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This article discusses the implications of the US giving surveillance aid to Latin American countries. US officials have in recent years aided Latin American governments with surveillance equipment in order to bolster their reach in their own territories. The primary thought has been that this will help the governments with anti-drug traffickin operations, however, recent evidence has emerged that these technologies have been repurposed to silence judges and opposition voices. This goes to illustrate the danger in providing potentially corrupt governments with US aid, that is, the danger of misappropriation (this true for any form of aid). As such, as the United States becomes more and more comfortable with the idea of Latin America as a global player in the tech market, we must still utilize caution in regards to where and how we provide aid to bolster these governments and markets.

This article lays out the reasons why Uruguay's government is considering legalization of marijuana. It has already been decriminalized and full legalization would allow the government to benefit economically from production. The profits could stimulate the economy and even be used to treat drug addicts and go towards drug education. Also, legalization would take power away from deadly cartels.

This article was very interesting. To me, it seems that Uruguay has been searching for a way to combat what the war on drugs has done to the cartels. This is vastly different to the approach the United States is taking in regards to marijuana. I wonder if we will see any of the affects here, in addition to how the U.S. government views government controlled marijuana. I feel that ong term, the different drug strategies could potentially change the U.S.'s current stance on drug policies if they prove their effectivness.

wow, great discussion! I've been working my way down from the top adding some comments and was wondering about decriminalization up above! This reminded me that there's a ballot initiative in Washington state this election year that could pass re legalization of marijuana, which would put the states vs the feds in an interesting position if so. I was looking for some info, and found this background on a site called ballotpedia -- which I didn't know existed and am definitely going to be using in the future! http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Washington_Marijuana_Legalization_and_Regulation,_Initiative_502_(2012)

Brazil's government enacted one of the most sweeping affirmative action laws. This is just one example of the sort of democratic, humanitarian charge that Brazil is leading in South America. On one end of the spectrum we see Chavez's authoritarian-ruled Venezuela, with state-controlled sectors still on the rise. On the other end we see Brazil, enacting humanitarian changes such as this affirmative action law. Increasingly, we have seen Latin American countries follow the lead set by Brazil, with a shift away from the state-controlled policy championed by Venezuela. Economically, we also see that Brazil is in much better shape than Venezuela, regardless of the fact that Venezuela is oil-rich. This law just offers one example of the changes set in motion by Brazil that stand at odds with the state-controlled ideals that were previously indicative of Latin American politics.

Fascinating article -- this is a huge social engineering step, with 50% of university slots set aside for poor and minority students! While there is debate about the step, only one senator voted against it.... Since our focus here in the class and the diigo articles is science and technology, I'm wondering if anyone here is willing to venture any guesses about how this policy might affect science, technology, and medicine in Brazil. Would most of these students from poorer social worlds opt for sci/tech/med training? If so, how might this change society itself? Do the wealthier students now attending college select different sorts of majors? It would be interesting to do some digging... Of course, the influx of students from different backgrounds could affect the wealthier students' worldviews, also -- if they stay in the public university system, however, which might not happen...From the article: Dozens of other Brazilian universities, both public and private, have also adopted their own affirmative action policies in recent years, trying to curb the dominance of such institutions by middle- and upper-middle-class students who were educated at private elementary and secondary schools. Public universities in Brazil are largely free of charge and generally of better quality, with some exceptions, than private universities. Still, some education experts are already predicting a shift to the better private universities among some students. "With these quotas, these rich Brazilians who took up their spots will not be abandoned," argued Frei David Santos, 60, a Franciscan friar in São Paulo who directs Educafro, an organization preparing black and low-income students for university entrance exams. "Their parents who had money saved will spend it" on elite private universities.

Of particular interest in this article is the methodology utilized to combat the increasing threat of Mexican drug cartels. Operation Fast and Furious underlines the fact that at the core, Americans are being forced to consider with more and more gravity the problem of Mexican drug cartels. The fact that "hundreds of weapons" were able to be lost, and subsequently passed into cartel hands, just goes to show the desperation of the United States government in concern to this real and visceral threat on our southern border. Furthermore, the article shows the problem in using weapons and ammunition to further a purpose. We saw the misguided delivery of weapons backfire on us during the Soviet-Afghan conflict, so it leaves one wondering when we'll figure out that this may not be the best way to engage in foreign policy.

