Research Library

Voices of the Americas is a space for Americas Project fellows to share their insights into events unfolding in their home countries and in the region as a whole. Links to the blogs are available here: http://bit.ly/1XaJ2hs

President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia promised that if his administration negotiated peace with the guerrilla group FARC, he would bring the agreement to the people for ratification. But his request for a plebiscite (a type of referendum) quickly turned into a clash between Santos and former President Alvaro Uribe, whose Centro Democrático party is leading a campaign against the agreement. Read more at the Houston Chronicle Blog: http://bit.ly/2cTT8zB

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s two main methodologies for measuring border wait times have been found to be “unreliable and of limited usefulness” to users crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. However, cross-border residents are utilizing social media to share pictures, videos and real-time information on wait times to address this gap.

Fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, who studied and worked in the United Kingdom for 16 years, examines the magnitude of Brexit's domestic consequences.

President Barack Obama’s visit to Argentina launched new bilateral relations in which traditional diplomacy was widely displayed with the signing of agreements in economics, energy, climate change, multilateral cooperation, global health, democracy, human rights, security and defense.

Despite right-wing pushes for the annexation of a significant portion of the West Bank, support remains for a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yair Hirschfeld, fellow in the Center for the Middle East, analyzes Israel's political environment in this post on the Baker Institute Blog.

Water scarcity in Jamaica has brought serious development and social challenges, as 30 percent of the poorest households rely on untreated water sources. Proper water conservation, management and adaptation approaches are required to enhance social, economic, food and health sustainability.

In a country steeped in political corruption, the Sept. 3 resignation of Guatemala's President Otto Pérez Molina is the first step toward the country's redemption, writes Latin America Initiative program director Erika de la Garza.

Though drops in oil prices stand to impact Saudi Arabia’s economic stability, the government has turned to drawing down its foreign reserves and issuing bonds to alleviate budgetary pressures and avoid drastic domestic spending cuts. Fellow for the Middle East Kristian Coates Ulrichsen writes in the Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/1fKLWG9.