Via LatinoPundit: Adidas has a line of Cinco de Mayo gear, including shoes (for about $70) once again proving that people will buy any junk that is offered them. Fidel never showed up for May Day, but wears Adidas in just about every photo that’s been released. Somebody needs to hook him up with a Cinco de Mayo track top to give him some variety.
Read more...The immigration legislation clock is ticking away. Harry Reid has set May 14 (just one week from Monday) as the day for debate to begin, and the Senate has yet to come up with a bill.
Leading these efforts in the Senate is John Cornyn, who doesn’t want more family members because they do not contribute to, and I am not making this up, “our global race for brains.” If only that race also applied to our elected officials.
Read more...Former Peruvian President Fujimori is denying that he plans to seek asylum at the Japanese Embassy. Rumors got going when he moved into an apartment closer to the embassy. A Chilean judge is expected to make a decision about him this month, so it is not implausible that in case of an order for extradition to
Something has been nagging me the past few days, as I’ve been reading about the immigration marches. Marc Cooper writes that last year the rallies “shook the political establishment.” An Op-Ed in the LA Times says they represented “a kick to the political cojones.” At yesterday’s rallies there were such signs as “The Sleeping Giant Woke Up Forever.” There are many such examples.
I am sympathetic to many of their demands, but as I read about how monumental the rallies were, it just seemed so much like wishful thinking. In the past year, nothing has been shaken up, or the shaking has been negative, as with the Hazleton case and other local efforts targeting undocumented immigrants. The most notable change was that the main restrictionist voices were Republican, and they lost their congressional majorities. That result, however, had almost nothing to do with immigration at all.
The organizing itself, however, is positive. At the very least, it could constitute a nascent political movement, but currently it does not seem coherent enough to influence policy very much. There’s a good Op-Ed in the Chicago Sun-Times about how the movement lacks a leader, has failed to build on momentum, shows disagreement on tactics, and can’t agree on how to approach legislation like STRIVE. The rallies are certainly positive, but I don’t think they are affecting much yet. I’d like to see studies about the ways in which policy makers changed their views as a result of them.
Celebrating May Day, Hugo Chávez announced that
I’ve been meaning to highlight some blogs I’ve added.
Mariana M has a new blog on the politics of immigration and trade—she’s a political science grad student at Washington University in St. Louis.
Miguel Centellas at Pronto* is a political science professor at Dickinson College who focuses on Bolivia.
Temper Tantrums is a blog focusing mostly (though not exclusively) on Argentine politics.
Justin Delacour’s Latin America News Review offers up news, mostly from alternative media sources.
SPLALit has all kinds of reviews of books by Latin American authors.
I was also just alerted to Staring at Strangers, a duo blogging from Mexico and NYC.
The head of the U.S. Border Patrol predicts that a new “virtual wall” (composed of lights, ground sensors, and cameras) will detect 95% of all illegal border crossings. I’m willing to bet that almost no one—perhaps not even he—believes this. It’s like presidential elections in dictatorships, where no one would believe 100%, so you just say 95% to show everyone you’re admitting a little fallibility.
Thanks to Carlos, a reader who emailed me this news story that finally explains immigration. All along, I had been thinking about demography, economic factors, political factors, family and social connections, and the like, but that was all a huge waste of time. What in fact is the root of the issue? According to a
Here’s some more on
I finished Anthony DePalma’s The Man Who Invented Fidel:
OK, the link by Henry L. Roediger, III that I mentioned in my last post about 12 tips on reviewing articles is back. Here they are:
Vegreville linked to a good post about 12 tips on how to review a journal article. I read it yesterday, but today the link does not work. Hopefully later it’ll come back, because I want to comment on the specifics.
Over time, I know I’ve blogged about this a lot, but it never fails to amuse me. A “senior intelligence official” spoke anonymously and gave the best the U.S. has to offer in terms of its appraisal of Fidel Castro’s health. From this font of knowledge, we learn the following:
--80 year olds who wear track suits (oh yeah, still Adidas) and had major surgery probably still have health issues
--Fidel comments a lot on foreign issues, so seems to be following foreign affairs closely
--His health seems to be on the upswing
--He may have more than one ailment
There must be some strategy that I’m missing. Why give an interview proving that “senior intelligence officials” know nothing more than the average person who reads newspapers?
For anyone interested in immigration and other Latin America-related stuff, check out LatIntelligence, a blog by Shannon O’Neil, currently a Fellow at the Latin America Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. She had a great Op-Ed recently in the L.A. Times, which I particularly liked because she is also looking at immigration with an eye to demography.
