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. This article discusses how Evangelicalism in Latin American has improved the well-being of communities. Evangelicalism has made a positive impact on prostitutes, alcoholics, and drug abusers to change their lifestyles and learned how to improve their economic situations in ways that would not exploit them or put them in danger. The discussion is then furthered when the author examines Evangelicalism's potential to help improve the economic situations in Latin America and whether or not it can create more social changes.

Evangelicalism provides a way for social and culture change to occur. Here the flaws of the movement is pointed out so that the movement can prove to be more effective.

This article discussed the high rates of conversion to Evangelicalism in Latin America. The article also discusses how Evangelicalism/Pentecostalism has redefined Latin American communities. The communal worships and services have brought people of different classes, races, and ethnicities together. We can see here how Evangelicalism has not only changed people's behaviors and practices within the Latin American culture, but also how they interact with one another.

Although the previously bookmarked article seeks to establish an outline of the human or women rights violations that occur within Guatemala, here, author Karim Velasco, sheds light upon newly distinguished laws and explains despite their hopeful goals, why they have ceased to work effectively. She argues that because of the "lack of effective investigation and prevention strategies of the Guatemalan authorities", women continue to be raped, tortured, and murdered at an increasing rate. Because of pressures from the European Parliament to abide by human rights laws, "on April 9, 2008, Guatemalan Congressed passed the 'Law Against Femicide and other Forms of Violence against Women Act' to severely punish any kind of gender-based violence..." However, because the violence stems from the power inequality between men and women in the first place, there is little belief or evidence that this Act will be implemented or strongly enforced by the men in power who seek to represent masculinity or display a constant idea of machismo.

This is a radio show discussing the violence against women as a result of the machismo culture. It also discusses a group of men from Nicaragua that are participating in a program to "unlearn" the aspects of being macho.

This site contains an article based on the contemporary perspectives of men and masculinity in Latin American Countries. Detailing numerous countries like Brazil and Mexico, you can see the similarities and differences of what masculine identity is to each individual country or culture. "The materials analyzed are organized around the principal themes within which studies of masculinity in Latin America have been framed, namely the construction of masculine identity, fatherhood, practices and representations, homosocial spaces of masculinity, reproductive health, and masculine sexuality."

This sight documents the abuses done to homosexual couples in Mexico. I think this page gives good insight into how ashamed Mexican culture is of its gay community. The purpose of this organization is to seek social change through peaceful means but unfortunately it seems that simple letter writing campaigns will not stop discrimination on such a massive scale.

This article discusses the struggle to change women's roles in Latin American countries. The main portion of discussion addressing equality for women exist in a mainly academic atmosphere and there is a need to spread to a media more targeted in toward the general population. As long as the stereotypes of men and women remained unaddressed violence toward women and their expectations as only domestic beings will endure.

This article was published in 2001. Serrano Elias was elected President of Guatemala and he was a converted Protestant. Thirty percent of the Guatemalan population are Evangelical Protestants. The article discusses how the rise of Evangelicalism is weakening the Catholic Church in Latin American countries. Many have converted because Evangelicalism has assisted people who are in need better than the Catholic Church has.

This article discusses the large decrease in attendants for the Catholic Church and the huge increase of people joing the Protestant faith. It discusses the reasons that many are choosing to go Evangelical Protestant and the fears that a lot of the Catholics have about the newfound change in religion. Latin America being a predominately Catholic put Catholics in a akward position and makes them fear the changes that are to come as a result.

This article from the Time Magazine discusses the Protestant resurgence taking place in Latin America. For example, the Vatican is especially concerned about Brazil, supposedly the world's No. 1 Roman Catholic nation, with 126 million on church rolls. Protestants boast a minimum of 20 million churchgoers and are expanding twice as fast as the overall population.

In the first one hundred days of Barack Obama's presidency the issue between the US-Mexico border was being addressed. The discussions between President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón ranged on issues from global climate change and immigration reform. However, the issue that is most pressing is the use of assault weapons in correlation to the increase in organized crime. President Calderón has been trying to manage illegal immigration into the United States through attempts to increase employment rates in Mexico. To add to this initiative to crack down on the immigration issues between Mexico and the United States there has been an agreement between the United States, Mexico, and other Latin American countries which is a $1.4 million Merida joint security plan where the usage of United States equipment, technology and expertise are used toward combating drug trade. With the ban lifted in 2004 by the United States of assault weapons the organized crime has increased significantly; therefore, the drug trade has been gaining sufficient hold in towns.

