News Links published by The Economist (UK)
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Friday, April 26, 2013
| Location: | Argentina |
| Category: | Justice System |
| Title: | Power in Argentina: Now for the courts |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The reforms are likely to tighten Ms Fernandez's grip. Although her popularity has dropped by 30 percentage points in the past year, her Peronist coalition dominates both chambers of Congress and will probably take most of the Council's elected posts. |
| Location: | Guatemala |
| Category: | Human Rights, Justice System |
| Title: | Guatemala's genocide trial: Playing for time |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The setback coincided with what was expected to be the trial's most sensitive stage: the alleged intention to commit genocide. |
| Location: | Paraguay |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | Return of the Colorados |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The big test of Paraguay's next president will be whether his "new direction" follows the halting progress of his recent predecessors, or is a return to the country's misgoverned past. |
Monday, April 22, 2013
| Location: | Guatemala |
| Category: | Human Rights |
| Title: | The trial of Efrain Rios Montt: Back to square one? |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Further hearings are expected later today. As the arguments go on, time is running out to try the ageing former dictator for the dreadful crimes of which he is accused |
Friday, April 19, 2013
| Location: | Colombia |
| Colombia Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | Victor Carranza |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Some thought him one of Colombia's worst criminals. He saw himself as a simple peasant, a man who liked pork crackling, horseback processions and drinking beer at fairs |
Monday, April 15, 2013
| Location: | Venezuela |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Venezuela's presidential election: Maduro's pyrrhic victory |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | He faces an uphill struggle to impose his authority on a faction-ridden chavista movement that was hitherto held together by the unquestioned authority of Chavez himself |
Thursday, April 11, 2013
| Location: | Colombia |
| Colombia Category: | Civil Society Peace Movement, FARC Talks |
| Title: | Colombia's peace march: Walks to support talks |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The huge turnout -- the government reckons that about 1m people marched in Bogota, though the opposition says it was half that -- will bolster the peace talks, which have lost some public support as the negotiations grind on with no tangible progress |
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | Economy And Security, Public Security |
| Title: | Colombia's emerald king: Death of a tsar |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Semana, a news magazine, reports that villagers in emerald-mining regions have detected arms shipments to the area, as well as the arrival of men from parts of the country where organised criminal bands operate. |
Friday, April 5, 2013
| Location: | Brazil |
| Category: | Drug Policy |
| Title: | Drugs in Brazil: Cracking up |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Last year a short-lived police offensive in São Paulo code-named Dor e Sofrimento ("Pain and Suffering") forced addicts constantly to move on. That led to shambling parades through the city centre. The only lasting result was to expand th |
| Location: | Colombia |
| Colombia Category: | FARC Talks, Land Tenure |
| Title: | Land in Colombia: Reserved for whom? |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Peasant reserve zones (ZRCs from their initials in Spanish) have themselves become a matter of dispute in peace talks. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | Mexico's new president: Working through a reform agenda |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | If he comes up with a clearer plan to reduce violence, and achieves an energy reform worthy of the name, Mr Pena will have had an impressive first year. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | Mexico's new president: Pena's promising start |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mr Pena needs to spend fewer resources on sending soldiers to fight drug barons and more on strengthening the police and the court system. He seems to understand that |
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
| Location: | Colombia, Peru |
| Colombia Category: | Drug Policy, Narcotrafficking |
| Title: | Why is less cocaine coming from Colombia? |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | History suggests that Peru's dramatic reining in of coca production in the 1990s helped push the business into Colombia. Now that Colombia is cutting down, the industry seems to be moving back into Peru |
Friday, March 22, 2013
| Location: | Brazil |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | Brazil's opposition: The Minas medicine |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Thanks partly to his success in governing Minas, Mr Neves is close to becoming the candidate of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), the main opposition, in next year's presidential election |
Friday, March 1, 2013
| Location: | Colombia |
| Colombia Category: | Economy And Security |
| Title: | The black stuff |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | In February both the coal and the coffee industry were crippled by protests and strikes, threatening to put a temporary dent in the economy's otherwise reasonably healthy growth |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | "The Teacher" in detention |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Who might be next for a come-uppance? Reports have recently appeared in the Mexican press of a limited-edition Ferrari bought by Carlos Romero Deschamps, the current leader of the oil workers' union, as a gift for his son. |
Friday, February 15, 2013
