RSSThe interim between Chile’s January 17th election and the inauguration of its victor, Sebastian Piñera, on March 11th, provides a useful opportunity to reflect on the course of recent U.S.-Chile relations, and the future prospects for cooperation, given the stand-pat tendencies of both government[...]
Archive for the ‘Chile’ Category
March 5th, 2010 - 3:39 pm § in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Front Page, Guatemala, Honduras, OAS
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Does Latin America
• Argentina squeezed in at the last minute • Why Guatemala? • Brazil phase is rough • Secretary of State Clinton and her Assistant Secretary, on this try, do not seem to perceive that it is a changed world in terms of inter-American relations and that traditional concepts of pan-Americanism [...]
Chile’s Re-opened Human Rights Investigations and Piñera’s Balancing Act
• Earthquake jars Santiago, preceding a turnover in government and anticipating a paradigm shift in the nation’s values • Will Piñera fool us all or is Chile about to be peppered by intensified neo-liberalism? On March 11, less than two weeks following a devastating earthquake that [...]
January 22nd, 2010 - 12:22 pm § in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Front Page, Peru, Reports, Uncategorized
Peacekeeping and Military Operations by Latin American Militaries: Between Being a Good Samaritan and Servicing the National Interest
A December 14, 2009 report by the Spanish security-news agency Infodefensa.com states that Colombia is now prepared to dispatch a battalion of its Special Forces and air force personnel to Afghanistan. The Colombian involvement is being sponsored by Spain in order to aid Coalition forces now engaged[...]
January 15th, 2010 - 12:18 pm § in Chile, Front Page
Chile’s Winds of Change: The Real Thing or The Most Discreet of Nudges
On December 13th, Chilean billionaire and rightwing candidate of the newly formed “Coalition for Change,” Sebastian Piñera, won a striking plurality of 44%. The modestly center-left Concertación candidate Eduardo Frei won 29% of the vote, forcing a runoff slated for January 17th. Since replaci[...]
Bus Rapid Transit and the Latin American City: Successes to Date, But Miles to Go
Over the past fifteen years, cities throughout Latin America have achieved a modest, yet significant, revolution in urban design through the adoption and refinement of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. Promising the benefits of developed world transit systems at developing world prices, BRT has quic[...]
Chile Invokes Pinochet-Era Anti-Terrorism Law Against Mapuche Demonstrators
In comparison to other countries in Latin America, Chile boasts relatively stable political institutions, particularly free and fair elections, and a substantial middle class. As a result, this South American country is widely recognized as a model for democratic development and respect for constit[...]
The Mapuche Struggle for Autonomy
Mapuches fight for Land Rights On August 17, dozens of Mapuche communities in southern Chile united to form the Mapuche Territorial Alliance to continue their struggle for political autonomy. Many of them had carried on angry protests, most recently on August 12, when a police operation to evict th[...]
Marco Enriquez –Ominami: The Obama of Chile?
A Perilous Stretch Ahead for the Ruling Concertación Coming off of Barack Obama’s stunning success in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the “Change” campaign has been making its way down the western hemisphere and into the heart of Chile’s 2009 presidential race. In this instance, the c[...]
August 18th, 2009 - 9:33 am § in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Front Page, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Press Releases, Uncategorized
Small Arms in Latin America in the Aftermath of the NACLA Study
According to the World Health Organization, gun-related fatalities are the leading cause of death among Latin Americans between ages 15 and 44. Overall, gunshot wounds kill between 73,000 and 90,000 people annually in Latin America, demonstrating that the region is inundated with fire-arms. In fact,[...]