John Paul Rathbone
Friday, August 21, 2015 - 06:34
Unlike Brazilians, though, most Mexicans have not drunk the “new era” Kool-Aid. Legal impunity is rampant. While Mexico is far ahead of Brazil in the World Bank’s ease of doing business survey (at 39th position, ahead of Chile and Israel, versus 120th for Brazil), the opposite is true on the rule of law.
Monday, May 4, 2015 - 07:29
Several attempts to end Latin America’s longest running insurgency, which has claimed over a quarter of a million lives, have failed. Success would transform Latin America’s third-biggest economy and benefit the region. Both Havana and Caracas encouraged Farc to the negotiating table. Ending its involvement in drug smuggling could slow the flow of cocaine through neighboring Venezuela.
Monday, March 10, 2014 - 00:00
Havana has the most at stake in helping find a peaceful solution to a crisis that has brought parts of the country to a standstill.
Monday, June 24, 2013 - 00:00
Brazil's new middle class cannot afford the same escape valves. Their finances are too precarious. Instead they suffer shoddy public services and, as they find them lacking, their grievances eventually spilled over and gave "voice"
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - 00:00
Colombia is certainly no paradise. But it is vibrant and a place of opportunity
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - 00:00
With its centuries-long tradition of smuggling, more recently drug-running and - more recently still - coalmining, it is one huge hideaway, an old-fashioned badlands
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - 00:00
Bogota remains a remote and distant capital. And if the state's reach has failed to penetrate some regions, that has often been simply because it could not get there
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - 00:00
His cabinet, perhaps the most competent in South America, is stuffed with capable technocrats. But critics say this is not always matched by their ability to get things done
Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 00:00
Venezuelans, normally so amiable and charming, are out of sorts
Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 00:00
Mr Maduro remains an unknown quantity. So while tying himself to Chavez's memory, he has worked fast to build a public persona based on a personal if quirky iconography.