The Economist: The Americas
The Americas
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Venezuela's regional elections: Checked, but not halted
Some satisfaction for Hugo Chavez but more for his opponentsRARELY can a round of regional elections have been presented in such an apocalyptic fashion. Hugo Chavez, Venezuelas president, told his followers during the campaign that if the opposition won the capital, Caracas, and the populous states ...
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Ecuador: Can pay, might not
Another debt default?ACCORDING to Rafael Correa, Ecuadors president, one of the benefits of the world financial crisis has been an end to annoying visits by yuppies from ratings agencies and investment banks holding Ecuadorean debt. Mr Correa seems keen to do without such inconveniences altogether. ...
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Argentina: Harvesting pensions
A pre-election boost for CristinaJUST four months ago, opponents of Argentinas government seemed to have the president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, on the ropes. They secured the support of legislators from the ruling Peronist movement to defeat an unpopular bill to increase taxes on farm export ...
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Latin American diplomacy: Friends of opportunity
China, rather than Russia, is the new partner that mattersFOR those who think a new cold war has broken out, this week seemed to provide some evidence. The Peter the Great, a nuclear-powered cruiser, and two other Russian warships, arrived in the Caribbean to exercise with the Venezuelan navy. Onsho ...
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The Amazon's indigenous people: The other Brazil
The mixed blessings of the simple life led by indigenous people deep in the forestPOLITICIANS all over the world are accustomed to cutting ribbons on new buildings. In the Alto Solimoes region of the Brazilian Amazon, they are sometimes expected to wield bigger shears. An extension to Novo Paraisos ...
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The Amazon's indigenous people : The other Brazil
The mixed blessings of the simple life led by indigenous people deep in the forestPOLITICIANS all over the world are accustomed to cutting ribbons on new buildings. In the Alto Solimoes region of the Brazilian Amazon, they are sometimes expected to wield bigger shears. An extension to Novo Paraisos ...
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Saving Canada's polar bears: Unbearable pursuits
A clash between environmentalists and Inuit rightsWE DON'T have no vegetarians here, says James Qillaq, a long-time resident of Kanngiqtugaapik in Canadas Nunavut territory. North of the 70th parallel, where winter temperatures regularly drop below -30C, nothing can grow in the ground, so the only t ...
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Mexico: The scribes' lament
A dying profession in the heart of the cityBEFORE you even reach the square, the offers of counterfeit receipts and diplomas come in rapid fire. The modest plaza of Santo Domingo, a few blocks north of Mexico Citys grand central square, the Zocalo, is a district of printing shops and stationery stor ...
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Colombia: Tumbling pyramids
A state of emergency is declared after swindled investors take to the streets ALL it took was the first hint of a rumour that the government was about to shut down an illegal pyramid investment scheme for the owners of the scam to flee the country, prompting tens of thousands of furious investors to ...
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Nicaragua: How to steal an election
Daniel Ortega sets an ugly precedentNICARAGUA may be a small country but it is an emblematic one. In 1979 the leftist Sandinista movement overthrew a corrupt dictatorship. In response, the United States organised the Contra guerrillas. In 1990 the Sandinistas agreed to hold free elections, which the ...
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The Latinobar?metro poll: Democracy and the downturn
Latin Americans are standing up for their rightsFIVE years of strong economic growth have prompted a slow but fairly steady rise in support for democracy and its institutions among Latin Americans, although many remain frustrated by the way their political systems work in practice. Most see themselv ...
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Canada's economy: Breaking the deficit taboo
The provinces plead for cashKEEPING the budget in surplus has been a near-obsession in Canada ever since a Liberal government felt obliged to slash public spending in the mid-1990s to end almost three decades of deficits and rising public debt. In the campaign for last months general elections, all ...
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Bolivia and the United States: Non grata
A tit-for-tat tiffIT BEGAN in June, when coca growers in the Chapare region of Bolivia threatened to ransack the local offices of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has worked on anti-drug efforts there for the past 25 years. After the aid workers hurried departure ...
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Brazil: The credit crunch reaches Brazil Inc
A big bank merger points to a tougher outlook for the private sector, but at least this time the public finances are not the problemJUST a few months ago, Brazils economy was growing at its fastest pace since the mid-1990s, driven by record commodity prices and record credit growth. The countrys pre ...
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Religion in Latin America: Hola, Luther
A holiday that is a cultural milestoneLATIN AMERICAN countries have long celebrated a plethora of Roman Catholic public holidays, from Corpus Christi to St Peter and St Paul. But this year Chile set a regional precedent, declaring October 31st a public holiday in honour of the evangelical and Protes ...
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Central America: Zelaya plays the Ch?vez card
Why Honduras wanted 4m light bulbsUSED as a jumping off point by the CIA for regime-change efforts in Guatemala in the 1950s and Nicaragua in the 1980s, Honduras, a small Central American country, has always been a firm ally of the United States. So it came as something of a shock when Manuel Zelaya ...
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Mexico: Spot the drug trafficker
The arrest of senior officials shows the governments resolve in fighting drug traffickersand that the rot in law enforcement reaches the topAT LAST the government seemed to be enjoying some success in its battle against the drug gangs. On October 25th Eduardo Arellano Felix, a leader of the Tijuana ...
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Colombia: Upping the body count
Not that hard, when any body will doIT IS the kind of outrage that Colombians hoped belonged to the past rather than the present. Over the course of this year, a score of unemployed young men disappeared from their homes in Soacha, a poor suburb of Bogota, only to turn up dead, apparently killed in ...
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Chile: The writing on the wall
And it points to the rightMUCH as some of them tried to claim the result was a victory of sorts, the dejected faces of the leaders of Chiles governing centre-left Concertacion coalition on the night of October 26th told a different story. In that days municipal elections, Alliance, the centre-right ...
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Brazil: Licensed to scribble
An end to journalisms closed shop?ONE of the many things that remained the same in Brazil when military rule went in 1985 was the need for journalists to obtain a diploma and register with the labour ministry. When the law stipulating this was introduced in 1967, it provided a useful way to prevent ...
The Economist: The Americas