I need to update my blogroll with hers and some others, which I’ll do soon.
From the Santiago Times, a story I would never expect because it includes "Chile" and "baseball" in the same headline. The U.S. ambassador along with former MLB pitcher Elias Sosa are promoting baseball programs for children in Chile. A major challenge is to get fields built where poorer children can get to them. The bigger challenge is just to get people interested in it. I do not think I have ever met a Chilean with the slightest interest in baseball, but this is a start.
Read more...Amazingly, there are signs that Congress is making progress in forging immigration reform. Republicans are backing off their demands for high fines and long waits to achieve legal status, while Democrats are accepting that immigrants must return to their home country to apply, and the existence of “triggers” before the law would take effect.
One thing that really struck me in Costa Rica is the degree of dollarization: the dollar is ubiquitous. Especially because of the tourist industry, on several occasions in stores I would get out colones and the cashier would have to get out a calculator to change the price from dollar to colón. If you never ventured past tourist spots, there would be no reason to change any money.
At the same time, however, other places listed everything in colones, though I have a hunch they’d accept dollars without batting an eyelash. Other places would accept a combination of the two.
Thus, Costa Rica retains the ability to adjust its exchange rate while facilitating investment, trade and tourism by allowing foreigners to keep many transactions in dollars. That potential adjustment, though, is limited, as the country has a “crawling band” (until 2006 it had a crawling peg, which was even more restrictive) whereby its relationship to the dollar can not move upward or downward more than 3%, an amount that will increase slightly over time.
I am off to San José for a conference. I don't know what my internet access will be, but even if it is readily available, I don't envision sitting in front of a computer much, so for the next few days blogging will either be light or non-existent.
Read more...Headline writers have been getting out their thesauruses. Despite lurid stories about Brazil and Venezuela being “at odds,” or there being “friction,” or a “spat,” or a “clash,” so far the energy summit has been…normal. Yes, Hugo Chávez offered up some juicy quotes about a “100 year war” if the
It seems Hugo Chávez realized it wasn't in his best interest to put Michelle Bachelet in a difficult position, as he apologized to her:
“President Bachelet, I am very sorry if my statements caused problems,” said Chávez during his personal Sunday television show, ‘Aló Presidente.’ “I ask your forgiveness, but Venezuela is Venezuela and Chávez is Chávez. I am obliged to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty. … My statements had nothing at all to do with Chile’s government. I referred to, and I still refer to Chile’s Senate, which has nothing to do with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its sovereign decisions.”
The two presidents will be meeting at the energy summit, and I'd guess his apology will smooth things over. There's no reason to alienate potential allies.
The referendum to create a constitutional assembly in Ecuador passed by a wide margin (some reports are now over 80% but this keeps changing as they count more). Matthew Shugart and Boz both have some discussions. Or check out BoRev.Net, a pro-Chávez blog with a sense of humor.
One issue I haven’t seen mentioned is the absence of the military—soldiers are involved in watching polling stations, etc., but in terms of making political statements there was silence. The military in Ecuador is highly politicized, and has not only a long history of intervention, but also a relatively recent history of it. Even with all the turmoil surrounding Congress and the debate about a new constitution, the armed forces have remained out of the limelight. I don’t know how long that situation will last, but it’s certainly positive.
I also must say that I am tired of constantly seeing Correa compared to Hugo Chávez, which is the same that happens with Evo Morales. The implication is that each one is just a “Mini-Me.”
If you want a really fun read, check out A.J. Hartley’s The Mask of Atreus, which I put on the side bar. He also happens to be a distinguished professor of Shakespeare here at UNC Charlotte. I happened to meet him a few weeks ago at a campus event, and then picked up his book. It has nothing to do with
In response to a Chilean senate criticism of his government’s decision not to renew the Radio Caracas Televisión broadcasting license, Hugo Chávez pretty harshly criticized the senate, saying it was full of the same people who supported the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende and then later also Operation Condor. In response, Michelle Bachelet has fired back, saying the Senate deserved respect and that it could vote on any declaration it wanted. She also sent an official note to the Venezuelan government.
We ran a half marathon this morning, which went well. It was crowded, so especially with the jogger stroller we were packed in until almost mile 2. This particular course has some really tough hills, which with the stroller sometimes slowed me practically to a fast walk. The last stretch to the finish line is also uphill. Fortunately, though, they had some very cold beer available--after you've run a long distance, a beer hits the spot even when it's about 10 a.m.
