[Politics] :
President Yoon Suk Yeol said his first official trip to Latin America carries great significance for the expansion of South Korea’s vision as a “global pivotal state” toward the Latin American region. The president, who is set to depart for Peru and Brazil to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic ...

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Taipei, Taiwan — Chinese President Xi Jinping departs on a nine-day diplomatic tour to Latin America on Wednesday, during which he will inaugurate a Chinese-financed megaport in Peru and attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Lima and the G20 Summit in Brazil. Analysts say the trip is part of China’s attempt to expand its global influence and present itself as “a responsible global power” at a time when countries around the world brace for uncertainties following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on November 5. “The trip is especially significant since Latin America is viewed as ‘the backyard’ of the United States; and [since] the next U.S. president is likely to return to a unilateral approach in world affairs, it provides China with the opportunity to expand its influence around the world as a champion for global development and multilateral cooperation,” said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University. During his state visit to Peru, Xi will inaugurate the $3.5 billion Chancay port with his Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte on Thursday. Situated 80 kilometers north of the Peruvian capital Lima, the port has a maximum depth of 17.8 meters and is expected to become a major trading hub between Latin America and China. “The port will become the largest deep-water port in South America and it will drastically reduce the time needed to ship products from Peru to China,” Leland Lazarus, associate director of national security at Florida International University, told VOA in a video interview. China’s state-run Cosco Shipping Corporation has a majority 60% stake in the port and a 30-year concession to operate the terminal. According to China’s official data, the port can handle up to one million containers and 160,000 vehicles in the first year of operation.  The port is among 17 ports globally where China holds a majority stake, according to the Council on Foreign Relations and is one of more than 100 port projects built globally under China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative. The port is expected to become a major hub for exporting critical commodities such as lithium, copper, iron and soybeans to China more efficiently. Latin American countries including Peru, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, which had a combined export of $135 billion to China in 2023, could all benefit from the launch of the Chancay Port.  “There is a huge gap in infrastructure development in Global South countries and Western powers are not active in helping [to] fill the gap. [As a result,] China’s investments in such large infrastructure projects are welcomed by host countries,” Zhu at Bucknell University told VOA in a written response. While Latin American countries will likely welcome the inauguration of the Chancay Port, the U.S. has warned about the potential for the port to be used for military purposes by China. That Washington claims could threaten its interests in Latin America.  “It could be used as a dual-use facility, it’s a deepwater port,” said Laura Richardson, the outgoing chief of the U.S. Southern Command told the Financial Times in a recent interview, adding that the Chinese navy could use the port in a scenario that, she said, fits “Beijing’s playbook.” Some experts say it’s difficult for China to deploy its naval vessels to Latin America in the near future and that Peru is unlikely to let Beijing militarize the Chancay port. “Currently, the Chinese navy is not capable of projecting its power across the Pacific, and since Peru still needs to maintain its relationship with the U.S., Peruvian authorities won’t allow the port to be militarized,” Kung Kwo-Wei, an expert of Latin American affairs at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone. However, Lazarus told VOA that Beijing’s activities in other ports around the world suggest it could still use the Chancay port for military purposes in the future. “When looking at Chinese behaviors [at other ports around the world], such as the Port of Bata in Equatorial Guinea and the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia, Chinese state-owned enterprises would promise to expand the ports for commercial purposes, yet there have been allegations that there’s been construction for what looks like military purposes on these areas,” said Lazarus. In addition to the Chancay Port, Peruvian Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer told Reuters news agency in an exclusive interview that Beijing and Lima plan to sign around 30 agreements, including an updated free trade agreement, during Xi’s visit.  Kung in Taiwan said these developments show that China’s investment in Latin America is now focusing on logistical infrastructure and access to minerals from Latin America. “China relies heavily on ports and logistical infrastructure to ensure it can export and import commodities at a steady pace, and as Beijing continues to expand its renewable energy industries, its appetite for minerals from Latin America will also grow,” Kung told VOA. As the U.S. could possibly adopt a more isolationist foreign policy approach during Trump’s second term, Lazarus said Xi will use the upcoming APEC and G20 summits to amplify the message that China is a more consistent global power than the U.S. “While the U.S. is going to potentially look inward with another Trump administration, [the summits] are Xi’s big opportunities to show that China is playing a much more global role,” he told VOA. However, some experts say it remains unclear whether China will achieve its intended goals. “Beijing will double down on the image of being the leader of the Global South and some countries will be attracted by that message,” said Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore. “But others who are more clear-eyed and who have followed developments from the Belt and Road Initiative and other Chinese projects will recognize that China is just another great power,” he told VOA in a phone interview. 