Magnum photographer, Christopher Anderson's new book Capitolio explores a poignant visual insight into the degeneration of Caracas, which was once Latin America's most economically advanced cities and is now plagued with chaos and despair. Murders in Caracas have grown so dramatically that they have become accepted as ordinary, and thus looking at the homicide statistics has become mundane. His images of blood and trash serve to highlight their omnipresence in the daily lives of Venezuelans. He opens with action scenes, and then moves to rural areas where the seeds of the infrastructure where set, before submerging into the hysteria of President Chavez. The book's name derives from a metaphor of an old city-center government building that exports revolution while the city itself like the building deteriorates. Anderson traveled into the countries interior to depict the polluted Lake Maracaibo in order to exemplify the interdependence between the United States, the main consumer of Venezuela's oil, and President Chavez. Anderson photographs a sugar harvester in Barinas, the town where Chavez was born into poverty and now transformed into a laboratory for revolutionary projects. When asked about the future of Venezuela, Mr. Anderson said his book is not a source for answers, but an insight for strangers.

This article looks at Evangelism in relation to politics in Venezuela.

This article highlights the tension between government policies and indigenous populations in Ecuador. Due to the abundance of natural resources in the area, many indigenous communities are facing cultural and political instability.

In response to the murder of lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenburg Guatemalan authorities arrested seven men. The men apprehended all had ties to the military or police forces. Still, no one has stated the murderes' motives. Authorities have said however, that the president and his wife were in no way responsible. It is not clear whether these arrests are a political response by the government of President Colom or if there really does exist hard evidence that these men were responsible.

This article discusses the recent visit to Venezuela from the leader of Libya Moammar Gadhafi to meet with President Chavez. While there the two signed a declaration claiming no one will be punished for fighting for their freedom with "self-determination" as terrorists. The hope is that the document will limit influence of Western Nations such as the United States and Britain from interfering in global affairs.

This article is about the possibility of the Vatican getting involved in the Honduran government crisis as a third-party negotiator between ex-Presiden Manuel Zelaya and the current ruling group. The Church in Honduras is seen as a powerful political entity, with graasroots support and a powerful media outlet.

This blog describes a Pentecostal movement called Charismatic, headed by the bishops in Guatemala. The movement is about deepening the spirituality in the lives of the church members and the priests. The blog also describes the dangers of the movement going beyond the control of the Church, and into "peculiar kinds of prayers, exclusive attitudes... and overemphasis on emotions".

This article is about the Church in Bogotá, Colombia heading an interfaith dialogue on domestic violence with delegates from 16 countries and 13 religious denominations. The basic idea of the conference was that religious leaders should join together to fight domestic violence from their pulpits.

This article discusses how many indigenous peoples throughout Latin America are experiencing a loss of cultural tradition, along with conflict and violence because of religion. Of the 40 million indigenous people who live in Latin America today, the most prevalent religion is still Roman Catholicism; however, over the years, other religions have surfaced such as Protestantism and Evangelicalism. The emergence of different religions have changed the collective behavior of indigenous people, along with breaking away their traditional nature.

Throughout Latin America, indigenous communities are losing their sense of tradition, stemmed from large established religious denominations and lesser known groups. While some churches focus on social concerns, others focus on spiritual concerns, creating a division between communities and families. The "sects" have taken on the role of dividing the people and lowering them to interests of the dominant powers. Anthropologists and religious leaders blame the sects for employing indigenous peoples with money and advertising beliefs that go against their way of life.

This article discusses the battle between the catholic church and Venezuela's socialist president, Chavez. The catholic church is being criticized as being "Chavistas" because their new mission is a "preference for the poor". Some members of the church are willing to accept that they are following some of Chavez' principals, yet others want to make a clear distinction. The article explores these identity conflicts.

This article talks about the affects of violent crime on Latin American Society. It discusses the ways in which the government is trying to instigate new programs to reduce the crime rate relating to sexual abuse, drug-trafficking, kidnappings, gangs, substance abuse. The government plans to begin early education regarding these issues as well as encourage and strengthen citizen and community participation.