| Location: | Brazil |
| Category: | Corruption, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Brazil's zombie politicians: Unstoppable? |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mr Calheiros is the latest example of a well-established Brazilian phenomenon: the politician who can survive any number of seemingly killer blows |
Friday, January 25, 2013
| Location: | Colombia |
| Colombia Category: | ELN Talks, FARC Talks |
| Title: | Fear of missing out |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The ELN has left little doubt that the attacks are a cry for attention. "Why aren't we at the [negotiating] table?," asked Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista, its leader, in a video posted online the day the miners were kidnapped |
| Location: | Venezuela |
| Category: | Human Rights |
| Title: | The price of justice |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Between 2000 and 2008 the public prosecution service registered over 7,000 extra-judicial killings, around half involving state police forces. The Barrios family case, however, is exceptionally horrific |
Thursday, December 20, 2012
| Location: | Argentina |
| Category: | Justice System, Press Freedom |
| Title: | Imbalance of powers |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The president’s primary beef with the judiciary involves the courts’ handling of her conflict with Grupo Clarin, Argentina’s biggest media conglomerate |
| Location: | Brazil |
| Category: | Corruption, Politics And Security |
| Title: | A healthier menu |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | SO RARELY has political corruption led to punishment in Brazil that there is an expression for the way scandals peter out. They “end in pizza”, with roughly the same convivial implication as settling differences over a drink |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | Coming out swinging |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mr Pena will be judged in education, as in security, not by his plans but by his success in implementing them |
| Location: | Paraguay |
| Category: | Politics And Security |
| Title: | The never-ending war |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | How a terrible but little-known conflict continues to shape and blight a nation |
Friday, December 14, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | Civil-Military Relations, Human Rights, Justice System |
| Colombia Category: | Civil-Military Relations, Human Rights, Justice System |
| Title: | Who should try the soldiers? |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mr Santos has begun talks with the FARC guerrillas and needs the army’s support for any peace deal |
Friday, November 23, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | Economy And Security, Land Tenure |
| Colombia Category: | FARC Talks, Land Tenure |
| Title: | Peace, land and bread |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | What is required is a broad agreement on the balance between rural development and land redistribution, with the details to be implemented through the normal democratic process. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Corruption, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Bureaucrats and backhanders |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Petty corruption remains a gigantic problem. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Corruption, Politics And Security |
| Title: | The 31 banana republics |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The ban on re-election is a problem at all levels of government, but the worst cases of corruption tend to emerge at the level of the states. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Economy And Security |
| Title: | Senores, start your engines |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Latin America's perennial underachiever grew faster than Brazil last year and will repeat the trick this year. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Economy And Security |
| Title: | The gain before the pain |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mexico's shift from a big baby-producer to a fast-ageing nation will provide an enormous demographic dividend. It also harbours an almighty time-bomb. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Economy And Security |
| Title: | Stretching the safety net |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | To cover the uninsured, the government has increased its spending on health from 5% of GDP at the turn of the century to nearly 6.5%. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Economy And Security, Politics And Security |
| Title: | From darkness, dawn |
| Author/Source: | Tom Wainwright The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | After years of underachievement and rising violence, Mexico is at last beginning to realise its potential. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Migration, U.S. Policy |
| Title: | The ebbing Mexican wave |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The flow has gone into reverse because the rewards for going north have diminished and the risks have increased. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Migration, U.S. Policy |
| Title: | The other American dream |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | As fewer Mexicans try their luck in el Norte, more Americans are migrating south. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Politics And Security, U.S. Policy |
| Title: | The rise of Mexico |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Undervaluing trade and overestimating immigration has led to bad policies. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Public Security |
| Title: | A glimmer of hope |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | After five years of soaring murder rates, the killings have at last begun to level off |
Friday, August 31, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | Peace Prospects |
| Colombia Category: | Peace Prospects |
