress. This is the eighth year that legislators and activists have attempted to pass a law to legalize abortion in the country. The new proposal is an altered version of the one presented last year, which passed in Congress but failed when it reached the Senate after a 16-hour debate. Read more: Teenage pregnancy rates soar across Latin America The fight for free, legal and safe abortion last year polarized the largely Catholic country, and resulted in a “green wave” of feminist […]Read more...
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Who benefits from a Latin America coworking boom?
It was from the 41st floor where I looked down at a bird’s eye view of one of Mexico’s most renowned monuments. The Angel de la Independencia attracts dozens of tourists a day and is at the center of a bustling roundabout in the heart of Mexico City. Almost at the top of one of the capital’s tallest skyscrapers, a signature smog lingered over Mexico City. To the faint tapping of keyboards and hangout meetings, I wondered for a moment how many people have had the chance to see the monument from this breathtaking perspective, and the panoramic city beyond. […]Read more...
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Bolsonaro’s admission of weakness sparks discussions of his impeachment
Last week, the publication of a Folha de São Paulo op-ed predicting the possibility of President Jair Bolsonaro’s impeachment coincided with his own admission that Brazil is proving “impossible” to govern. According to Folha columnist Reinaldo Azevedo, all that remains for Bolsonaro to be charged with impeachment is for the political atmosphere to degenerate enough for him to lose at least a third of support in Brazil’s House of Representatives. Since his inauguration in January, Bolsonaro’s popularity rating has fallen by 15%, according to a survey carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (IBOPE) in March. […]Read more...
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How to save a dying indigenous language
According to UNESCO‘s latest survey of world languages, 43 percent of them are endangered. Since the internet has become the integral platform for communication, many believe that the world wide web is a severe threat to language diversity. And as researcher András Kornai predicted in his study Digital Language Death , 95 percent of all languages spoken today will never gain traction online. It’s not just the internet that is threatening indigenous and minority languages, Juan Gonzalo Betancur told Latin America Reports. Head of social communication at Medellin’s EAFIT University in Colombia, Betancur explained there are various factors that could […]Read more...
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Fifth Mexican journalist killed this year
Francisco Romero left his home in the early hours of May 16 after receiving a tip about a potential story. Shortly after arriving at La Gota bar in the beachside city of Playa Del Carmen, the journalist was shot in the head by an unidentified gunman and died at the scene. Romero is at least the fifth journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year, making the country the deadliest in the world for news reporters, according to Reporters Without Borders. The 28-year-old journalist known as Ñaca Ñaca ran a Facebook news site called Ocurrió Aqui (Happened here) that reported […]Read more...
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Latin American technology production appears to benefit from trade war
At least four Chinese companies have invested in Mexico’s border city of Tijuana since the start of this year. Large international companies are contributing to a growing trend of Latin American investments which are taking the region by storm. Allured by Mexico’s proximity to Silicon Valley and a plethora of developers who are willing to work across Latin America for smaller wages than their U.S. counterparts, international investors in the region are bound to increase their involvement, primarily in the natural resource and technology sectors. It has long been known that China is increasingly interested in Latin America, a considerably […]Read more...
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How incorrect statistics fuel the negative image of immigrants
The current US president consistently vilifies Mexico and its southern neighbors in Central America. This includes his perceived need to ‘‘make America safe again’’ from migrants who the US government has deemed as “criminal illegal aliens.” The belief here, underpinned by much-challenged statistics, is that by declaring a national emergency and funneling billions of US taxpayer dollars to build a wall, the United States would reinstate security and keep migrants at bay. In February, Mr. Trump announced plans to use the US military budget to help reach fund of $8 billion for the wall, but this decision remains stuck in […]Read more...
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Bolsonaro’s environmental negligence goes from bad to worse
This week, Brazil withdrew its offer to host a United Nations Latin America and Caribbean climate week that was due to be held this August in the city of Salvador. Bolsonaro’s current Environment Minister Ricardo Selles told national daily O Globo that it “didn’t make sense to host the event” without hosting the UN Climate Change Summit, which Brazil had already withdrawn its offer to host later on this year. Last week, President Jair Bolsonaro also announced his intention to remove environmental protections from the Tamoios Ecological Station in the state of Rio de Janeiro, opening it up to tourist […]Read more...
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Are reggaeton and social media enough to save Colombia’s human rights activists?
Colombian YouTubers have teamed up with social leaders and journalists in a music video campaign to draw attention to the threats facing the country’s human rights defenders. The video features the likes of YouTubers La Pereztroica, Juan Pablo Jaramillo and Nancy Loaiza, along with Maria Paulina Baena – the face of El Espectador’s opinion video blog ‘La Pulla.’ It also profiles Colombian social leaders such as Francia Márquez, an activist for environmental rights, Juana Ruiz, who fights for women’s rights, as well as other advocates for territorial, farmer’s and LGBT rights. The launch of the #UnLiderEnMiLugar (#ALeaderInMyPlace) campaign was spearheaded […]Read more...
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Where China is most heavily investing in Latin America
Since 2005, China has poured over $141 billion in loans into the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. This is more than lending from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the CAF Development Bank of Latin America combined. China is also working to bring its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to expand overseas investment by building infrastructure for land and sea routes across the world, to the region. It also purports to help developing countries improve their infrastructure and capitalize on trade opportunities with China, although critics say it will inadvertently put small or weak […]Read more...
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Venezuela’s self-declared president urges Europe to legitimize his “diplomats”
Venezuela’s self-declared interim president, Juan Guaidó, on Sunday urged European leaders to “legitimize” his foreign representatives in those countries. The call highlights the precarious position of his “diplomats” on the continent, which are not officially recognized as ambassadors and lack the traditional resources allotted to foreign service members. “I always call this entrepreneurial diplomacy,” said William Dávila Valeri, Guaidó’s designated “emissary” to Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia, during an interview with Latin America Reports in April at the Horasis Global Meeting. Davila, whose father is a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, is the current Executive Director of Corporate Relations at […]Read more...
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Brazil’s government signs law simplifying bureaucracy for startups
In April, a new law was passed in Brazil that aims to “de-bureaucratize” entrepreneurship in the country. The law, called MP 881/2019, is a provisory legal measure that will need to be approved by Congress in under 120 days for it to become permanent. Prior to the passing of the law, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) had to undergo a complex and time-consuming process to register their company. “In the last 20 years, Brazil has produced a massive number of laws, regulatory agencies and conditions,” Bruno Bonassi explained to Latin America Reports. Bonassi is the Brazilian country manager […]Read more...
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Opinion: Where do US progressives stand on Venezuela and Maduro?
The complicated and dynamic relationship that the United States has with Latin America has become a flashpoint of tensions between progressives and the US government. Last week activists from anti-war collective Code Pink, who have been living inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, refused to vacate the premises and make way for the US-recognized delegation named by interim president Juan Guaidó. (By the way, if you want to read context on Venezuela, please read here, here, and here). The group remains in support of President Nicolás Maduro, whom they consider Venezuela´s legitimate elected leader. Progressive politicians such as Bernie Sanders […]Read more...
