MiamiHerald.com: Andres Oppenheimer

Andres Oppenheimer: World science map grim for Latin America

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:43 EDT

The highly respected Nature Scientific Reports journal has just published a map of the world’s leading science cities, and it looks pretty bad for emerging countries: It shows the planet’s northern hemisphere full of lights, and the south almost solidly dark.

Andres Oppenheimer: What Obama didn’t say about Latin America

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:41 EDT

I’ve read with great attention President Barack Obama’s article in The Miami Herald earlier this week on how to improve U.S. relations with Latin America. It was pretty disappointing.

Andres Oppenheimer: Obama’s big item in Mexico — student exchanges

Sun, 05 May 2013 00:37 EDT

Forget all the headlines about immigration, security and drug issues during President Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico last week: the most important (and least noticed) result of his trip may have dealt with an entirely different topic — student exchanges.

Andres Oppenheimer: Obama should think North America

Wed, 01 May 2013 17:35 EDT

Despite a lot of upbeat talk about upgrading U.S.-Mexican economic relations, there will be one big issue that will be off the table during President Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico starting Thursday — Mexico’s request to be part of ongoing U.S.-European free trade talks.

Andres Oppenheimer: U.S., Europe take new step to crack down on ‘tax havens’

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:10 EDT

While many of us were focused on the Boston bombings, Venezuela’s dubious elections and North Korea’s war noises in recent weeks, the world’s biggest nations took a potentially historic step — they launched a system to detect secret offshore bank accounts.

Andres Oppenheimer: Latin America’s fastest-growing economies of 2013

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:57 EDT

New economic projections from the World Bank and the United Nations show that Latin America countries will keep growing at moderate rates this year, except for the booming economies of three countries that start with the letter P — Paraguay, Panama and Peru.

Andres Oppenheimer: Venezuela’s Maduro off to a bad start

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:24 EDT

While media coverage of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration on Friday centered on the contested April 14 election results, a dramatic escalation of government human rights violations since the election has gone virtually unnoticed.

Andres Oppenheimer: Venezuela’s Maduro hurts his own case

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:20 EDT

Venezuela’s proclaimed president-elect Nicolás Maduro’s stunning about face after publicly committing to a recount of the April 14 vote is hurting his own chances of serving his term with an aura of legitimacy, and raises growing questions about the entire election process.

Andres Oppenheimer: Opposition leader gains new political clout

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:50 EDT

Venezuela’s opposition candidate Henrique Capriles’ impressive show of force in Sunday’s election — despite an unfair election process in which his rival enjoyed all advantages — has turned official winner Nicolas Maduro into a politically weak president-elect.

Andres Oppenheimer: Venezuela lags behind in social gains

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:00 EDT

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s endorsement of Venezuela’s interim president Nicolás Maduro in Sunday’s elections has perpetuated one of the biggest myths in Latin American politics — that the Venezuelan government, despite its mistakes, has done more than others to help the poor.

Five scenarios for Venezuela — most of them bad

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:51 EDT

Most polls show that Venezuela’s government candidate Nicolás Maduro is likely to win Sunday’s elections thanks to an unfair election process in which the government controls an overwhelming share of TV time, but — even if he wins — Maduro’s future is gloomy.

Andres Oppenheimer: AP should not stop with ‘illegal immigrants’

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 10:51 EDT

The fact that the Associated Press news agency decided to ban the term “illegal immigrant” last week is a big victory for fairness in journalism, but there are other terms used daily in the media that should be revised as well.

UN arms treaty may succeed despite Iran, North Korea, Syria — and NRA

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:27 EDT

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias could not believe his ears when he heard that the United Nations had overwhelmingly approved a treaty to curb international arms sales, a cause he had been championing for nearly two decades.

Andres Oppenheimer: Argentine president may be hurt by “Francismania”

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 22:48 EDT

Almost three weeks after the election of Argentine Pope Francis, the euphoria over his designation — or “Francismania’’ — has unleashed a wave of Catholic fervor in Argentina. But there is a growing debate over whether it will help or hurt this country’s leftist-populist government.

Andres Oppenheimer: Surprise! Mexico backs human rights cause!

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:56 EDT

What a pleasant surprise! Mexico, whose government routinely supports human rights violators throughout the region, played a key role in thwarting an effort by a group of countries to weaken the region’s most important human rights commission.

Pope Francis ties with Jews, Muslims could strengthen Vatican

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:36 EDT

The most interesting thing about Argentine Pope Francis may be not just that he’s the first Latin American to head the Vatican, but also that he may become the Church’s biggest champion of interfaith dialogue ever.

Venezuela election: A David vs. Goliath contest

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 19:00 EDT

When Venezuela’s opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski says the April 14 presidential election will be a “David versus Goliath” fight, in which the government’s candidate will have a formidable advantage, he’s not kidding.

Argentine pope could impact politics in Latin America

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:59 EDT

One of the biggest questions about Pope Francis is whether he will be a politically activist pontiff who — much as he has done in Argentina — will be a thorn in the side of leftist-populist governments throughout Latin America. Some say he will.

Andres Oppenheimer: Argentina shoots itself in the foot over Falkland/Malvinas islands

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:31 EST

The Argentine-British dispute over the Falkland/Malvinas islands is once again heating up, and the latest events point at a new diplomatic setback for Argentina’s legitimate claims over the South Atlantic islands.

OPPENHEIMER: La campaña de Nicolás Maduro

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:53 EST

Con una inflación récord en Latinoamérica y un índice de criminalidad sin precedentes, la mejor apuesta del presidente interino de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, será basar su campaña electoral en la memoria del fallecido presidente Hugo Chávez, y profundizar su enfrentamiento con Washington. Y ya ha empezado a hacerlo.