Week 2

Here are the articles for this week:

Latin America is enjoying the good times - at last
Security in Colombia: fear of missing out
Rio’s Exploding Manholes Menace Residents and Highlight Aging Infrastructure

Questions:
1) To what extent should Latin America be optimistic about the coming decade's political, economic, and social realities?
2) Thinking about the region as-a-whole, what changes need to be made (or continue to be made) in order to facilitate a brighter future?

Remember that blog posters have a fair bit of flexibility with regards to the extent they focus solely on these questions or even these articles.  You should focus extensively on at least one question and one article but can draw from other stories and address other questions as well.

Blog posters (those who signed up) should include their posts as a comment on this original post.  Other participants should include their posts as comments on either this original post or on the comments/posts of their classmates.

Enjoy!

William Buick

PSCI 3032

In Response to - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21008571

            The most recent economic liberalization of Cuba has come in the form of labor. More specifically, Raul Castro has enabled workers to search for more competitive job markets abroad. The country has the ability to succeed with an increased diversification of income through remittances. However, the new legislature does not include “vital workers”, a visa, in addition to a passport is still necessary to travel, and immigration tensions with the United States remain in place.

            When liberalizing the movement of people there is always a larger economic gamble. The negative side effects include the fleeing of human capital and an overall decrease in labor. Cuba is hoping that an increase in remittances, money sent from working relatives abroad to Cuban citizens, will offset any economic downturn. Cuba already has a considerable diaspora outside the island’s borders. It is the hope that present and future workers abroad will send remittances back to their families in order to stimulate growth from the bottom up. As previously mentioned, this diversification of income, especially in foreign currency, has the ability to fund additional schooling, travel, and investment for citizens residing in Cuba. In my opinion, the gamble will work; the remittent flows eventually will offset the flight of human capital and then add to the economy. However, Cuba will have to mitigate certain restrictions on the acquisition of a passport to truly open its borders.

            Not everyone in Cuba has the ability to become an economic migrant, “athletes and vital professionals as well as communist party leaders” will not be permitted a passport. To retain economic growth this statute does not seem necessary and simply prolongs the issue of immigration for the island. The dangerous practice of taking a boat to the coast of Florida will continue as long as select individuals cannot travel internationally. The United States exacerbates the issue by granting citizenship to any Cuban denizen that makes it to Florida. Some argue that this provides proper incentive to risk ones life to reach the Florida Keys only ninety miles away. Current United States immigration law permits family reunification. If immigration law within the U.S. liberalizes, i.e. the passing of the DREAM act and begins granting amnesty citizenship, it will be interesting to observe the movement of people between Cuba and the U.S. In the end, one must ask if Cuba has done enough, or rather, the slow change in migratory reform will result in a more stable transition to the free movement of people and eventual opening to international markets.

           

What came first, Improvement or Democracy?

In the articles for this week, the overarching themes were of the impacts of both service related political actions; and what would appear to be gradual improvement. If not universally, then certainly in some of the more chilling aspects of Central and South America (i.e. murder rates).

Approaching the articles with this in mind we can begin to analyze whether or not these events are occurring because somewhere the wheels of democracy are turning, or if the actions are setting them in motion. I would like to focus on what could tentatively be called a trend in Guatemala.

This article in the economist gives us a glimpse at what appears to be an increasingly "positive" trend in the decline in the murder rate. The article focuses mainly on the decline itself and not too much is said about the possible causes. A brief mention towards the end indicates that perhaps, in part, the medias reporting on the matter has helped bring the down the numbers. But what is the actual cause? In a 

seperate article the Vice-Minister of Security Marke Benitez is quoted, We have improved coordination between the state prosecutor's office and the police ... and we have a new school with more advanced training for officers." The same article describes President Otto Perez use of new more elite soldiers in order to combat the cartels who are being cited as responsible for a majority of the violence. So, do the actions by the government speak to an increase in its accountability to its people, or are these the actions of a state trying to maintain a semblance of control so that what little democracy does exist their can flourish?

My own opinion on this particular matter is closer to the latter. Considering that Guatemala has many other problems, not least of among them is the rampant malnutrition, or the states inability to raise revenue through taxes (as discussed in this article). It seems to me that at the moment Guatemala is fortunate to have a leader that appears to be tackling some of the more obvious issues; however, these issues also have the much more obvious answers and the more glamourous solutions. If President Perez is successful in bringing his country back from the edge, and manages to avoid being declared a failed state, then the real measure of Guatemalas ability to maintain a democratic state will begin. After all, it is easy enough to fight an enemy that you haven't elected into power. The test of a true democracy is when you don't have to fight to move on to the next leader.

So what do you think? Is Guatemalas improvement based on embracing more democratic values? Will a more secure population give rise to a more secure democracy? And what does the future hold? Will President Perez be able to confront the myriad of other problems facing his country, or will he be relegated to annals of history as a purely military leader?

EDIT: Sorry for the change in spacing halfway through the paragraph, I have no idea what i did.

Week 1

Welcome to the Latin America Current Events Blog!! This week's articles have been chosen to provide you a brief introduction to a few of the ongoing stories in Latin American politics and society.  My hope is that as the semester goes on your understanding of these and other stories will grow and it will become easier for you to identify connections between Latin American current events and our other class material.  Remember that all class members should read each article thoroughly and that it is never to early to begin commenting on the articles, the related questions, or your classmates' blog posts.

Here are the links to this week's articles:
Violence in Guatemala: Got to admit it's getting better
Nationalising utilities in Bolivia: From tap to socket
Cubans set for foreign travel as permits abolished
Hugo Chavez: Continuity or crisi as swearing-in delayed?

Each week I will include approximately two questions on the blog after the week's articles.  Blog posters should address at least one of these questions while they will also provide points of discussion for those who comment.  These questions will grow more specific as the semester advances and we have covered more material in class.  For now they will be pretty open-ended and posters should feel free to bring in personal opinions and information from other classes or outside experiences to support their points. Remember, your entire blog post does not have to address these questions.  Your posts can also connect multiple articles, connect one or more articles to class material (lecture, readings, debates), or bring in outside information with some connection to the week's material.

Q1: Do economic liberties and/or services have anything to do with the quality of a democratic government? For example, is the free market an inherent part of democracy or is democracy better promoted by policies that pursue economic equality by lowering prices or providing free or subsidized services?

Q2: In what ways can you see 'history' at work in current Latin American politics or society? Do we see evidence of path dependence in any of these stories?