When Media Tell Us Who ‘Won’ a Latin American Election, Start to Ask Questions

When Media Tell Us Who ‘Won’ a Latin American Election, Start to Ask Questions

Elections in Latin America are often controversial. While many countries in the Global North regularly shuffle between parties offering alternating versions of neoliberalism, voting in Central and South America often offers starker contrasts: An anti-imperialist candidate in the mold of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez might be up against a neoliberal such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. It…

Latin America three months into the Trumpocalypse

Latin America three months into the Trumpocalypse

Roger D. Harris and John Perry Nobody is complaining anymore about Latin America and the Caribbean being neglected by the hegemon to the north. The Trump administration is contending with it on multiple fronts: prioritizing “massive deportations,” halting the “flood of drugs,” combatting “threats to US security,” and stopping other countries from “ripping us off”…

What’s Left in Latin American and the Caribbean: Year 2024 in Review

What’s Left in Latin American and the Caribbean: Year 2024 in Review

By Roger D. Harris and John Perry The progressive regional current, the “Pink Tide,” could be better called “troubled waters” in 2024. The tide had already slackened by 2023 compared to its rise in 2022, when it was buoyed by big wins in Colombia and Brazil. Then, progressive alternatives had sailed into power replacing failed…

On the Quito Embassy Raid

On the Quito Embassy Raid

When armed Ecuadorian police gathered outside the Mexican embassy in Quito last Friday evening, a casual observer might have thought they were there to protect it. Instead, they launched an attack: brandishing assault rifles, police climbed the walls, entered the building by force and kidnapped Ecuador’s former vice-president, Jorge Glas, who had that day been…

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River of Darkness

When Spanish ships first reached the Americas in 1492, they had no idea of the size of the lands on which they’d set foot, nor did they realise that they were twin continents in their own right. Columbus died believing he’d found an alternative route to the ‘Indies’, because although the early explorers new the…

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Book Review: The Farm on the River of Emeralds and The Saddest Pleasure, both by Moritz Thomsen

The Farm on the River of Emeralds I was inspired to get this book after reading the sequel in which, having left the farm in Ecuador which is the subject here, he embarks on travels through Brazil and reflections both on Latin America and on why and how he was thrown off the farm by…