The Latin American and Caribbean region is a student with good grades in renewable energy, but not in energy efficiency, and has a long way to go in contributing to global climate action and overcoming the vulnerability of its population and economies. The recent energy crises in Ecuador and Cuba, with power outages ranging from […]

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Children's Geographies; 08/09/2024
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The post The most unequal region in the world: combatting inequality in Latin America | was curated by information for practice.

Peruvian fintech B89 has announced a partnership with Brazil-based...

Cloud banking provider Mambu has partnered with

The U.S.-based Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has formed a cooperative understanding with the Colombia-based Sociedad Panamericana de Investigación en Transporte y Logística (Pan-American Society of Transportation Research, PANAMSTR).

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Tools for food system policy development.

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The post Navigating the Trade Landscape: A Latin American Perspective building on the WTO 13th Ministerial Conference appeared first on IFPRI.

Community Manager Javed Mohammed catches up with the leaders of the Oracle Groundbreakers Latin America Tour.

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Holcim announced on May 3 it had acquired Mexico’s PASA, a regional roofing and building supply manufacturer, gaining a significant footprint in Mexico and Central America.

US election rhetoric on migration undermines Washington’s soft power in Latin America Expert comment jon.wallace 23 October 2024

As US public opinion hardens, the Democratic party takes a tougher stance, and Donald Trump proposes mass deportations, Latin American leaders note a lack of long-term policy.

The US’s broken immigration system has become a central theme of the 2024 election campaign. But the discussion on immigration, undocumented immigrants, and asylum seekers – increasingly lurching into dehumanizing rhetoric – extends beyond US borders. 

As one former senior director of the National Security Council told me, ‘when the president travels or meets with heads of state from Latin America what comes up –regardless of the country – isn’t US–Cuba policy or even trade. It’s immigration’. How the US talks about and treats citizens of Latin American and the Caribbean matters to elected politicians in the region. 

The roots of the US immigration debate go deep and will not be easily resolved, even with a sweeping reform of the system. 

According to a January 2024 Pew survey, 78 per cent of Americans ‘say the large number of migrants seeking to enter the country at the Mexico border is either a crisis (45 per cent) or a major problem (32 per cent)’. Worries about the border are not limited to Republican voters: 73 per cent of Democrats feel that the issue is either a crisis or major problem. 

Despite the heated popular temperature, the numbers of undocumented immigrants encountered at the US–Mexico border has actually dropped in recent months. US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) reported 301,981 encounters with irregular border crossings in December 2023; by August 2024 this had dropped to 107,473.  

Nevertheless, illegal border crossings have increased under Biden. During his administration USCBP reported 8 million encounters along the Mexico border compared to 2.5 million under Donald Trump. 

Mexico

Any attempt to address the issue promises to affect US relations with Mexico, requiring the cooperation of newly elected president Claudia Sheinbaum. Her predecessor and founder of her Morena party, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), proved an unexpectedly cooperative partner for the previous Trump administration and Biden White House. 

But that came at a cost, particularly for Biden. In return for AMLO’s cooperation, the US soft-pedalled criticism over his failures to disrupt narcotics trafficking and criminal networks and for his steady weakening of checks on executive power. 

Mexico’s borders with other countries are also under pressure. Mexico remains the primary sending country to the US. But political repression and insecurity in countries including Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala and Venezuela has pushed their citizens to travel across Mexico to the US. Economic collapse and humanitarian crises in Cuba and Venezuela have further fuelled the flight.

Rhetoric

The Kamala Harris and Trump campaigns have struck different positions on how to stem the flow of illegal immigration. But as US public opinion shifts, both parties are talking tougher. 

