Research Library

On July 22, the nation and the world lost a leader who played a critical role in making the Apollo 11 moon landing a reality: Christopher Columbus Kraft. Kraft gained great fame for his creation of the Mission Control Center and as the nation’s first flight director, but this was only the beginning of his many and lasting contributions to the U.S. space program.

If the country is to be economically successful and democratically viable, it would require learning from past mistakes and developing its significant potential in other economic sectors, writes energy policy fellow Francisco J. Monaldi. Forbes blog: http://bit.ly/2R80KU3.

The Trump administration's family reunification policy is insufficient to address the lasting impacts of the president's zero-tolerance immigration policy, writes Erika de la Garza, program director for the Latin America Initiative, in the Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2NMQnCU.

Aside from the massive cost of constructing a physical barrier along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, factors such as private and tribal land ownership and the impact on the environment must be taken into account.

The uncertainty that surrounded Peru's recent elections should alert Peruvians of the need to consolidate democratic institutions, maintain respect for electoral laws and eliminate possible cases of discrimination and inequality in their electoral process.

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.

While Mexico may indeed emerge from the recent oil price slump in better shape than most, tinkering with the solid macroeconomic foundations established by the country’s last three administrations could lead to trouble.

Latin America Initiative director Erika de la Garza blogs on the murder of Honduras activist Berta Cáceres, who was in Houston last November to receive an award for her work on behalf of Honduras’ indigenous communities.

Brazilian leaders' investment into transforming Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympic Games, even as the country is quickly spiraling into a deep recession and its housing market has declined, illustrates the government's troubling development priorities.

Social unrest over the extraction of Peru’s natural resources has increasingly heightened, as evident in the intensity of citizens’ claims and the resulting levels of violence.