Laura Chinchilla, hand-picked successor of President Óscar Arias, won the February 7 election. She will be the first woman to serve as Costa Rica's president.
After sustaining losses in Mexico's 2009 midterm elections and with 12 governorships up for grabs this year, the National Action Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolution could build an unlikely alliance against the Institutional Revolutionary Party ahead of the 2012 presidential vote.
The question of how to handle Haitian migration looms in the wake of the destructive earthquake. Washington already granted protected status to Haitians who arrived in the United States before January 12, but debate grows over whether to ease immigration rules for refugees as part of recovery efforts.
Seven months after the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya, Honduras could turn the page on a protracted political crisis with the January 27 inauguration of Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo.
The Republican Senate victory in Massachusetts could have an impact on U.S. policy in Latin America, writes COA's Eric Farnsworth. He adds that "an administration that has shown little appetite for pending trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, for example, will not likely decide that now is a good time to take action."
"Be it an earthquake in Haiti or the violent drug war fought in Mexico today, the United States can ill afford to turn a blind eye to our neighbors in this hemisphere," writes former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Antonio O. Garza in The Dallas Morning News.
A week after a massive earthquake, Haiti continues to reel from the natural disaster. Despite the current catastrophe, international efforts are assessing how the manpower and money pledged can support recovery down the road.
"Haiti will quite literally need to be rebuilt from the ground up," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth. The United States, aided by partners in the international community, "should work together under a special new UN mandate to restore the nation and put it on a new path to long-term, sustainable development. This is where the true test of U.S. leadership will come," he added.
Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s second-round elections on January 17, marking the first loss by the Concertación coalition in two decades. The billionaire emerged as the clear victor by Sunday evening, pulling in nearly 52 percent of the vote in the race against former President Eduardo Frei.
"Perhaps the best signal yet of a new U.S. approach to the hemisphere is on trade issues," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth in this op-ed arguing that the current administration must rekindle languishing U.S.-Latin American trade agreements.
In the first article released running up to AQ's Winter issue on youth leaders, the education secretary of the Capital Federal de Buenos Aires looks at why youth are losing their sense of democracy, and what to do about it.
Sebastián Piñera’s lead in the polls appears to have evaporated, making this weekend’s election a less predictable contest, but with significant ramifications for Chilean democracy.
Recent crises have revealed a fundamental weakness in the Obama administration’s nascent Latin America policy, write AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini and Jason Marczak in Foreign Affairs.
A devastating earthquake struck Haiti on January 12. Find out ways to support relief efforts and get updated information.
Shoppers flocked to stores over the weekend even as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez warned companies against price increases. Caracas announced a devaluation of the bolivar in a move that sparked a rally on Venezuelan debt—as well as inflation worries.
"Of all the developments in Latin America over the past decade the consolidation of power in Venezuela by Hugo Chavez who was first elected in 1998 and the advancement of the 'Bolivarian Revolution' is clearly among the most significant," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth for The Huffington Post.
Las month Cuba detained a USAID contractor for passing out laptops. It's time for the United States to send over a whole lot more, writes AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini for Foreign Policy.
The forms get sent out in March, but the U.S. Census Bureau already launched an awareness campaign for the 2010 survey. With federal funding and political clout at stake in the tally, Hispanic leaders urge Latinos—historically undercounted—to participate.
Mexico rang in the New Year with a series of tax hikes in hopes of easing a budget deficit. The tax increases come as President Felipe Calderón kicks off the second half of his term with an ambitious political reform proposal.
From October 2009 through October 2010, seven presidential races are taking place in Latin America, with elections in Uruguay, Honduras, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil. AS/COA offers an interactive guide to the results thus far and poll figures for elections yet to come.
