Blogs


An Unprecedented Migration Crisis: Characterizing and Analyzing its Depth

Manuel Orozco, Patrick Springer ˙ ˙ Voces

Photo of migrants in Panama Servicio Nacional de Migración de Panamá / Twitter
This piece offers a look at the current migration trends and points to large differences that characterize this situation as a crisis: the scale, composition, nature, and management of migration is outside conventional or historical patterns. Aspects of this unprecedented migration pattern are not within the control of government authorities and policy makers. The recent migration wave to the US border has been referred to as a crisis. Media references point to the drama of people arriving and passing through the Darien, Central America, and Mexico to characterize the problem. Others have pointed out the increasing arrivals into US cities in numbers that are hard to manage by local communities.Read more +

In Guatemala, a Presidential Transition or a “Slow-Motion Coup”?

Francisco Villagrán de León ˙ ˙ Voces

Photo of Guatemala Javier Gallego / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED
When Bernardo Arévalo won a landslide victory in Guatemala’s runoff presidential election on Aug. 20, it was the first time in memory that people took to the streets to celebrate an election result. Against all early expectations, the 64-year-old sociologist, former diplomat and son of the country’s historically most revered…Read more +

Back to the Negotiating Table: Renewed Prospects of an EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement

Justin Kopek ˙ ˙ Voces

Photo of Lula and Scholz REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
In June 2019, after two decades of on and off negotiations, the European Union and Mercosur, the South American customs union consisting of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, reached an agreement to dramatically expand economic cooperation between the two blocs. This unprecedented free trade agreement would not only eliminate over…Read more +

¿Qué implica la visita del cardenal Sean Patrick O’Malley a Cuba?

Lenier González ˙ ˙ Voces

Iglesia Parroquial Mayor Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepción en Sagua Lezumbalaberenjena / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Ha desatado polémica la reciente visita a Cuba del cardenal Sean Patrick O'Malley, arzobispo de Boston. La llegada del Cardenal a la Isla ocurre justamente a dos meses de las multitudinarias protestas ocurridas en Cuba los pasados días 11 y 12 de julio. Desde sectores del laicado católico, la oposición política, la sociedad civil, y el exilio de Miami, se afirma que se trata de una “operación” de “lavado rostro” al gobierno cubano -con la ayuda de la jerarquía católica local- luego de los acontecimientos de julio pasado, que arrojaron cientos de encarcelados, sobre todo jóvenes.Read more +

Cuba: protests and paths to the future

Lenier González ˙ ˙ Cuba

Havana, Cuba Pedro Szekely / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Never before, since the revolutionary triumph of 1959, had there been in Cuba a public protest of the scale of the one that took place last Sunday, July 11. Thousands of Cubans, of all age groups and social classes, in more than 60 localities on the Island, went to the streets to express their discontent and make their voices…Read more +

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