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Venezuela was just approved for a 1.4 billion dollar 12-month stand-by credit by the International Monetary Fund to support the nations 1996-97 economic program. This article gives background the economic stressors that Venezuela experienced in the late 1980s followed by a vigorous growth in the early 1990s in association with an increase of international oil prices during the Middle East War of 1990. As the oil prices fell, the economy significantly decreased in productivity and was further weakened in 1994 with a string of major banking crisis' involving the introduction of exchange and price controls. It analyzes the economic program of 1996-97 as well as addressing the social issues and structural reforms that resulted from this difficult economic period.

. 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.

Mexico, the second most populous country in Latin America, has a critical need for contraception, but is unable to meet the demand due to social and economic factors. Access and education must be improved so that women may live in dignity—and equality with men.

This section of the Los Angeles Times deals directly with and reports daily on Latin American current events. It provides articles concerning Latin American politics, Latin American economics, Latin American art, etc. The page also includes video interviews, podcasts and an interactive map and multimedia gallery in regards to the Mexican drug wars.

Guatemala has the resources to prevent child hunger compared to poorer countries in Latin America, but according to Unicef approximately half of Guatemala's children are suffering from malnutrition, making it the sixth worst performance of a nation in the world. The growing problem is a result of the current economic crisis, and the effects are being seeing through the decrease in monetary aid being sent from Guatemalans working in the United States. In order to break the cycle of poverty it is essential for the Guatemalan government to address the inequality of income.

This is a group that came to Wheaton last year to talk about human rights (and violations of those rights) in El Salvador and to promote fair trade and free elections. The website has information about the current political and economic situation in El Salvador and what we can do to help improve it.

The election of Argentina's president sparked discussion on gender roles in Latin America. Gender issues and constraints have hurt Latin America economically. Although there has been an increase in women leaders, domestic violence and strict gender roles still exist.

In June 2009, Latin American health officials and United Nations bureaucrats agreed to continue implementing "comprehensive sexuality education starting in early childhood" throughout the region, including instruction in the use of condoms and anti-"homophobia" training, at a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Jamaica. Their goal is also to fight against sexual discrimination.

This article addresses the issue of HIV/AIDS in Latin America is becoming feminized due to socio-economic and gender inequalities. The concept of machismo increases the vulnerability of women to HIV/AIDS when combined with other factors such as poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy. There are roughly 1.8 million people in Latin America with HIV/AIDS, with women representing 25% of the infected population. The strong tradition of Catholicism stands in the way of education on sex and sexuality intended to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

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.

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 article, in a way, connects to Escobar's text, as it talks about the negative externalities of shrimp farming in Ecuador, Brazil, and other countries. The argument this article is making, as apparent in the title, is that well-managed fisheries should catch wild shrimp and fish, in stead of cultivating them in the form of aquaculture.

In 2003 when Goldman Sachs economists linked Brazil with Russia, India and China as the economies that would come to dominate the world, much contest aroused over the inclusion of Brazil. Many economists questioned how Brazil could participate amongst the ensemble since the country features a declining growth rate, victim to any outside financial crisis, and constant political instability does not make Brazil an appealing candidate as an arising force. China leads the world economy out of recession while Brazil was not far from behind. Brazil was unable to avoid the downturn, but was among the last to fall and among the first to recover with a growing economy again at an annual rate of 5%. With the development of new deep-sea oilfields over the next few years, Brazil's growth will rapidly escalate also a result of Asian countries heightened appetite for food and minerals from Brazil's ample land. Forecasts alternate but in the decades proceeding 2014 Brazil will emerge as the world's fifth largest-economy, excelling Britain and France, and in 2025 it is also speculated that Sao Paulo will be the fifth-wealthiest city. Brazil perhaps surpasses its competing members because unlike China, it is a democracy, unlike India; the country is not plagued with insurgents, or ethnic and religious conflicts, or hostile relationships with its neighbors like India has with Pakistan and Kashmir. In contrast to Russia, Brazil exports more than oil and arms, and has established more cordial relationships with foreign investors. Brazil's emergence has not been hasty but instead steady. Initiatives began in the 1990s when they established a coherent set of economic policies, and the Central Bank was granted autonomy, which stimulated development of new multinationals that may have previously been state-owned companies that are now prospering as a result of operating from a distance from the government. Weaknesses, however, still permeate throughout Brazil, so it is necessary to

This article is provided by conciliation resourced. The creators of the laws found in this article discuss topics on the agreement on identity and rights of indigenous people. They include identity of indegenous people, struggle against discrimination, and cultural, civil, political, social and economic rights. It is interesting to see these laws and wonder how often they are followed (not very often at all).

Say No UniTE to end violence against women is a global call for action that began in November 2009. Its main purpose is to raise awareness of the tremendous violence against women, for example femicidio, in Guatemala. Its goal is overall education reaching across social classes and various societal institutions in hopes to eliminate violence against women and girls.

The article discusses how the Guatemalan government and different UN offices are launching a regional initiative called: "UNiTE to End Violence against Women." The initiative is a global action to end violence against women and girls in Guatemala. According to the article, violence against women has far-reaching consequences, harming families and communities, along with undermining economic growth.

This article focus's on Guatemala's need for the vote to end violence against women. Around 70% of women and girls are physically or sexually abused by men in their life time. This article highlights the importance of this issue and its prevalence in Guatemala.

After a weapons-buying splurge, is South America gearing up for conflict? Robert Munks, Americas analyst for IHS Jane's, investigates.

Written in 2002, this article talks about improved changes made to children in Latin America in the way of health and education. However, these slight advancements have been met with many new challenges such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. The UN has become very involved in this problem and working on its solution as in many of these developing countries, children make up a great part of the population.

This page demonstrates a World Bank policy to keep the fertility rate down in developing countries. Surprisingly, there is little attention given to specific countries, rather the policy prescribed here is uniform and enforced equally.