Regardless of one’s views toward Fidel Castro, his strong impact on world history is undeniable, Latin America Initiative director Erika de la Garza writes in this post for the Baker Institute Blog.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was elected to a third consecutive and fourth overall term as president Sunday. While Ortega has successfully revitalized Nicaragua’s economy, his reelection signals a return toward an authoritarian power structure that dismantles the country’s democratic progress.
Venezuela's fragile democracy is crumbling under President Nicolás Maduro. Latin America Initiative program director Erika de la Garza analyzes the country's political and economic crises in the Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/2ekRNFH
Michel Temer’s ability to implement the difficult reforms Brazil needs will determine whether his legacy will be as the person who reconciled the country or as the usurper of Dilma Rousseff’s presidency, writes Latin America Initiative program director Erika de la Garza.
Erika de la Garza, program director of the Latin America Initiative, reflects on President Obama's Cuba trip in light of her own visit to the island earlier this month.
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.
As President Obama prepares for a historic visit to Havana, thousands of the island’s residents are rushing to immigrate to the U.S., hoping to beat the rumored end of a policy that lets Cubans who reach American soil remain here. Read Erika de la Garza’s take on the unsought consequences of reestablishing U.S. ties to Cuba.
Drug policy has experienced an interesting shift recently. Along with legalization of medical and recreational marijuana, many states are also reducing penalties for nonviolent drug offenses and placing greater focus on treatment for drug users. The emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation for drug users is the result of many factors, including recognition that the drug war has not reduced drug use, a desire to reduce the prison population and save money, and a surge in the rate of overdoses from opioid and heroin use. What remains to be seen is whether the current popularity of drug treatment will become a more permanent feature of drug policy. In this Baker Institute Viewpoints series, five experts on drug policy examine the question, “Is the current emphasis on treatment in drug policy a short-term trend or is it here to stay?”
Katharine Neill Harris, William MartinDecember 19, 2014
After more than five decades, China's central government is modernizing, standardizing and regulating the Hukou system of registration that largely tied farmers to the lands on which they were born, and kept them out of the cities and away from competing with urban residents for jobs and benefits. China is now officially gradually phasing out its highly unequal two-tier system of citizenship.