Harris is continuing Biden’s hardening stance, including the controversial move to bar those who cross the border illegally from applying for asylum. 

Biden’s early ‘roots’ strategy, to provide economic and security support in countries from where migrants are travelling, has fallen by the wayside. 

The Trump campaign is taking more extreme positions. The Republican presidential candidate mentions immigration in almost every campaign speech. 

He proposes to carry out the ‘largest deportation in US history’, using ICE personnel, the National Guard and local police forces to round up undocumented immigrants, including in their workplaces. 

The campaign has also pledged to end birth-right citizenship and Biden’s programme of parole for humanitarian reasons. Trump also plans to restore his first term policies including construction of the border wall. 

Trump’s proposals provide little opportunity for a broad, bipartisan consensus on immigration. Should he win in November he is likely, as he did in his first term, to attempt to push his policies via executive action, opening up challenges in federal court. 

A Harris victory would at least create space for the resurrection of the Biden administration’s 2024 immigration enforcement bill, originally supported by moderate Republican leadership in the Senate, but defeated following pressure from Trump. 

The bill would have toughened enforcement at the border – increasing funding for detention centres, asylum hearings and for local governments and border patrols. It would also permit ICE to shut down the border when crossings surpassed an average of 5,000 per day or 8,500 on a single day.

Undermining US influence

But such legislation, while promising to address domestic US perceptions of the crisis, threatens to reduce US soft power in Latin America. That would be counterproductive at a time when the US is attempting to consolidate global support in its competition with China and conflict with Russia. 

For Latin American leaders, US rhetoric on immigration rankles. The priorities of Latin American and Caribbean leaders and their voters are long term: economic growth, improved security, and climate change. These issues require investment and commitment from an engaged and reliable US partner. Sadly, Latin Americans can see such issues are not on the domestic agenda in US politics. 

To improve regional perceptions of US intentions after the election, new policy should seek to address the root causes of migration. That will require a multi-pronged, bipartisan approach that focuses attention and resources on US neighbours south of the border.  

The US’s immigration system will need to broaden paths for legal immigration to meet US labour needs, while delivering increased support for border security, and accelerated (and humane) processes for detaining and repatriating illegal border crossers and asylum claims.  

But any sustainable answer also requires addressing the multifaceted reasons driving migrants north. Any future US administration will need to risk unpopularity with some voters at home and engage with sending countries and their neighbours. 

Representatives of all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have gathered here this week to agree on the actions needed to definitively eradicate hunger in the region before 2025. [...]

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva has been selected as one of the world's most influential Latin Americans for his work against hunger and malnutrition in the world. In its [...]

The Latin American Community Center (LACC) presents a unique art contest and invites participants to explore addiction through artistic expression. ArtAddiction, a juried art competition hosted by the LACC’s Prevention Promoters Program, seeks to explore addiction, recovery, and mental health through artistic expression. This year’s theme, “Change IS A Process,” has categories that include painting, drawing, […]

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The struggle for women’s right to decide in Latin America and the Caribbean, for their access to legal, safe and free abortion continues in the region, with some countries fully criminalising it, others with severe regulations, and a few guaranteeing better conditions, while threats of regression persist. This Saturday 28 September marks, as every year, […]

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Nov 18, 2022

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Apr 10, 2023

The following is an event write-up about the recent Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) seminar on “The Geopolitics of Latin America amid the War in Ukraine and China-U.S. Tensions” moderated by Negah Angha, Fellow at the Institute of Politics, on March 29, 2023.

Artistas en los primeros Latin American Music Awards 8 de oct. en TELEMUNDO

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E-commerce roll-up companies are big in the United States, and Wonder Brands wants to be that for Latin America.

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Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2017.

Lanham, MD : SR Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.

For example, the comparison with the OECD appears limited by the fact that the Chilean indicator focusses on all employed individuals aged 15 years old, or above, whereas the OECD indicator covers the entire population between years. This caveat withstanding, the extent of the gap in Chile is wider than the OECD average. At nine […]

IEEE / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Incorporated

Universidad de Chile