When the trade war between China and the United States began last year, a number of countries expected to emerge as winners. After all, if Beijing and Washington imposed tariffs on each other’s goods, it would open new markets for bystander countries not directly involved in the fray. Now, however, the escalating trade war is making everyone more anxious, even in countries that thought they stood to benefit. The fact is, a trade war of this magnitude inevitably reverberates across much of the world. Even worse, its impact has the potential to reach beyond economics. History, including recent Latin American [...]
Mexico’s drug policies could be in for some sweeping changes, and with them the country’s relations with the United States. Last week, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that his administration would seek to revise the Merida Initiative, the $3 billion U.S. aid package that has largely funded Mexico’s war on drugs. In a press conference May 9, Lopez Obrador, widely known in Mexico as AMLO, said his administration does not “want aid for the use of force, we want aid for development.” The announcement came shortly after the Mexican government released a National Development Plan for the next five [...]
Since President Ivan Duque took office last summer, Colombia has seen an uptick in violence against human rights advocates and community leaders, particularly from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Observers point to the Duque administration’s hostility toward the landmark peace accord with the country’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that was struck in 2016. The agreement contained a number of provisions designed to protect the country’s vulnerable groups, but the Duque administration is refusing to implement them. In an interview with WPR, Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, [...]
