Written by: Elena Cata After decades of relentless campaigning, abortion activists in Colombia reveled in their victory in the streets of Bogota on February 21. The historic ruling from the Colombian Constitutional Court legalized abortion up until 24 weeks of a pregnancy and removed the procedure from the country’s criminal code. Following in the recent…
Category: Latin America
Revolutionary Beginnings in Chile
Written by: Elena Cata It was a small spark that ignited the flames of revolution in Chile in 2019. When the government increased the subway fare by a modest 4% in early October, high school students began jumping turnstiles at metro stations in the country’s capital, using the hashtag #EvasionMasiva (Mass Evasion) on social media….
Daniel Ortega Clinches Nicaraguan Presidency in a “Sham” Election on November 7th: Will the Biden Administration’s Sanctions Impact his Reign?
Written by: Elena Cata All eyes have been on Nicaragua in recent weeks as recent presidential campaigns culminated in the general election on November 7th. Unsurprisingly, incumbent Daniel Ortega triumphed and assumed his 4th consecutive term as the country’s president. In the months leading up to the election, Ortega’s attempts to punish dissent and quell…
Brazil: Democracy or Autocracy
Written by: Christopher Ploumidis In one year, Brazilian politicians will be facing off for the most powerful offices in the nation. The 2022 Brazilian Presidential election is beginning to closely mirror the 2020 U.S. Presidential election in some frightening ways. Known as the “Trump of the Tropics,” presidential incumbent Jair Bolsanaro has been sowing…
The Cuban Dissident Movement: Escaping the Grip of Communist Creed
Written by: Garrett Halak The single-party authoritarian country of Cuba has experienced a shift in citizen attitudes related to human rights and democratic principles. While the dissident movement in Cuba has been around for a number of years, nonviolent protests were revived during 2021 within the socialist state. The dissident movement calls for the replacement…
Ecuador’s New President Faces Compromise with Rising Indigenous Party
Written by: Peter LaBelle On April 10, Ecuador held the second round of its presidential election, which delivered a surprise victory to the conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso over the leftist Andres Arauz. Though Lasso had only narrowly made it into the runoff over another leftist candidate, Arauz may have been harmed at the polls…
Brazil Struggles with Racial Redefinition in Office
Written by: Kamika Patel In part because of growing awareness of racial inequality and in part because of growing global recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement, more attention has been paid to the self-declaration of candidates’ race in the 2020 elections in Brazil. Electoral candidates have been required to declare their “color/race” in Brazil…
To Preserve and Support
Written by: Nils Peterson As the United States continues to prioritize Asia in its foreign policy, Latin America enters an uncertain future marked by dim prospects for most of the population. Fears of an economic lost decade and dramatic upticks in inequality present severe challenges across the region. Chinese fishing fleets near the Galapagos Islands…
Basic Economics: A Look Into What Happened to Venezuela
Written by: Aaditya Kumar Inflation is synonymous with increasing prices, but it also means a decrease in a currency’s purchasing power. Typically a country tries to keep inflation under 10%, but when adverse economic shocks hit, the rates can spiral out of control. A more extreme version of inflation, hyperinflation, is marked by inflation exceeding…
From Rich to Poor
Written by: Pooja Gundimeda Back in 2015, Guyana, a small South American country, was projected to become the Western Hemisphere’s next big oil producer. The world paid attention to this small country when Exxon Mobil announced a significant oil discovery, about 120 miles off its coastline. While drilling, the company encountered more than 90 meters…
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