Latin America & the Caribbean

Photo: View of San José from the Museum of Jade. Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0

Costa Rica Advised To Make Growth More Inclusive

By Robert Johnson

PARIS (IDN) – Costa Rica, renowned for its ecological footprint, forest protection and abundant biodiversity, has made impressive economic and social progress in recent years, with robust economic growth facilitating near-universal access to education, health care and pensions.

But the Central American country is faced with a fundamental challenge: its fiscal imbalance, which continues to remain the major threat to the country’s economic stability, growth and living standards, says a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

: Robert Johnson; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 19 April 2018

Photo: Lula climbs the ramp leading to the Palácio do Planalto, with Vice President José Alencar, for the official ceremony marking the beginning of their second term, in 2007. CC BY 3.0 br

Lula da Silva – Condemned by the Courts, Absolved by History

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) – The Lula da Silva case blatantly shows that something is rotten in the Brazilian judicial system. It brings to the fore procedures and practices that are incompatible with the basic principles and guarantees of democracy and the rule of law, in a way that needs to be denounced and democratically opposed.

The principle of the independence of the courts is one of the basic principles of modern constitutionalism. It ensures that citizens have the right to a justice that is free from pressures and interference on the part of political or factual powers, whether national or international.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 April 2018

Photo: U.S. President Barack Obama said that the then president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, was “the most popular president on earth”. This picture shows Obama greeting him in the Oval Office in March 2009. Credit: White House.

Sending Brazil's Lula To Jail Is Absurd

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President Barack Obama said that the then president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, was “the most popular president on earth”. Now, while fighting for a new term in office, he has been brought low, imprisoned for 12 years for corruption.

He is still the most popular politician in Brazil and until he went to prison on April 7 he was the favourite to win October’s election. After his previous terms in office he left behind a country, one that had been the most unequal society on earth, see a quarter of its population lifted out of poverty, a fast-growing economy and a sharp increase in its lower-middle class as millions got jobs and/or pay rises.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 10 April 2018

UNCTAD Asks the Caribbean Countries to be Weather-ready and Climate-smart

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – The Caribbean countries should be weather-ready and climate-smart in view of the rise in global temperatures and extreme weather events threatening to become frequent menacing the region, says Crispin D’Auvergne, who works on climate change and disaster risk management for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), comprising 10 island nations.

Efforts advocated by D’Auvergne will also be backed by the 70 million Euro initiative launched by the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States in November 2017.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 25 March 2018

UNIDO Helps Prevent E-Waste Eiffel Towers in Latin America

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA | QUITO (IDN) – Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), comprising old computers, televisions, fridges, mobile phones, and other appliances, also known as e-waste, is expected to reach 52.2 million metric tons by 2021.

It is equivalent to the weight of more than 29 million passenger cars, and would suffice to build 1,000 Eiffel towers, according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 24 March 2018

Photo: Boy stands in front of debris as hurricane Irma moves off from the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. Credit: UNICEF

Caribbean Faith Leaders Call for Debt Relief and More

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – Ahead of the next hurricane season in the Caribbean, faith leaders are calling for action from government leaders, the United Nations system, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and regional development institutions.

A statement signed and endorsed by 22 religious leaders from Grenada to Saint Lucia is urging the establishment of debt relief as an instrument for emergency support and reconstruction.

"Across the Caribbean, we still see immense suffering from the hurricanes that landed last year," said Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte who endorsed the statement. "Islands that are struggling to recover after natural disasters and meet basic needs of their people should not be making debt payments."

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 18 March 2018

Structural Reform Needed to Ensure Brazil's Inclusive Growth

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – Brazil is emerging from its long recession and is headed for solid growth in 2018 and 2019 as recent structural reforms start to bear fruit, but the country still has some way to go.

The mixed outlook comes in the latest OECD Economic Survey of Brazil which notes that sustaining this recovery, unleashing Brazil's full economic potential and spreading the benefits fairly will require additional efforts to rein in public spending, increase trade and investment, and further focus social spending on those most in need.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 11 March 2018

Photo: Commemorating the 51st anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco on 14 February 2018. Credit: OPANAL

From Tlatelolco to the UN Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty

By Jorge Alberto López Lechuga

Jorge Alberto López Lechuga is Research and Communication Officer of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL). The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of OPANAL and its Member States. – The Editor

MEXICO (IDN) – On February 2, the Government of the U.S. published the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which includes the strategy to increase the role of nuclear weapons in national security. The NPR considers the need to double the military budget from 3% to 6.4% in order to modernize the U.S. arsenal. This would mean an investment of 1 trillion USD over the next 30 years. It also states that expanding "flexible U.S. nuclear options now, to include low-yield options, is important for the preservation of credible deterrence against regional aggression", a strategy that will raise "the nuclear threshold".

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 17 February 2018

What Prosperity for Central America Under US Hegemony?

Viewpoint by Marcelo Colussi*

GUATEMALA CITY (IDN) – Between 50 and 60 percent of the inhabitants of the three countries of the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) live below the poverty line, and this structural and chronic poverty is compounded by alarming rates of delinquent violence (largely a product of this state of impoverishment).

In past decades, the entire region has witnessed bloody armed conflicts (Guatemala with 245,000 victims, El Salvador 75,000 and Honduras serving as the base of operations for the Nicaraguan Contras), which has strengthened a culture of violence that has become "normal" to a very large extent, given that the respective States have not adequately dealt with the after-effects of war.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 31 January 2018

UN Concerned as Ex-Rebels Threaten Peace Efforts in Colombia

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Nearly six weeks after the Security Council on November 30, 2017 marked the one year anniversary of the signing and entry-into-force of the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC-EP), peace efforts remain challenged by the task of reintegrating 14,000 former rebel combatants.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Jean Arnault, told the Security Council on January 10 that the UN will 'closely follow' reports of a just-broken ceasefire between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Colombian Government. He was presenting the first quarterly report on the activities of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, which he heads.