Latin America & the Caribbean

Mexicontagion: Coronavirus & Mexico's Economic Vulnerability

Viewpoint by Bill Dahl

The writer is a former Senior Vice President for Bank of America in Los Angeles, CA. He currently resides in Queretaro, MX. His insightful analysis of global economic affairs have been published widely. He is a contributing columnist for Mexico News Daily, IDN-InDepthNews and Wall Street International Magazine.

REDMOND, Oregon, USA (IDN) – The Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has revealed that there are certain human beings more susceptible to heightened risks of infection, serious illness and death.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 29 March 2020

Photo: First unrest in Guyana after announcement of electoral results. Credit: Guyana Standard.

Former ACP Secretary General Appeals for Calm in World's Newest Oil State Guyana

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (IDN) – Former secretary general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, Dr. Patrick I. Gomes whose five-year tenure concluded end of February, has called on "all political leaders to let the rule of law prevail and the country remain calm".

He told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC): "Guyana has always been held in high regard for good governance and respected by the 79-member countries of the ACP family of nations, so it is expected that this will continue in the interest of the good of all, Guyana and the Caribbean."

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 08 March 2020

Photo: An informal settlement in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Credit: UN-Habitat/Julius Mwelu.

UN Concerned About Haiti 10 Years Since Disastrous Earthquake

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Hundreds of thousands of Haitians lost their lives, including 102 UN personnel, and millions were gravely affected by the devastating earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation ten years ago on January 12.

The incident ranks among the top 10 deadliest earthquakes in human history, according to a recent OCHA report. Nevertheless, $126 million humanitarian plan for Haiti, launched in February, was only 32 per cent funded.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 11 January 2020

Photo: A child stands in front of his house in Cayapas, Ecuador. In this area community schools have been set up by UNICEF in partnership with the local Catholic church, to provide basic quality education to children living in this remote area, where the vast majority of the population is Afro-descendant. Credit: UNICEF | Donata Lodi.

UN Working Group Condemns Racial Discrimination of Ecuadorians of African Descent

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Independent experts of a UN Working Group are “deeply concerned about the human rights situation of people of African descent” in Ecuador. After an official visit, a follow-up of a similar mission in 2009, the experts said, despite the progressive provisions of the Constitution, recognition of the collective rights of people of African descent and several other positive measures, “there has not yet been effective implementation and enforcement of laws and policy to protect the rights of people of African descent”.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 26 December 2019

Chilean Women Fight for Genuine Gender Equality

By Pía Figueroa

The writer is Co-Director of Pressenza, humanist, author of several monographs and books. This feature appeared first in www.pressenza.com.

SANTIAGO DE CHILE (IDN) – The hashtag #lastesissenior was broadcast on Twitter December 6. It had not been communicated before by social networks. It quickly became a trending topic in Chile. And this came as a surprise, though everything had been organized with a lot of discretion.

: PRESSENZA; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 08 December 2019

Photo: Collage of the drone releasing sterile male mosquitoes (left) and TDR global scientists team Credit: WHO

Insect Birth Control to Combat Mosquito-Borne Diseases

By Kwame Buist

GENEVA (IDN) – A form of insect birth control – Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) – that sterilises male mosquitoes using radiation will soon be tested as part of global health efforts to control diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.

The technique involves the mass production, sex-separation and sterilisation of male mosquitoes by exposing them to low doses of radiation. Sterile males released into the wild mate with wild female mosquitoes of the same species, resulting in the production of unviable eggs that lead to a decline in wild mosquito populations.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 18 November 2019

Photo: Group photo of leaders (left to right) of South Africa, India, China, Russia and Brazil at 2019 BRICS summit in Brasilia. CC BY 2.0

BRICS States Reiterate Commitment to Multilateralism and Urge UN Reform

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | BRASILIA (IDN) – Leaders of BRICS states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have called for strengthening and reforming the multilateral system, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organizations, and reiterated their commitment to shaping a more fair, just, equitable and representative multipolar international order.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 16 November 2019

Photo: Afro-Latinos. Source: World Bank.

Fulfil the Rights of Afro-descendants in Latin America and the Caribbean

Viewpoint by Natalia Kanem

Following are extensive extracts from the Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the High-level Meeting on "Accelerating global action for the fulfilment of rights for Afro-descendant people in Latin America and the Caribbean", San José, Costa Rica, in October 2019.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Leave no one behind – that is the global community’s ambitious pledge. And the Sustainable Development Goals call on us to reach those furthest behind first.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 11 November 2019

Image credit: Transparency International

Corruption a Cause for Citizen Concern in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Kwame Buist

BERLIN (IDN) – In the last five years, momentum has been building against corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean. High-level politicians have been found guilty of corruption in Guatemala and Brazil, and a wave of legal action against the perpetrators of grand corruption has swept across the continent, including the Lava Jato – or “Operation Car Wash” – investigation in Brazil.

However, most of the region’s citizens think their governments are not doing enough to tackle corruption and that corruption levels have increased in the past 12 months across the region.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 25 September 2019

Photo: The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired these natural-color images of Great Abaco Island and Grand Bahama on September 7, 2019. Note the change in the color of the island landscape from green to brown, as well as the brightening of the reefs and shoals around the island due to sediments stirred up by the storm. Credit: NASA

Leaders Demand Urgent Climate Action in Dorian’s Wake

By Josephine Latu-Sanft

The writer is Senior Communications Officer, Communications Division, Commonwealth Secretariat.

LONDON (IDN) – In the lead up to September 23 global climate summit in New York and barely two weeks after Hurricane Dorian battered The Bahamas, the Commonwealth’s top official is calling for urgent action to tackle climate change and its disastrous impacts.

Speaking at the UN Trade Forum (September 9-13) in Geneva, co-organised by the UNCTAD, the Commonwealth and other partners, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland stressed the need for responses to the global climate crisis to be more coordinated and more swiftly implemented.