Thoughts from the Andes

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[csmonitor-deactivated20150116]

Brazil’s Bolsa Familia: Welfare model or menace?

Big change for a buck? Latin America says ‘yes’

A welfare check under fire in Brazil

[pol102]

I’ve already added this to my Latin America politics syllabus for the future (along with more non-“scholarly” articles). I may add it to my intro to comparative politics syllabus, too.

Few comparative politics courses cover social policy. They should. We could learn a lot from the mistakes and successes of other countries. And, IMO, bolas familia is a great success.

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

Exactly.

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

Progressive Uruguay

In light of the recent legislation passed in Uruguay it appears that this small South American nation has jumped to the forefront of progressive policy implementation.  If its population were much bigger it would certainly make more waves internationally.  How the legalization of marijuana will play out is too early to say but it will provide a national scale laboratory to provide other politicians, academics, public policy pundits, crime watchers, and others with something to monitor over the coming years.  

[adam-wola]

"Manual for writing headlines in the official media" in Venezuela, from the El Chigüire Bipolar parody website.

Excelente comentario y parodia.

[hemispherepolitico]

[westernhemisphereanalysis-b-blog]

US$233 million has been invested into the ALBA refinery in Nicaragua. Nothing there but five flags.

(via Refinería con avance invisible. La Prensa)

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

Interesting price per flag on that one.  

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

Any type of new and improved transportation is sorely needed in Peru's capital city.  Hopefully, the city and private companies will continue to think big to give this thriving and vibrant city a modern and efficient transport system.  

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

This allegation will only seek to inflame the passions of both the Fuji supporters and detractors in Peru.  Sadly, this will take up way to much time and resources that would be better spent on other matters in Peru.  

[hemispherepolitico]

This article by the Economist hits the nail on the head.  Ms. Villaran is by no means a perfect mayor but this recall and the forces behind it have gone too far.  Outside of being upopular, Ms. Villaran has done nothing worth of being recalled.  During her administration there have been no signs of shady deals, no major political scandals, and she has been harshly critical of herself and errors that she has committed.  

Lima needs to understand that a recall should be used for politicians that have broken the law and not for those who are just unpopular.  There are ways to oust a politician who one deems as unpopular and those are called elections.  So let Ms. Villaran continue to work to improve the live’s of those who call Lima home and oust her in a future election if one is truly not satisfied with her work.  

[fjp-latinamerica]

Tracking peace talks in real time

If you are interested in following the Colombian government peace talks with the FARC guerrilla, you shouldn’t miss DialogosPorLaPaz. 

This website is dedicated to covering the unfolding negotiations between the government and the leftist guerrilla to end the 50 year old conflict between the rebels and the Colombian federal forces.

One of the most remarkable features of this project is how it incorporates the opinion of citizens around the dialogue, something that most of the traditional media outlets have been missing. 

DialogosPorLaPaz also measures the sentiment and perceptions of the people around the peace talks through a quantitative index that includes opinions expressed through social media and a series of web-based polls hosted in the website.

FJP: Although it’s clear that DialogosPorLaPaz focuses on citizens, we think that it would be very useful if it had official information about where the peace talks stands. This would serve as a reference to what citizens are reporting and commenting.

Image: DialogosPorLaPaz screenshot.

[hemispherepolitico]

At first I was shocked by this headline, until I read a bit deeper and saw that it was from a luxury travel magazine.  That really cleared things up as Cusco winning any type of award for a top city is far fetched.  

Cusco as a tourist destination does and should receive high marks but as an actual city for those who live there its accolades are few and far between.  In contrast to the beautiful facades of the 5 star hotels infrastructure throughout the city is sorely lacking.  Travel a few short blocks from the main plaza and one notices litter lined streets, roads that become almost impassable with just a little bit of rain, and packs of stray dogs laying claim to large swaths of territory.  

For the better part of the last 15 years Cusco has lacked a general guiding vision for its development.  What has transpired has been a hodgepodge of disconnected ideas put forth by multiple ineffective at best and absolutely corrupt at worst local governments that have not served the local populace.  

As Cusco continues to produce postcard-like photos for tourists its levels of livability for locals is far from this image of a pristine mountain city that tourist boards and the government love to sell.  

[hemispherepolitico]

Ambrose Bierce: “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/10/29/121029crat_atlarge_gopnik#ixzz2A3avHS1z

Grabbed this from an article in the recent edition of the New Yorker. (via hemispherepolitico)

[latinamericanewshthma]

University of Carabobo

According to RMIT researcher Angel Calderon, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina have been selected to stand out in their performance in the third emerging education markets in Latin America. Research in Brazil’s schools was outstanding, Chile has strong...

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

Education continues to be a hot button issue in the Americas and although it is good to see countries like Brazil, Chile and Colombia mentioned the region as a whole is still lagging when it comes to creating an educated citizenry   

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

China is beginning to have a bigger presence in Latin America. Do the U.S and the EU even care or do they have enough of their own problems?

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

The interesting component of this headline is that the Humala administration is itself a self-proclaimed left-leaning nationalist party.  So in theory they are accusing themselves of holding up the investment in the mining industry.  

Yes, this is a bit of a harsh view and the official government stance is that it is the extreme left that is causing the paralysis but it is interesting to see how far to the center-right the Humala administration has drifted from its election promises.  

Expect more havoc in the Peruvian mining industry for the remainder of the year.  

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

As money continues to flow into Peru's mining industry, according to the recent report by an international research firm some US$52 billion is destined for the sector in the coming years, social confilict will continue to rise across the country. 

These conflicts will expand until the Peruvian government finally figures out a way to distribute the mineral wealth to the communities affected by the mines operations and do so in a way that does not scare away much of the investment that continues to flood into the country. 

To date much of the US$50 billion is just pledged and if the mining companies do not like the direction of the conflicts or the governments response this money could just as easily flow to other countries such as Chile, Inodonesia, Colombia, or many others. 

[thoughtsfromtheandes]

With Hugo Chavez losing some luster who will be the standard bearer of the left?