Tanks, but No Tanks
“If they don’t pay,” President Donald Trump warned of NATO allies, “I’m not going to defend them.” Currently, his official position is that the United States would reconsider its defense commitments i...
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A Cult-ural Exchange
In November 2025, Colombian immigration authorities and army forces raided a hotel in Yarumal, Antioquia. Following a tip from a local shop owner, authorities found nine members of Lev Tahor, an ultra...
Stateless Neighbors
A blue passport can get you far. The leatherbound booklet denotes association with the ‘New World’ and grants access to an unprecedentedly high degree of global mobility and embassy protection — unles...
Political Chameleons in Latin America
They creep out of the shadows, changing their political colors to whatever is most popular as elections draw near. Once in power, the cycle repeats, as they modify priorities to prepare for a reelect...
Spotlight
Globalization, Inequality, and Populist Cycles in Latin America
In Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)’s frequent condemnation of the conservative elite and neoliberal technocrats echoed in his daily morning conferences during his six years as president. He...
El Salvador: The Chrysalis State
In 2015, El Salvador presided as the “murder capital of the world” with the highest number of homicides per capita; today, it is one of the safest countries in Latin America, with a homicide rate lowe...
Comuna 13: A Model for Balancing Tourism and Community Preservation
Comuna 13, the “thirteenth commune” of Medellín, Colombia, was once labeled one of the most dangerous places in the world for its notorious drug trafficking and violence, but has since transformed its...
Latin American Populism, the 2024 Mexican Election, and US-Mexico Relations: An Interview with Matthew Cleary
Matthew Cleary is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, recognized in 2024 as the nation’s top institution for Public Aff...
Mexico is set to Have its First Female President—What Does This Mean for Women’s Rights?
In the upcoming historic election for Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum is more likely to advance women’s rights compared to her opponent, Xóchitl Gálvez, due to her past initiatives...
Unearthing the Rebel Island: An Interview with Jennifer Lambe
Jennifer Lambe (PhD, Yale University ’14; AB, Brown University ’06) is an Associate Professor of Latin American and Caribbean history. She is the author of Madhouse: Psychiatry and Politics in Cuban H...
Latin America Archive
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Nicaragua: Putin’s New Client State
Recent developments in Russo-Nicaraguan relations pose dangerous new questions for the future of the Nicaraguan nation and for national security in Central America.
Dimming Lights: Mexico’s Energy Reform Amendments
In Fall 2021, Mexico’s current President Andres Manuel López Obrador proposed electricity amendments to the 2014 Energy Reform law. The president hopes that re-centralizing electricity production will...
A Vaccine for Venality: Peru’s Pandemic-Era Path to a Post-Fujimori Polity
In mid-February, Peruvian governmental corruption made international headlines once again when reports came out that almost 500 well-connected elites received Chinese Sinopharm vaccines before they we...
A Growing Constitutional Pain: The Need for Balance in the Government of Ecuador
Like most Latin American countries, Ecuador recently has experienced a massive shift in the political ideology in the aftermath of its federal elections. President Moreno has been open about his disli...
Every Rose Has its Thorn: Exposing Colombia’s Cut Flower Industry
ost Americans might not know it, but the vast majority of the cut flowers sold throughout the country are grown and exported out of Colombia. While the cut flower industry has aided Colombia in expand...
Factory to Table
ifty years ago, when Carlos Monteiro began his career as a pediatrician in the sprawling slums of São Paulo, his patients were starving. The children he treated were underweight and anemic, with low h...
Police Brutality: A Global Incentive Analysis of Killer Cops
a given year, 4,224 people are killed by police brutality in Brazil (2016), 1,147 in the U.S. (2017), and 11 in Germany (2016). In England and Wales, only 55 people have been shot in the past 24 years...
Blood Avocados: Cracking Down on Cartels
ast year, millionaire real estate mogul Tim Gurner told 60 Minutes Australia that millennials are blowing potential savings on “buying smashed avocado for nineteen dollars.” While hyperbolic, Gurner’s...
