Twitter: latamthought- MT @FrancMex: Mexico's competition watchdog has upheld a fine of almost $1 billion against Telcel, Carlos Slim's mobile phone company.
- Relatively detailed account of money laundering from Guatemala to Panama http://t.co/Whkxu19p
- Via @RioGringa: Symbolism really does matter http://t.co/JI0xxewE
- Blog: Mexico dodges a bullet http://t.co/mbgZOYcA
Category Archives: Brazil
Accountability Amongst Brazil’s Police
O Globo, a Rio de Janeiro-based daily, published an article on 24 March talking about a unique and creative way Brazil is battling high levels of crime and police corruption. In Brazlandia, a neighborhood in the capital city of Brasilia, a program was launched on 23 January titled “A Policia Militar e voce – Uniao [...]
China’s Shopping Sprees Head South: Forget “Howdy,” Now It’s Ni Hao
This piece first appeared here on ‘China Calling,’ the blog from Newsweek’s Beijing bureau on Wednesday, March 4, 2009.
Let’s hope China’s top diplomats have frequent flier accounts. Given the amount of time and money they’re spending on travels, President Hu Jintao and Vice President Xi Jinping’s loose wallets could benefit from some free upgrades. It’s [...]
Latin America as a Role Model for Drug Policy
“Cardoso, Gaviria, Zedillo Urge Obama to Decriminalize Marijuana” read the Bloomberg News headline today on a new report released by The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, a group led by former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, and former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, on the future of counternarcotics strategies. [...]
Brazil’s Army Cont’d
I recently had a letter published in this week’s edition (January 31-February 6) of The Economist. The letter, which I’ve copied and pasted below, is in response to this article about the Brazilian military from the January 17 edition of the economist, and is related to the 24 January commentary found on LatAmThought about securing [...]
Brazil’s Other Frontier
It is far less alluring, polarizing, and smaller than the Amazon. It attracts very few tourists and minimal attention from Brazilian and international conservation groups. Nestled between the Paraguay and Paraná rivers lay an isolated area known as the Chaco, home to an approximately 500 mile-long border shared by Brazil and Paraguay. Just southeast of [...]
The Atypical Foreign Creditor
On 21 November Brazilian authorities recalled the Brazilian ambassador to Ecuador following a public announcement by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa that the Ecuadorian government would not pay a $243 million dollar debt to the state-owned Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) for the underwriting of construction on the San Francisco dam. Odebrecht, the Brazilian engineering company that [...]
Challenges Ahead for Paraguay’s New President
On 15 August Paraguay welcomed the first president who was not a member of the Colorado party in 61 years with the swearing in of 57 year-old former Bishop Fernando Lugo.
The former clergy member had to resign his position as Bishop before being allowed to run, due to a law in Paraguay that does not allow clergy [...]
The Growing Balloon
The balloon effect is considered to be one of the greatest failings or challenges of supply-side counternarcotics policies. As authorities attempt to diminish cocaine production in a region, cocaine prices go up and people in other regions experience strong incentives to fill the market gap. Stopping cocaine production is therefore like trying to [...]
US-Brazil relations