In Brazil, organized crime is a difficult subject to tackle. This is at least in part because the dynamics of organized crime and violence in Brazil have been changing dramatically in recent years. Historically, violence and crime have been synonymous with Rio de Janeiro’s favelas: marginal parts of the city where poor migrants settled, building their own homes piece by piece and outside the relative safety of urban services and regulation. Beginning in the early 1990s, images, stories and local and international headlines of poor, gun-toting young black men, often shirtless but otherwise wearing soccer jerseys, were ubiquitous. The favela-covered [...]
On Aug. 6, an appeals court in Chile suspended another electricity megaproject, marking the latest in a series of power-generation setbacks for the increasingly energy-starved nation. That same week, Rene Muga, general manager of the Chilean Electric Power Association, told an energy conference that power consumption in Chile will double by 2025, further calling into question how the country will respond to this increasingly critical need. Chile has struggled to meet rising electricity demand in the face of growing environmental concerns, and the suspension of the 740-megawatt, $1.4 billion Punta Alcalde thermoelectric plant raises questions about the long-term economic implications [...]
This is the second in a two-part series on Peruvian politics. Part I examined the evolution of Peruvian politics since the Fujimori era and the challenging conditions for governance. Part II examines President Ollanta Humala’s government and discusses policy solutions to Peru’s political volatility and social upheaval. Two years into a five-year term, the government of Peruvian President Ollanta Humala is already facing plummeting public approval. Despite Humala’s rhetorical commitment to social inclusion and justice, his government’s reaction to escalating protests against extractive industries has sparked concerns not only about his willingness to forge a consensus between local communities and [...]