| Title: | Colombia and the FARC: Talking about talks |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mainstream conservative opinion in Colombia has reacted positively to the news. The prospects for successful talks with the FARC look better than ever before. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Human Rights, U.S. Policy |
| Title: | The trials of Ernesto Zedillo |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Ten Tzotzil-speaking Indians, who claim to be survivors of the 1997 massacre, have the opportunity to sue Ernesto Zedillo, former Mexican president from 1994-2000 and now Connecticut resident, in U.S. civil court. |
Thursday, August 30, 2012
| Location: | Cuba |
| Category: | Corruption, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Raul Castro continues to crack down on corruption |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | That a culture of low-level corruption exists is well known. What is more significant, however, is the prominent position of the defendants and the publicity given to the trial. |
Friday, August 3, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | Victims |
| Colombia Category: | Economy and Security |
| Title: | Digging deeper |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | In 2011 Colombia stopped accepting new applications and ended Mr Uribe's most lucrative perks. During the hiatus, the government reviewed all pending requests, rejecting over 90%. |
Friday, July 27, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Colombia Category: | Indigenous Communities, Recent Violence |
| Colombia Region: | Cauca |
| Title: | Indigenous rights in South America (2) |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The tribe took care to mete out justice evenly. The Nasas also kicked one armed FARC group out of a nearby camp, and sentenced the members of another to a public flogging. |
Friday, July 6, 2012
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | The PRI's qualified comeback |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The former ruling party triumphs, but without the majority it had hoped for. |
| Location: | Venezuela |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Tilting the pitch |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The opposition faces some extraordinary obstacles. |
Friday, June 29, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | News Email, Politics And Security |
| Colombia Category: | Judicial Systems, Para-Politics, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Monkey business |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | As passed, the reform will strip the Supreme Court of the power to investigate allegations of crimes committed by legislators. That is no trivial matter: the court has convicted 44 former members of Congress of ties to right-wing paramilitary groups. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | The final polls |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | A joke doing the rounds on Twitter says that a Mexican polling company carried out a survey on who would win the European football championship. The results were: Germany 14%, Spain 24%, Enrique Pena Nieto 677%. |
Thursday, June 28, 2012
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | The growing metropolitan divide |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The expected strong showing of the left in Mexico City's election underlines the big differences between the capital and the rest of the country. |
Friday, June 22, 2012
| Location: | Colombia |
| Category: | Corruption, Extraditions, Narcotrafficking, News Email, U.S. Policy |
| Colombia Category: | Corruption, Extraditions, Narcotrafficking, Para-Politics, U.S. Policy |
| Title: | Double agent |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | An indictment issued on May 24th accuses Mr Santoyo of being on the payroll of drug traffickers during all four years he spent as Mr Uribe's security chief. |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, News Email, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Fresh face, same old party |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | If the PRI has managed to win its way back into Mexican hearts, that is partly a verdict on its opponents. |
Friday, June 15, 2012
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Little pain for Pena |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The fiercest battle now seems to be for second. |
Friday, June 8, 2012
| Location: | Entire Region |
| Category: | Human Rights, International Community |
| Title: | Chipping at the foundations |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The regional justice system comes under attack from the countries whose citizens need it most |
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | A handbrake-turn to the left in the polls |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | Mr Lopez Obrador's numbers could yet grow further. Rather than benefiting from the student protests, it seems that he has in fact won much of his new support from older voters. |
Friday, June 1, 2012
| Location: | Brazil |
| Category: | Environment, Politics And Security |
| Title: | Compromise or deadlock? |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The president's effort to balance the claims of forests and farms has satisfied few. An opportunity to promote sustainable farming may be missed. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
| Location: | Mexico |
| Category: | Elections, Mexico, Politics And Security |
| Title: | The students are revolting |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | There is good reason to be cautious about overstating the power of this movement. Outside the capital, social networks are still only modestly influential in Mexico. |
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
| Location: | Dominican Republic |
| Category: | Dominican Republic, Elections, Politics And Security |
| Title: | After Leonel |
| Author/Source: | The Economist (UK) |
| Brief: | The new president risks governing in his predecessor’s shadow |