Latin America
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Monthly Archives: November 2018
Paris, Buenos Aires, and START
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump shook hands briefly at the centennial World War I commemoration in Paris on November 12, 2018. They had a short discussion about Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea (“Putin says had…”). Though the leaders planned a meeting, they ultimately postponed the meeting until the Buenos Aries G20 summit on the weekend of November 30 (Jackson). Trump said he wants to discuss Russian collaboration in Syria and denuclearizing North Korea. Putin wants to discuss the recent U.S. pull out from 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and “the future of the 2011 New START arms-reduction agreement” (Jackson, “Putin: Arms control…”).
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Monthly Archives: November 2018
Central America in the News
“Mexico mothers search for mass graves after tip-off” BBC News. Nov. 6, 2018 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46110115
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Monthly Archives: November 2018
American Counter-narcotics
The war on drugs is decades old. Numbers of usage and production have remained steady or even grown. In order for a major shift to occur the United States should implement the following changes to its counternarcotics policy.
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Monthly Archives: November 2018
Human Trafficking in Latin America Part 2
Human trafficking is a world-wide problem that has taken on many forms. As discussed
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Monthly Archives: November 2018
Human Trafficking in Latin America
One of the most egregious crimes of the 21st century is human trafficking. This phenomena is not new, but it has increased in scope and scale in the past several years as international travel and technological development have increased to be able to hide it better and spread it more rapidly. Latin America remains one of the most troubled regions of human trafficking, as heavy migration and a lack of anti-trafficking laws has permitted widespread sexual slavery and human smuggling [1]. This report focuses on trafficking in northern Latin America, from Central America to Mexico and into the United States.
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Monthly Archives: October 2018
Latin America in the News October 22
This week’s news in Central America:
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Monthly Archives: October 2018
The History of American Counter Narcotics Operations in Latin America
In 1971, the thralls of the Vietnam war, President Nixon declared a new type of war: “The War on Drugs.” Ever since, the United States has fought to reduce both supply of and demand for illegal drugs.[i] Despite recent initiatives decriminalizing marijuana in many states and Canada’s new law legalizing cannabis, illegal drug use, convictions in the United States, and violence both in Mexico and throughout the numerous drug corridors is up.[ii] The history of the War on Drugs illustrates the difficulty in responding to the issue, and the complexity of possible answers.
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Monthly Archives: October 2018
The New NAFTA
The new deal negotiated by the countries of North America as a potential replacement of NAFTA has received a fair mixture of praise and criticism. The new trade agreement, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA), comes as the result of President Donald Trump’s major campaign promise to reshape NAFTA in order to better the United States’ position within NAFTA. There are a few major changes to this agreement that will benefit all involved parties, but as with most agreements, there are some criticisms that will be studied as it moves forward.
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Monthly Archives: October 2018
Anarco, Lawlessness and Narcotics in Central America
ANarco, Lawlessness and Narcotics in Central America
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Monthly Archives: October 2018
Brief History of NAFTA
Just this past week, President Donald Trump announced that the United States, Canada, and Mexico have reached a compromise on the long-promised NAFTA renegotiations. Although a step down from a total rebranding of NAFTA, as President Trump had promised on the campaign trail, there are several new aspects of the deal that experts from all three countries both cheer and lament [1]. It has been renamed, now the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which itself has been criticized for its difficulty to say[2]. Notwithstanding names and promises, NAFTA has been a favorite scapegoat for President Trump for a long time, and now he has the chance to wave it in the face of his critics and attempt to win over more support.
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
Nicaragua Unraveling
Nicaragua is unraveling. At least that’s what many of its own citizens are saying. They say it with good reason. In the four-plus months of protests, the government has violently cracked down on any opposition, funding and arming paramilitary groups who function outside the limits of the law to kidnap, torture, and even execute active protesters, even non-violent ones. And not only that, but the government has systematically expelled any international human rights watchers, most notably a team from the UN [1]. That move sparked outrage among the international community, as it clearly gave away the government’s fear of exposure. Now, the international community is asking what comes next. Experts see the following ideas as potential implications for the future.
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
Still Room in the Lat-Inn: South American Countries Response to the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis
Millions of Venezuelans flood out of their home country to anywhere that will take them. As the tide of migrants increases the responses of neighboring countries is varied. How other countries respond will greatly influence the end result of the crisis. A number of examples are explained below.
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
A Challenge to Brazil's Democracy in 2018
On October 7th, Brazil will hold the first round of its national elections on the heels of a severe political and economic crisis. A combination of economic failures and rampant corruption have led to widespread disenchantment with Brazil’s political system, and have led to the immense popularity of a candidate who poses a significant threat to democracy in Brazil: a far-right presidential candidate named Jair Bolsonaro
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
A History of Military Intervention in Brazil
The Brazilian military has a long history of intervening in the nation’s political affairs, a pattern that many believe continues to this day. The first instance of such intervention occurred in 1889 when the military officially declared the end of the rule of then-Emperor Pedro II. During the latter half of the 19th century, Brazil went through a period of drastic societal and institutional transformation that caused the military and agricultural classes to become frustrated with the imperial government (James and Martins, 2018). These frustrations manifested themselves in 1889 when military officers organized and carried out a coup in Rio de Janeiro, leading to the formation of the Republic of Brazil.
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
Nicaragua on Fire
This past summer, Nicaragua has experienced one of the worst political crises it has faced in the 21st century. President Daniel Ortega headed legislation in the spring of 2018 that saw vast reforms to Nicaragua’s social security program. The reforms involved increasing taxes while lowering the pension rate by five percent, a move which has proved to be extremely controversial given President Ortega’s history of authoritarianism. The protests have escalated since April and it is estimated that over 300 people have been killed, with thousands more arrested and injured [1].
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
Hyperinflation in Venezuela
Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has a new economic plan which he calls “a really impressive magic formula.”[i] Hyperinflation has hit the country hard, and the solutions Maduro proposes include a 3,000% increase in the minimum wage, a new commodity-based cryptocurrency,[ii] cutting any number of zeros from off of the currency,[iii] and magical political rhetoric. The plan has to this point failed as the situation worsens by the day. Inflation has sped up rather than slowing down, and Maduro’s popularity falls by the day. As the nation’s educated middle-class citizens leave by the thousands the economic outlook is worsening, not improving.[iv]
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
Mexico's Elections
The recent presidential elections in Mexico marked a new wave in Mexican politics, and a turn of administration not unlike that seen in the United States in 2016. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won a landslide election, being the first president from the leftist National Regeneration Movement Party (Morena) in Mexico’s history. Since Mexico’s last major constitutional reform in 1926, the right-leaning Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held overwhelming power for the duration of the 20th century, losing in 2000 for two terms of six years, but regained power in 2012 under Enrique Pena Nieto. Mexico’s rampant economic problems, coupled by troubling bouts of violence and corruption (as evidenced by the disappearance and cover-up of the 43 students in Guerrero in 2014), increased the Mexican people’s distrust of government and desire for major institutional change (Noriega, 2018).
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Monthly Archives: September 2013
At a Crossroads with Mexico
The United States is at a crossroads in its relationship with Mexico. Congress is set to decide on the issue of immigration reform now that the recess is over. New developments in the war on drugs have prompted questions about how to best cooperate with Mexico. President Peña Nieto, still in his first year of governance, has adopted an ambitious plan for reform that provides the United States an opportunity to support its southern neighbor and thereby solidify relations. At the same time, however, China is busy reinventing its own relationship with Mexico, complicating the prospects for improved U.S.-Mexican relations. This means that the United States must act quickly in order to maintain its influence in Mexico and protect its national security interests.
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