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Brazil’s Drama of Unpredictability
Brazil has slowly been coming out of an three year recession and has been experiencing uncertainty over what will happen at the ballot boxes later on this year. Wide ranging corruption, which has sent over 100 officials to the political equivalent of a guillotine is the reason for the uncertainty. Overwhelming, the impact of the corruption investigations, which started with Operation Car Wash in 2014, came with drastic reforms in the Brazilian electoral system. -
The Daily Devil’s Dictionary
Venezuela’s newly created Petro has drawn the attention of those whose power extends to every corner of the world, in particular, politicians in Washington DC who want to stop the crypto currency.
Bitcoin has put blockchain technology on the map as an essential but disruptive innovation that has left the economies that have used them and geopolitics at new crossroads. Venezuela, by creating its own cryptocurrency may accelerate the loosening of the grip that the US dollar has on the country. -
Latin Crossroads
After decades of violence and civil war has plagued the country of Colombia and its people. Although the countries paramilitaries have been disarmed and disassembled for more than a decade now, it is the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) to try and leave violence behind and try to integrate towards a peaceful lifestyle. Although the peace deal that was organized by President Juan Maul Santos and the FARC, a large chunk of the population has no desire to change their violent ways. -
Rioters in Paraguay
Rioters in Paraguay set fire to the countries congress after discovering that the senate had a secret election that would grant the President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. Since 1992 the country has prohibited re-election after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. Opponents of the vote claim that a vote like this would weaken Paraguay's democratic institution. -
Brazil truckers' strike
Protesters during a truckers' strike in Brazil left empty trucks on major highways, blocking traffic flow. The truckers are protesting in the streets for a decrease in the cost of diesel fuel, exemption from certain expensive tolls, and are calling for a tax reform in the truck drivers favor. Police forces conducted operations to clear blocked roads and military vehicles provided escorts for trucks carrying emergency fuel to police stations and army facilities in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. -
Vatican at crossroads
Pope Francis did an about-face last month and denounced the widespread cover-up of sexual abuse by priests in Chile, prompting all 34 of the country’s bishops to offer their resignations. He has said he was not receiving “truthful and balanced” information from the bishops, and on Thursday he released a letter to all Chileans declaring the Roman Catholic Church would “never again” tolerate “the culture of abuse and the system of cover-up that allows it to perpetuate. -
Violent Nicaragua protests
Nicaraguan police and paramilitary groups loyal to President Daniel Ortega killed at least 10 people when government forces attacked the community of Monimbo and nearby city of Masaya, about 16 miles from the capital of Managua. As the death toll from violent clashes in the Central American country continues to rise. -
Towns in Brazil have become refugee camps for a tide of desperate Venezuelans
Thousands of Venezuelans have fled across the border to Brazil to escape the economy in their own country. Towns across the border have become effectively mass refugee camps for the Venezuelans, who are now sleeping in tents.Venezuelans have fled en masse from an economic crisis and hyperinflation that has left their currency worthless.The United States has promised $9 million and a hospital ship to attend to the migrants there to help the cause. -
Brazil presidential election thrown into chaos after front-runner stabbed
Jair Bolsonaro is in serious but stable condition in an intensive care unit after being stabbed at a rally. His wounds were severe enough that his son said he was unlikely to be able to return to campaigning before the Oct. 7 vote. His stabbing is the latest instance of political violence, which is rampant at the local level. Marielle Franco, a Rio city councilwoman who was an outspoken critic of police violence against slum residents, was assassinated. -
Peru court reverses ex-president Alberto Fujimori's pardon
Fujimori was pardoned in December on health grounds, nine years after being found guilty of having links to a death squad and two massacres. But, a court ordered him back to jail after a victims' group won an appeal against the decision, made by then-president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Fujimori, who led Peru in the 1990s, will fight the ruling. His lawyer said. Fujimori is admired by many in Peru for ruthlessly crushing Maoist rebels, ending a conflict that cost tens of thousands of lives. -
Tijuana border crossing shut as Mexicans protest against arrival of migrant caravan
The United States closed its busiest border crossing with Mexico for several hours on Monday, following a day of protests in the city of Tijuana against the arrival of the migrant “caravan”. Queues at the Tijuana crossing stretched back for several miles as traffic into the US was blocked while new security barriers were installed, causing anger among the 110,000 people who enter the US every day. An estimated 3,000 migrants have arrived in recent days in Tijuana, -
Ex-Foreign Minister Indicted in Iran Deal, Dies
Hector Timerman,became the foreign minister of Argentina and was indicted over an agreement with Iran in connection with the suicide bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. He died on Sunday. Mr. Timerman signed with Iran in 2013 in an effort to get answers from the Iranians who were accused of carrying out the suicide bombing of the Jewish community center.