To what extent do you think this is a domestic policy issue for the US as well as a foreign policy issue? Certainly the Central and South American countries rightly point out that if demand for drugs wasn't so fierce in the US the drug trade would be greatly diminished. Not to mention that drug crimes are one of the reasons that we have so many people in prison, along with the enormous costs (in money and lives) that are consumed in keeping the prison system going. Is this a topic where social scientists should be able to help out? To what extend does what we know from social science and medical science inform our laws? Even if we couldn't work out completely the demand issue on our end, is it possible if we made a significant dent in it, that it would make enough of a difference that progress could be made at the production end in disrupting that node? It seems to me we don't hear much from scientists in regard to this issue -- why not?

This article in regards to Google's new data center in Chili highlights the paradox facing Latin American IT. Latin American use of the internet has increased rapidly in recent history (the online population jumped 16 percent in 2011), but Latin American users have yet to view the Internet as simply more than an entertainment source. Online banking and business continues to struggle to catch on, despite attempts by the Chilean government to spur growth in this sector. Many believe the implementation of this data center will help Latin Americans make this transition.

Argentina's current president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is currently encouraging a change to the constitution that would allow her to be re-elected. This, as well as the economic downturn in the country have sparked vehement protests against her government. By going global, these protests have garnered international attention and are making the problems Argentina faces more well known.

According to a government report, deforestation of the Amazon by Brazil as decreased by twenty seven percent in the last year. This is a big improvement for a country who's economy has previously relied very much upon the industries that accompany deforestation. Unfortunately, even with a twenty seven percent decrease in deforestation, deforestation is still occurring at an alarming rate. Also worrisome is the fact that Brazil seems to have recently loosened some of it's environmental protection laws.

This article is short but very interesting as well. Argentina recently lowered their voting age to 16 from 18. The current Argentinian President, Cristina Fernandez, polls well among the youth and needs legislative support in order to amend the constitution so that she may run for President again in 2015. The article also notes that Ecuador and Brazil have already made laws allowing people as young as 16 to vote in their respective countries.

This article explains a new road that has been built that is working to revitalize a road for farmers. This road creates a direct path to the super market in order to boost earnings for the farmers. It was funded by the United States supported "Millennium Challenge Cooperation."

More new stuff for me to learn about, thanks, Elizabeth! It's amazing that lack of reliable roads can be a stumbling block to development in the 21st century, but often this is the legacy of colonial regimes that in previous eras weren't interested in internal connections among the people, but in building only what was necessary in terms of transportation infrastructure to extract indigenous resources and get them exported (a problem in Africa as well). I didn't know anything about the Millennium Challenge Corporation, so began looking up some info. One interesting fact is that they are rated as the most "transparent" US agency and 9th most transparent out of 72 in the world by "Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign for Aid Transparency" [one of 13 organizations marked "fair," the second highest category -- only two came in at the top category]. http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/index/2012-index/ The pressure for transparency: a consequence of the Internet, since the cost of "publishing" the information is minimal? It will be interesting to see how well the federal and state governments at home and abroad do on this score in the coming years.

This article shows the power of education to change the lives of kids living in favelas. In this case, music gives the children a way out of a life that would otherwise involve crime or some type of participation in the informal economy. This article reminds me of the successful afro reggae programs also started in favelas. I think the most important thing to take from this article is that the situation in favelas, although very difficult, is far from hopeless. I hope that the Brazilian government might someday sponsor programs such as this one instead of viewing favela communities as inevitably crime ridden and not worth helping

This article is an interesting update in Venezuelan politics. Chavez one another term with a decent majority proving that his socialist policies may be working for the majority of the population in Venezuela. His win could also be evidence of corruption in the government and election system. However I do not know enough about Venezuela to have any reason to believe that this is true. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. reacts to a continuing Chavez presidency.

The deadly clashes described in this article are a result of police trying to shut down a large open are market. The government views the market as dangerous, unhygienic and crime ridden. However, the vendors argue that they cannot afford to move their stall to somewhere with higher rent. The real problem at work here is not stubborn vendors but Peru's unevenly distributed wealth. Much of the population, including these vendors most likely, live marginally and participate in the informal economy. Kicking these people out of a market will not change the situation, wealth needs to be distributed more evenly.

This article is about violence between a gang, PCC, and the police force in Sao Paulo. The article focuses on the most troubling aspect of this violence which is civilian deaths caused by the police. This is not the first time a police force has taken out their rage against a gang on poor civilians. As dangerous as gangs such as the PCC are, the Brazilian government clearly need to better monitor actions on the part of the police