Read more...Today I went to a talk by Audrey Singer from the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program on “The New Geography of Immigration and the Future of Immigration Integration.” Her current research focuses on new immigrant gateways (what she calls “21st Century Gateways”) including Charlotte. Of course this relates directly to differences in local political response in these cities that have experienced significant immigrant growth recently.
She had one insight I found especially interesting, which I had not heard anyone argue before. Cities, towns, etc. with a clear hierarchy of elected officials may tend to be more hostile to immigrants than unincorporated areas, where it is much harder to point fingers politically. Therefore people come up with more flexible solutions rather than have city councils pass restrictive laws to appease vocal voters. She admitted this is anecdotal, as she hadn’t done an empirical analysis—it would be a great thing to study in more detail.
Yesterday the NYT published a great editorial on President Bush's speech in Yuma, which was intended to keep momentum going for immigration reform. Some highlights:
It proposed new conditions on immigrant labor so punitive and extreme that they amounted to a radical rethinking of immigration — not as an expression of the nation’s ideals and an integral source of its vitality and character, but as a strictly contractual phenomenon designed to extract cheap labor from an unwelcome underclass.
...
The thrust of Mr. Bush’s speech leaves little room for a vision as crabbed and inhumane as the one he and his party have circulated. It’s hard to tell whether his plainspoken eloquence in Yuma was meant to distance himself from those earlier and benighted talking points, or whether he has simply been talking out of both sides of his mouth.
I think the last point is perhaps the most important. It remains to be seen whether the White House proposal was meant just to throw a bone to Bush’s rabidly anti-immigration supporters or whether it will constitute a huge obstacle to legislation based more on common sense.
Hugo Chávez is now talking more about ethanol. He now says he will “knock down” any agreement between the U.S. and Brazil to combat the evil empire’s effort to create a cartel. Instead, Latin America should focus on Venezuela: “because all the oil and fuel it needs is here in Venezuela.” He made specific mention of corn, but seems now to be making more clear references to rejecting ethanol of any kind. All this leaves us with some questions.
--How will he justify Venezuela’s own deep interest in and activity related to ethanol?
--Does he want to combat cartels or just cartels that he does not lead?
--To what degree will a “fossil fuels only” policy strike a chord in the region?
--Given Brazil’s own commitment to biofuels, how long can he realistically keep up the argument that his criticisms are aimed only at the U.S., and not at Brazil?
Via Latinista.net: the new Mexican ambassador to the
The L.A. Times has a story about U.S. reservists giving medical treatment in Panama. It’s possible that 50% more people will be treated than in 2005. According to the U.S. ambassador, this has nothing to do with Castro or Chávez, but rather it’s just about telling the world what great things we’re doing.
But you can imagine the meetings that took place. OK, Chávez and Castro keep sending all these doctors, and it seems poor people like doctors. So let’s send some too, and throw in some dentists and even a vet. No, wait, Chávez had this eye glasses program that everyone liked, so toss in an optometrist too. Now, call in the press, and make sure you tell them this isn’t a competition.
Regardless, as the top Panamanian health official noted, he had no problem being in the middle of a battle for more medical treatment.
Thanks to my brother for pointing this story about Pat Venditte, a Creighton University pitcher who throws with both hands. It includes a video. He has a specially made glove that can be used for either hand, and switches according to the batter. He can pitch more since he is not putting strain only on one arm, and he saves the bullpen as well. It just took some time for the umpires to get everything straight:
A switch-pitcher facing a switch-hitter could make a fine Abbott and Costello routine. Against Nebraska last year, a switch-hitter came to the plate right-handed, prompting Venditte to switch to his right arm, which caused the batter to move to the left-hand batter’s box, with Venditte switching his arm again. Umpires ultimately restored order, applying the rule (the same as that in the majors) that a pitcher must declare which arm he will use before throwing his first pitch and cannot change before the at-bat ends.
President Bachelet is emphasizing the fact that the Lagos administration deserves some of the blame for Transantiago, in particular since that was when the contracts were signed for the buses (and it turned out there were at least 1,000 too few).
This doesn’t strike me as a good strategy, even though what she says is true. Unfortunately, people will blame the administration that implements a plan, not necessarily the one that concocted it. The Bay of Pigs comes to mind—people think of Kennedy, not Eisenhower.
Trying to get the previous administration to share responsibility comes off as complaining and/or passing the buck. Unfortunately for her, there is no good political solution.
