Latin View

Latin leaders to applaud Cuba’s dictatorship

What’s most shameful about Latin Ameri-can presidents’ sche-duled visit to Cuba for a regional summit on Tuesday is not that they will visit one of the world’s last family dictatorships, but that they most likely won’t even set foot at a parallel summit that the island’s peaceful opposition plans to hold at the same time.

Latin America’s educational divide

What’s most worrisome about Latin America’s disastrous performance in the recently released international PISA student tests are not the results themselves, but that many countries in the region are not even recognizing that they have a serious problem.

Venezuela losing clout in region

BUENOS AIRES — Beleaguered Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may be able — or not — to remain in power for the remainder of his term, but Venezuela’s influence elsewhere in Latin America seems to be diminishing as rapidly as the country’ s dwindling foreign reserves.

Andres Oppenheimer: World ranking for endless litigation

There are many reasons why potentially-rich Latin American nations are growing at a slower pace than their Asian counterparts but one of the least noticed factors — and one in need of urgent attention — is that a Latin American may grow old before being able to enforce a business contract in many countries of the region.

Peru bets on pragmatism – and wins

LIMA — When I interviewed Peruvian President Ollanta Humala last week, he struck me as a less articulate leader than most of his South American colleagues —but one who may be doing a better job than his more loquacious counterparts.

U.S. badly needs a Mexico-style political pact

The U.S. government, which loves to lecture other countries on how to run their affairs, would do well in learning some lessons from other nations in order to avoid a repeat of last week’s costly — and embarrassing — government shutdown.

US may join era of local diplomacy

The US government’s recent signing of a first-of-its-kind bilateral deal with the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo makes me wonder whether Washington will start a new strategy in Latin America — by-passing not-so-friendly national governments, and signing agreements with more amicable local authorities.

Mario Vargas Llosa

Vargas Llosa’s optimism may be for real

When I interviewed Nobel Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa last week, I was most surprised by his renewed optimism about Latin America, and by his confidence that Chavismo — the region’s authoritarian populist movement — is rapidly losing ground.

President Dilma Rousseff

Brazil’s proposal to regulate Internet is scary

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s angry denunciation of US electronic spying at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week was applauded by most in the room, but her proposal to regulate the Internet should make all of us very nervous.

Venezuela keeps rooting for Syrian dictator

Much of the world is demanding greater pressure on Syria following a United Nations inspectors’ report hinting that Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in his country’s civil war, but — amazingly — Venezuela and some of its Latin American allies are still passionately defending Syria’s dictator.

 Humberto Roca

Authoritarian leaders breed corruption

What’s most amazing about the arrest in Miami of Bolivia’s top anti-corruption police official, caught on tape extorting a bribe from a well-known businessman, was that hardly anybody was surprised by the news.

Canada joins race for global talent

While the much-needed US immigration reform bill remains stuck in Congress, Canada is not waiting — it has launched a pilot programme to attract global entrepreneurs by offering them permanent visas and a path to citizenship.

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