Posts:
A recent post on an expat social media forum suggested that if Ecuador's Social Security system (IESS) follows through with its rate hike for voluntary membership there will be a mass exodus of norte americanos from the country. Well, it turns out that those leaving...
By John Fund Venezuela’s crisis is a genuine nightmare, but it now also has elements of farce. The nation’s most famed political prisoner has been released to house arrest, and the attorney general who put him behind bars has changed sides and denounced the “state...
By William Bonds In April 2016, to the dismay of international markets, Ecuador elected socialist Lenin Moreno, Rafael Correa's heir and former vice-president, as the country’s new head of state. Global markets were hoping for a surprise win from Guillermo Lasso, a...
By Chris Isidore Amazon has turned malls upside down in the U.S., but had left grocery stores unscathed. That changed on Friday. Amazon's $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods means the supermarket, and retailing overall, will never be the same. Grocers will now have...
By Emanuele Ottolenghi The convergence of Iran-sponsored radical Islam with transnational organized crime in Latin America is a serious threat to the national security of the United States, especially in the tri-border area, or TBA, where Argentina, Brazil, and...
By Frances Martel The small city of Cuenca, Ecuador is struggling to address a growing wave of American “Baby Boomers” who have decided to retire there to take advantage of a socialist welfare state designed for its locals. U.S. retirees, a recent city study revealed,...
By Mac Margolis There are many ways Brazilians could be rid of their much reviled president, Michel Temer, who was recently caught on audio tape allegedly consorting with a bent business man in the basement of the palace residence. Congress could impeach him, or send...
By José R. Cárdenas U.S. President Donald Trump’s opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement and his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership have led some critics to claim that the United States is turning its back to regional trading partners, and...
By Larry Luxner Half a century of communist rule in Cuba gave the island’s 11 million inhabitants superb health care and wiped out illiteracy, yet it’s also decimated the private sector and crippled the Cuban economy in the long term. Nicaragua, also ruled for decades...
By the Washington Post Editorial Board For a month, Venezuela has been rocked by massive popular demonstrations against the regime of Nicolás Maduro, which has led the country into a dystopia of economic dysfunction and criminality while blatantly violating democratic...
By Danilo Arbilla For many years now, Latin America has not figured on the U.S. State Department’s agenda. If the continent did appear, it was at the bottom of the government’s list. This indifference has only grown starker since Donald J. Trump moved into the White...
By José Miguel Vivanco and Tamara Taraciuk Broner Tens of thousands of Venezuelans who have reached a breaking point over the country's humanitarian and political crisis poured into the streets all over the country on Wednesday. They demanded that the government let...
By Soledad Stoessel If Netflix had known how Ecuador’s April 2 presidential election would turn out, it might have waited to promote the fourth season of its award-winning political drama House of Cards. The post-run-off scenes in this South American nation were...
By Naomi Herndon The important thing is not to stop questioning. – Albert Einstein As an expat coming from the United States, living in Ecuador for almost three years has been a great experience. There is so much to see and do and learn. Although I enjoy my new home,...
By Dawisson Belem Lopes Atacama is a cool and arid region that occupies a continuous strip for about 1,000km along the coast of the northern third of Chile, reaching as far as the Peruvian border in the north. As the driest desert zone on Earth, it is a good metaphor...
By William K. Black Ecuador has just staged another successful democratic election — as even the Wall Street Journal now reports, based on international election observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) that have no love for the Ecuadorian party that...
By Jason Kopp The growth of Islamic extremist activity in Latin America is a major security threat to our country. And Iran’s influence in Latin America demands a new national security strategy in the region. That is all according to a new report released by the...
Editor's note: The following includes reports from the Netizen project of Global Voices regarding government efforts to monitor, control, restrict and sometimes punish users of social media and the Internet. In mid-February, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out a...
By Ha-Joon Chang and James K. Galbraith Over the past ten years, Ecuador has achieved major economic and social advances. We are concerned that many of these important gains in poverty reduction, wage growth, reduced inequality, and greater social inclusion could be...
By Ramiro Crespo Only in Venezuela and Ecuador have the judiciaries failed to disclose the names of people involved in the corruption scandal acknowledged by Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht in the Americas and Africa. Ecuador prosecutor General Galo Chiriboga...