Harry Reid has announced that the Senate will begin debate on immigration in the last two weeks of May. Interestingly, that is roughly the same time the judge in the
The ethanol issue continues to heat up, with a new Op-Ed by Fidel Castro in Granma. The Miami Herald also jumps on the supposed change of heart by Hugo Chávez on ethanol.
I don’t think the analyses we’re seeing are getting the fundamental point. This isn’t about ethanol per se, but rather corn-based ethanol, which is produced by the United States. In other words, Fidel’s argument is that Latin America, under the leadership of Venezuela and Cuba (and to a lesser extent Brazil because of the presence of foreign companies there), will support sugar-based ethanol while the U.S. (and other wealthy countries) will promote hunger by using corn for fuel. When I read Chávez criticisms of ethanol, he always refers specifically to corn--as far as I can tell, he still supports the use of ethanol. If he suddenly rejects even sugar-based ethanol, that will be a different story.
This second Castro editorial can easily be seen as a clarification of the first, which he did not write well, since with his criticisms (including a reference to Brazil) he definitely left the impression that he was opposed to ethanol generally. Now he’s backing off that criticism, being careful to smooth any possibly ruffled feathers with Brazil.
So if this is to gain traction, the two governments need to get their talking points in better order. Can they make this message stick with people who aren’t already supporters? To what degree will people even care if they do not rely on corn as an essential foodstuff? Another question left unanswered is that if you use a hunger-based argument against using corn, shouldn’t you also argue that the land used for sugar be employed instead for a food crop?
Thanks to Michelle for pointing out in the previous post’s comments, and Chris Lawrence linking to Daniel Drezner’s draft of a chapter on political science blogging. He’s asking for critique/comments. It’s nice to see APSA acknowledging blogging, and I think he does a good job discussing blogs and their pros and cons.
Read more...Ethanol is quite the buzzword this year. Presidents Bush and Lula just finished their trip to Camp David, where Bush actually mentioned the idea of cutting U.S. agricultural subsidies, but not tariffs. (They also announced that El Salvador would be the site for an ethanol pilot program. What exactly is this pilot program? No one knows.)
Meanwhile, Fidel Castro denounced the production of ethanol, saying it would condemn three billion people to premature death, since land that could be used for food would be set aside for fuel. Brazil’s Foreign Minister then gave a brief but fairly cutting response, saying his ideas were out of date.
Ethanol is creating curious effects. The tortilla crisis in Mexico is related directly to the demand for corn, and so at least the use of corn for ethanol is widely criticized. Environmentalists decry deforestation for huge sugar plantations. And then we have Lula’s administration in step with Bush and criticizing Castro.
Ah, Opening Day. Always a good feeling. In celebration, here’s some baseball stuff:
I read Juan de Recacoechea’s American Visa, and I've included it on the sidebar. According to the afterword, only a handful of Bolivian novels have been translated into English. That’s a shame, because this is a really good novel (the title is not actually not translated—the original was simply “American Visa”). Originally published in 1994, it is a conscious rejection of magical realism, choosing instead to immerse itself in the nitty gritty of daily life in
I got an email from Josh Flory, a journalist in Knoxville who recently started a blog (Latinista.net) on Latin America news in English.
Read more...The White House has offered its own immigration proposal. It can be summed up as the “Welcome to the
The Economist offers up a scathing analysis of President Bachelet’s first year, which I think goes a bit over the top.
Granma has an article about
I wonder exactly how I ended up on a spam list in Spanish, wanting me to buy a hand dryer for bathrooms. It does, after all, pay for itself with the savings on towels.
"AIR-O-SEC"
SECADOR DE MANOS AUTOMATICO
SE PAGA SOLO
CON EL AHORRO EN TOALLAS
-HIGIENICO
-EVITA TRANSMISION DE ENFERMEDADES
CONJUNTIVITIS - HEPATITIS - TIFUS
I just noticed that the Washington Post's editorial about Gutierrez-Flake refers to the process by which an illegal immigrant would leave the country, then come back legally. The point is to establish a legal date of entry. The editorial calls it "rebooting."
Makes logical sense--when things get totally screwed up, you reboot.
President Bachelet has shuffled her cabinet for the second time in her year in office. Her approval rating is now down to 47 percent. First the student protests and now Transantiago, the major transportation plan that is screwed up so badly that everyone is mad.
The links of Colombian officials to the paramilitaries is creeping closer and closer to President Uribe, with the leaked information that his army chief collaborated with them (see Plan Colombia and Beyond for details).
