Americas Articles

In 1869, the ceremonial “Last Spike” of the world’s first transcontinental was driven into the ground at Promontory Heights, Utah. Not only did it revolutionize transportation in the United States, but also it instantly became a proud symbol of American progress, optimism, and audacity. Now, well over a century later, there is a great deal of uncertainty about America’s future as the United States seems lacking in the progressive optimism that brought it to the top. But the question I’m concerned with at the moment is much simpler, though perhaps equally enigmatic: What happened to the American rail system?

By  |  January 15, 2012  |  2

President Cristina Fernández Kirchner has reason to be optimistic. The first female president of Argentina is very likely to be competing for reelection in October and the latest opinion polls show that she is significantly more popular than her political rivals. Although the President’s popularity has taken dips in the past and her political career has seen its share of scandal, the government has been able to quickly recover its levels of popular approval. In 2009, President Kirchner achieved only slightly more than 30 percent approval in opinion polls; however, in a more recent Ipsos-Mora y Araújo poll, 65 percent of those interviewed described the presidential image as “good,” or even “very good.”

By Maria Shen  |  January 12, 2012

In June, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, traveled to Cuba for emergency surgery. A month later, the announcement that he was undergoing cancer treatment threw the apparent hegemony of his revolution into disarray and began to cast doubts on the future of his radical social agenda. Since then, updates concerning his health have been scarce, leading to rife speculation as to the exact nature of his illness and his political future. As Venezuela faces its greatest period of political uncertainty in close to a decade, the debate over the influence of 21st century Latin American socialism and its emblematic leader rages more intensely than it ever has.

By Alex Durand  |  January 12, 2012

In 1888, Brazil became the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery. However, even today, many Brazilians – some say as many as 250,000 – are working under conditions not so dissimilar to those faced by slaves over a century ago.

In the northeastern state of Pará, slaves are commonly the ones who do the backbreaking work of turning wood into charcoal.

By  |  January 9, 2012  |  2

Over the past 20 years, Chile has established a successful social democracy in which public policies complement and temper market forces. Economic growth and targeted social policies have led to a major reduction in poverty, while other reforms have improved the judicial system and expanded cultural liberties.

By Richard Lagos  |  December 24, 2011

During the early months when Occupy Wall Street maintained tent cities in lower Manhattan and other metropolitan areas around the country, the occupations attracted an array of young counter-culturalists and itinerant radicals. To many people seeing the images of the encampments on the news, it looked like a motley assembly, not something out of the American mainstream.

But while some of the images of Zuccotti Park that defined Occupy Wall Street in its infancy may have appeared to depict a fringe, the movement as a whole is far bigger than any of its encampments. In truth, the Occupy movement is a protest against a broken economic compact that reaches into the very middle of America and that is resonating in other parts of the world as well.

By Amy Dean  |  December 24, 2011

The alleged plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to the United States has triggered anxieties about Iran’s policies toward Arab countries specifically Saudi Arabia, and its intentions for regional hegemony. With the advent of the Arab Spring, Iran has been attempting to affect developments in almost every nation it believes it has a claim to — Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Many Arab nations view these actions as unwelcome Iranian interference in the internal affairs of the “Arab world,” particularly Saudi Arabia.

By  |  November 5, 2011

Having taught Sarah Emily Shroud and her fiancé Shane Michael Bauer in Damascus, Syria, I was able to learn about their goals and aspirations, one of which was to leave the comfort of their homes in the US to help poor communities living in the Middle East. They strived to use their privileged status, education, and experiences to help those living under a dollar a day. Sarah and Shaun did this in various ways such as teaching refugees in Damascus and helping the people to chart their way. Having gotten to know the couple, I learned that their intentions in the Middle East were not political but rather, humanitarian.

By  |  September 23, 2011  |  3

Beyond the Debt Limit Debate

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' surprise appearance to the chamber, for the first time since being shot in the head in January, demonstrates a point beyond the vote for raising or limiting the debt ceiling. It also represents the amount of sacrifice and compromise required to serve the needs of millions of students, seniors and unemployed workers whose livelihoods should be the top priority for all public officials in this time of crisis.

By  |  August 27, 2011  |  5

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the musician Shakira’s catchy lyrics, “This time for Africa,” rang true with the success of the Cup. Now, as the football-enthused nation of Brazil prepares to host the next World Cup in 2014, a similar question arises: is it time for Brazil? Like South Africa, Brazil faces many economical and structural issues to be resolved in preparation for the World Cup. It remains to be seen if the Cup will give the Latin American nation a moment to shine or if it will exacerbate realities of structural insufficiency and corruption.

By Katie Vinton  |  April 19, 2011