Anew survey on corruption around the world confirms what many of us have long suspected: Fiery populist leaders who rise to power vowing to eradicate corruption often end up leading sleazier governments than their predecessors.
While looking at a new report on foreign students at U.S. universities, it's hard not to conclude that the gap among developing nations is widening: While Asian countries are sending more students to some of the world's best colleges, Latin American countries are lagging behind.
The street blockades that almost paralyzed Mexico City and Buenos Aires in recent days, interrupting traffic and keeping millions of people from going to work, are becoming a major economic problem. But their invisible costs may be larger than their immediate monetary impact.
Watching Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez call on his armed forces to ``prepare for war'' with Colombia, I couldn't help wondering whether he will end up like the late star of the TV series The Crocodile Hunter -- a victim of his own addiction to headlines.
The news that Brazil and Mexico have come out of the recession and are poised for solid growth in 2010 should be celebrated, and both countries' leaders should be given credit for their sound economic management.
One year after the election of President Barack Obama, it's time to ask whether his ambitious campaign promises about Latin America are being fulfilled, or whether, like others before him, he has placed the region at the bottom of his foreign policy priorities.
MADRID -- What irony! While the 27-nation European Union has just approved creation of a common foreign service with embassies throughout the world, Latin American countries cannot even agree on a common visa for tourists from other parts of the world in time for the 2014 soccer World Cup in Brazil.
MADRID -- One of the pleasant surprises I found during a visit to Spain last week -- in addition to ``vegetable barbecue,'' a dish that I hadn't noticed in my previous trips here and is now offered in most restaurants -- is a new trend to officially modernize the Spanish language and make it much easier to read and write.
MADRID -- Spain's announcement that it will seek a major improvement in European ties with Cuba's dictatorship once it takes over the presidency of the 27-country European Union on Jan. 1 is bad news not only for pro-democracy activists on the island, but also for oppositionists in several other authoritarian-ruled Latin American countries.
Latin America has long prided itself on being the world's most populated nuclear weapons-free region, but recent statements by top Brazilian and Venezuelan officials are making many of us wonder for how long that will be the case.
MEXICO CITY -- If you look at the culture pages in Mexico's newspapers these days, there is little question about what's the talk of the town in literary circles -- old men having sex with young girls.
I was as surprised as everybody when I read on Friday that President Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, but I was much more surprised a few days earlier when an international poll showed that the United States has suddenly become the most admired country in the world.
MEXICO CITY -- Everything that could possibly go wrong seems to be going wrong for Mexico, Latin America's worst performing economy this year. But a new government idea could put this country back on the road to prosperity for decades to come -- if government officials really are serious about it.
U. S. officials have long pooh-poohed claims that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is a threat to U.S. national security. But now that Chávez openly says that he is working with Iran in a joint nuclear program, Venezuela watchers are wondering whether the U.S. perception is changing.
There is a new possible solution to the Honduran crisis that is gaining traction in Washington and key Latin American capitals: Bypass the country's two presidents, and get leading presidential candidates to work out a deal that would give credibility to the Nov. 29 elections.
When former President Bill Clinton, Costa Rica President Oscar Arias and top officials from across the hemisphere attend the Americas Conference in Coral Gables on Tuesday, one of the issues that will surely come up is whether anybody is in charge of U.S. policy toward Latin America.
Diplomats see three possible outcomes of the bizarre political crisis in Honduras, a country with two leaders -- one in control, the other powerless but recognized by the world community -- since ousted President Manuel Zelaya's brazen return earlier this week.
Here's an issue that is drawing growing attention in Washington, but is going almost unnoticed in Latin America -- allegations that Venezuela is helping Iran develop nuclear weapons, and that Iran's fundamentalist regime is setting up a foothold in Latin America from where to threaten the United States.
A coalition of 11 Hispanic and pro-immigrant groups has launched a petition drive to force CNN and its advertisers to drop Lou Dobbs, following a similar effort that reportedly led dozens of companies to pull their ads from Fox's Glenn Beck show.
LIMA -- Despite the world's worst economic slump since the 1930s and projections that the number of poor in Latin America will rise this year, countries in the region have embarked on their biggest military spending spree in recent memory.
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