Most likely not coincidentally, from Colombia we are also hearing about a proposed “Plan Colombia II,” which is supposed to back off the current mostly military-oriented strategy and include much more funding for economic development. The price tag is hefty at $43 billion over six years, but the idea is to get European help, which was not forthcoming with the first Plan Colombia. Here is the link (in Spanish) to the proposal.
The original Plan Colombia also had those lofty economic development goals, but then ditched them, so Plan Colombia II should be viewed with some skepticism. Since its genesis coincides with the implication of so many officials to paramilitaries, it may also be intended as a distraction.
And, of course, none of this can put a serious dent in drug trafficking and the associated violence as long as people in the U.S. keep snorting cocaine in very large quantities.
The ACLU has criticized the STRIVE Act (aka Gutierrez-Flake) because of the inclusion of a national ID card:
Sadly, Title III of the bill attacks privacy by creating a national ID card. Creating a national ID card under the guise of a ‘secured’ Social Security card is not only financially and logistically daunting, it creates the possibility that we will become a society where ‘your papers’ will need to be presented at every turn.
As I had mentioned a few days ago, we now have a proposal in the House for immigration reform. I sometimes think there are paid consultants whose job is to come up with inane acronyms, though the title itself is also pretty bad. The bill is called the “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007,” which in turn is shortened to STRIVE. Here is the link to the text via the Library of Congress.
An Atlanta-based company is buying a failing strip mall just over the border with
The
Looks like we’ll get our first immigration proposal of the year from the House tomorrow. It is bipartisan--Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Like the past Senate bill (S. 1033, aka McCain-Kennedy) a guest worker/temporary worker angle, but with a twist. Unlike McCain-Kennedy, after six years they could apply for legal permanent residence, and so the bill refers to them as “new workers.” It would also allow people here illegally a path toward permanent legal residence after a complicated series of stipulations:
Illegal immigrants would be eligible for legalization if they arrived in the U.S. before June 1, 2006. They would have to pay a $2,000 fine and back taxes, and pass background and security checks. If after six years they have learned English and civics, kept a clean record, and the head of household has left and reentered the U.S. legally, they could become legal permanent residents, a step toward citizenship.
Unlike a Senate bill passed last year, those leaving the U.S. would not have to go to their home countries, but could travel to Canada or Mexico. Exceptions to the requirement would be made for children, the elderly, single heads of households, business owners and those in military service.
They figure they need to get something passed by July, or the presidential race will wreck any chance at reform. The odds are not good, but let’s see what happens.
A federal court in
Since the federal government refuses to address immigration in a meaningful way (i.e. something other than a fence) local governments are stepping in. The problem is that they are making even more of a mess. Case in point, Hazleton, PA, which is now the epicenter of the local enforcement debate, and is currently in the middle of a major lawsuit that will have a significant impact nationally.
The Hazleton mayor believes that illegal immigration is a source of crime (suspects in a local murder case were undocumented immigrants from the Dominican Republic) and with allies on the city council passed a law (the Illegal Immigration Relief Act) punishing landlords who rented to illegal immigrants and business owners who hired them. The council also passed law requiring all tenants to register at City Hall.
The essential question is whether local authorities have the constitutional right to pass laws related to immigration at all, since it is related to foreign policy, which is the exclusive authority of the federal government. There is, however, a lot of ambiguity, which ultimately the courts will have to clarify.
The Hazleton case is also revealing in terms of perceptions people have about illegal immigration. Testimony shows that the town never studied whether there was any relationship to crime, law enforcement did not have the slightest idea how to enforce the laws, and no one understood exactly how the laws would work in practice. In fact, the city council’s president claimed that research wasn’t feasible:
“There is no 100 percent (certainty), and to have studies done ... I pass the pooper- scooper law, what am I going to do — study that? We can’t have consultants come here every two seconds.”
The prosecution presented its case last week, and so starting today (for a two week trial) the town will lay out its argument. Their lawyers have conceded that town leaders had no empirical data, but will now lay out what they say is proof that illegal immigrants are destroying their way of life.
I have an Op-Ed about Bush's trip in today's Newsday. The editors rearranged a few things and tweaked it a bit, I think to make it sound a little more controversial.
Read more...Thanks to Ka for pointing out this very funny segment with "Esteban Colberto."
Read more...Conventional wisdom has it that Argentine President Néstor Kirchner is moving into Hugo Chávez’s camp. The two have made fuel deals and
Thanks to my friend Mike for pointing out this story about the Chilean ambassador to
Bananas you ate might have been helping to pay terrorist organizations in
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that less than 1% of North Carolina’s spending on Emergency Medicaid goes to illegal immigrants. Most of that money was spent on pregnancy and childbirth complications. The overall conclusion is that greater attention to prenatal care would be even less expensive, and even fewer people would go to an emergency room at all.
But it also chips away at conventional wisdom. First, we find out that recent immigrants (many of whom are here illegally) are less likely to commit crimes. Now we find out they use Medicaid less than people assume.
...you say loading Guatemalan lettuce onto a truck was "one of the great experiences of my presidency."
Read more...Divorce was legalized in Chile in 2004, and an article in La Tercera addresses a curious fact. In 2006, the number of marriages increased dramatically, whereas since 1996 it had been steadily decreasing. Correlation is not necessarily causation, of course, but one hypothesis is that people are more willing to get married if they know that if it goes wrong, there is an orderly and legal way to deal with it. Apparently when Chilean couples get their marriage licenses, they often ask about the way in which everything would get divided.
The logic seems weird to me, but I suppose it’s the same idea as prenuptial agreements in the U.S., when people get married only after they’ve mapped out what will happen if it all goes wrong. I wonder, though, about the long-term effect of planning for divorce before you’re even married.
Generally lost in the news about the U.S.-Brazil ethanol talks is the fight they will prompt in Congress. For example, check out the way in which the issue is being reported by what seems to be the farmer equivalent of the Associated Press:
The Renewable Fuels Association is not opposed to the agreement, although Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said, "We'll be watching very closely to make sure that someone doesn't morph this into a mechanism or a tool for sucking U.S. taxpayer dollars to Brazil or other countries."
President Bush already very curtly rejected the idea of reducing the tariff on ethanol (“It’s not going to happen”) and I have to wonder whether any significant deal on ethanol will happen given the domestic political interests involved. Since he can’t be re-elected, Bush is in a good position to ignore them, but the effect it would have on an already reeling Republican Party might be too much to risk.
President Calderón gave an interview in which he explicitly rejected Jorge Castañeda’s suggestion that he become an ideological counterweight to Hugo Chávez ("I am not interested in playing a role with Bush in that aspect”).
With the addition of Hugo Chávez, the
Via Vivir Latino, a photo of Bush and Lula (they ask readers to add their own caption). This photo cracks me up, as this is no true Latin American embrace. This is one of those "we sorta feel obligated to hug, but we don't really want to, so we'll go side-to-side and just pat each other" embraces. Even more disconcerting is that Lula appears to be plugging something directly into Bush's navel. If anyone can figure out what that is, let me know. Looks like a microphone, but I am at a loss to explain why Lula would want to listen to Bush's stomach.
President Bush keeps insisting that the
I’ve been browsing through the news on Bush’s trip to
Recently, I wrote about a Jorge Castañeda analysis of Hugo Chávez. He has another article in the Washington Post, which is better than the Newsweek one. This time he argues that Felipe Calderón is the Latin American leader best positioned to act as an ideological counterweight to Chávez. I agree with the idea that Latin American presidents should not be so mute about the challenges to democracy in
In anticipation of his upcoming trip, President Bush gave a speech on
I got the notice that the panel I helped organize for the Latin American Studies Association meeting was accepted. The good: it is a great collection of people, all focusing on Chile, and I am looking forward to visiting Montreal, where I've never been. The bad: it is at 10 am the first morning, which means turnout will likely be pretty low.
Read more...I happened to hear this story on NPR yesterday, which made me chuckle. It is about the affinity Latin American immigrants have for country music, and how that actually has helped to revive country music radio stations in markets like L.A. where it was disappearing. The industry has taken notice and now is more actively courting Latinos.
At one point, the reporter went to a festival, and approached a family that looked like a typical group of American country music fans--pick-up truck, cowboy hats, and listening to "Sweet Home Alabama." Turns out they were Salvadoran, spoke no English, and said simply they liked country music because it was "bonita" and "alegre."
A follow-up: the commission set up by President Correa of
The U.S. State Department just released the 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. One inescapable conclusion is that we are not winning the drug war.
There’s an AP story about President Calderón’s call for immigration reform in
Details have not been released, but experts expect an expansion of
Migration experts say Calderon wants to stop those abuses while also allowing Central Americans to work in the construction and service industries in the south.
I have to admit that I did not know
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