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horowitzza

The Trouble With Measuring Peace in Latin America - 0 views

www.insightcrime.org/...asuring-peace-in-latin-america

trouble measuring latin latin america peace america

shared by horowitzza on 02 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • A new report ranks Colombia and Mexico as the least peaceful nations in Latin America -- however, this definition of "peace" may not accurately reflect the state of security in the region. 
  • The GPI's ranking system is somewhat perplexing, given that Central American countries with higher homicide rates -- namely, Honduras and El Salvador -- are considered more "peaceful" than Colombia and Mexico
  • Last year, both El Salvador and Honduras registered homicide rates higher than 60 per 100,000 people, more than double that of Colombia.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • the time murder rates began to decrease dramatically in cities such as in Tamaulipas and Ciudad Juarez, once hotspots for drug-related violence
luckangeloja

Full circle | The Economist - 1 views

www.economist.com/...larity-drugs-gangs-full-circle

Drugs Antigua and Barbuda Caribbean Drug Enforcement

shared by luckangeloja on 18 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • drugs
  • island
  • drugs
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  • drugs
  • volume
  • volume
  • ON MAY 9th American customs and border-protection officials launched an aerostat—a fat, tethered balloon—above the coast of Puerto Rico. Its job is to use radar to detect low-flying aircraft, ships and smaller vessels carrying drugs across the seas to the south.
  • a territory of the
  • island
  • drugs
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  • Planes fly a dogleg path—first north, then west—to avoid Colombian airspace; the drugs then move by land or other means via Central America and Mexico.
  • Drug flights to Central America dropped by a third and traffickers were pushed east to the Caribbean islands.
  • Traffickers often work with small packages, moving them in several jumps (see map). Some embark directly from the Venezuelan coast; others go overland through sparsely populated rainforest in Guyana and Suriname, where borders are virtually uncontrolled and small aircraft can land on remote roads or interior airstrips.
  • There are also well-established trails up the eastern Caribbean island chain and westward via Jamaica.
  • luckangeloja on 18 Oct 16
     
    This article talked about the drug-trafficking troubles and strengths that occur throughout the Caribbean. Although my country of Antigua and Barbuda was not physically mentioned, I chose to look at the Caribbean as a whole. This article also talks about the use of Aerostats, which are balloons that are supposed to help with tracking of drug-traffickers. Unfortunately, some methods of drug-trafficking that are used by many along the coast of Antigua and Barbuda are unable to be recognized by the Aerostats.
luckangeloja

Island Getaways Antigua and Barbuda Move to Decriminalize Pot - 0 views

panampost.com/...buda-move-to-decriminalize-pot

Drugs Antigua and Barbuda Legalization

shared by luckangeloja on 22 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda announced on Friday, May 8, the launch of a commission to oversee the process of decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of marijuana.
  • Hurst says the government wants to give young people with a criminal drug history a second chance.
  • Hurst explained that drug charges can interfere with young people, especially men, getting college scholarships or visas.
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  • The official cautioned, however, that this should not be considered a first step towards legalization, trade, or importation of marijuana, and pointed to the island of Jamaica as an example.
  • “We have not banned alcohol or tobacco, even though it has been proven that they are more addictive than marijuana,” she said earlier this year. “My point is that we should stop criminalizing our own youth in order to march to the beat of some other country’s drum.”
  • luckangeloja on 22 Oct 16
     
    This article talked about the possible legalization of marijuana in Antigua and Barbuda. The main reason for this proposal is for younger people who are caught with marijuana usually get into real legal trouble, and that can affect their possible scholarships or visas.
runlai_jiang

Colombia's Santos wins Nobel Peace Prize in boost for troubled talks | Antigua Observer... - 0 views

antiguaobserver.com/ze-in-boost-for-troubled-talks

colombia santos peace prize

shared by runlai_jiang on 04 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end a 52-year-old war with Marxist guerrillas, a surprise choice and a show of support days after voters rejected a peace deal he signed with the rebels.
  • Santos has promised to revive the plan even though Colombians narrowly rejected it in a referendum on Sunday.
  • The fact that a majority of the voters said ‘No’ to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead.”
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  • his makes it even more important that the parties … continue to respect the ceasefire
  • More than 220,000 people have died on the battlefield or in massacres during the conflict between leftist guerrillas, government troops and right-wing paramilitaries.
  • Santos has used his two terms in office to open negotiations with rebel leaders in four years of talks.
  • The peace accord was indeed a major achievement and, although the referendum was a setback,
  • hopefully this award will help peace builders maintain the momentum needed to keep the process moving forward,” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Director Dan Smith said in a statement.
  • runlai_jiang on 04 Nov 16
     
    Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. He accord the rebelling guerrilla to ceasefire. Although the majority of voters said no in the referendum, President promised that they would continue the peace process. His negotiations to ceasefire helped the peace process in the future decision and also have made sure people's safety. The Nobel Peace Prize adviced us to keep solving the Colombia Peace Process.
Cecilia Ergueta

Wife and Running Mate: A Real-Life 'House of Cards' in Nicaragua - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...io-murillo-house-of-cards.html

nicaragua

shared by Cecilia Ergueta on 02 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • She will be on the Nov. 6 ballot to become vice president.Her running mate? Her husband, President Daniel Orteg
  • “It’s not that she has as many followers as her husband — she has more,”
  • government was widely criticized for taking bolder steps to secure Mr. Ortega’s power, raising troubling questions about the state of Nicaragua’s young democracy.
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  • Now the Ortegas and their allies control fuel companies, television stations and public construction projects.
  • She went public with rape accusations in 1998. But her mother, who has had seven children with Mr. Ortega as well, stood by him.Joined by Mr. Ortega and their adult children, Ms. Murillo held a news conference calling her eldest daughter a liar who suffered from psychological problems.
  • her loyalty to Mr. Ortega and her public defense of him were rewarded in the influence she has gained across the country.
  • war raged in Nicaragua as the victorious Sandinista revolutionaries fought insurgents known as the contras, who were backed by the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Ortega officially became president in 1984 and left office in 1990, when Nicaragua took steps toward peace.
  • The National Assembly and the courts were stacked with allies. The law was changed so that Mr. Ortega could run indefinitely.
  • Supreme Court banished a leading opposition figure from his own party, the Liberal Independent Party, preventing him from becoming an opponent in the November election.
  • even more power will be consolidated in the Ortega family.
  • “If a private company does not allow a married couple to work together, how is that allowed for a nation?”
  • “This is a movie we already saw, and we know how it ends,” said Mr. Ramírez, the former vice president. “It ends badly.”
  • Cecilia Ergueta on 02 Nov 16
     
    Here's a good article on the political issues in Nicaragua right now!
runlai_jiang

Antiguan ex-president of UN general assembly faces $1m corruption charges | World news ... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...embly-faces-corruption-charges

corruption general assembly charges

shared by runlai_jiang on 04 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Antiguan ex-president of UN general assembly faces $1m corruption charges
  • A former president of the United Nations general assembly turned the world body into a “platform for profit” by accepting over $1m in bribes and a trip to New Orleans from a billionaire Chinese real estate mogul and other businesspeople to pave the way for lucrative investments, a prosecutor charged on Tuesday
  • John Ashe, a former UN ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda who served in the largely ceremonial post from September 2013 to September 2014, faces conspiracy- and bribery-related charges along with five others, including Francis Lorenzo, a deputy UN ambassador from the Dominican Republic who lives in the Bronx.
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  • Dujarric said Ban was “shocked and deeply troubled” by the allegations that “go to the heart and integrity of the UN”.
  • Corruption is not business as usual at the UN.
  • Those charged in the criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court included Seng, who was arrested two weeks ago along with his chief assistant, Jeff C Yin, 29, a US citizen whose bail was revoked last week over allegations that he lied to investigators after his arrest.
  • Other money, they said, was used to lease a luxury car, pay his home mortgage, buy Rolex watches and custom suits, and construct a $30,000 basketball court at his home in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where he was arrested on Tuesday. He opened two bank accounts to receive the funds and then underreported his income by more than $1.2m, officials said.
  • Prosecutors said two other arrested individuals were involved with Ng. They were identified as Sheri Yan, 57, and Heidi Park, 52, both naturalized US citizens who reside in China and helped facilitate the scheme, prosecutors said.
  • runlai_jiang on 04 Nov 16
     
    The Antiguan ex-president of UN general assembly, John Ashe accepted bribe from a chinese real estate buisness man and other businesspeople and was asked to benefit them for paving the way for lucrative investments. The president was charged. UN is not a usual corruption place and Antigua and Barbuda should rethink  its democracy system because our representative was even bribing.
Javier E

Colombia Reaches New Peace Deal With Rebels - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ia-peace-deal-farc-rebels.html

colombia peace deal politics

shared by Javier E on 13 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • The changes to the agreement with the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, were announced in Havana and addressed a range of topics — such as where rebels would be confined after disarming and how courts might address drug trafficking offenses — that negotiators said had troubled voters.
  • The agreement also appeared to withdraw a promise of guaranteed seats for rebels in Congress — one key demand of those who said the rebels would be unfairly rewarded with political positions.
g-dragon

Antigua and Barbuda - 1 views

www.state.gov/...78876.htm

shared by g-dragon on 12 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      Antigua and Barbuda is a diplomatic government with laws, but sometimes those laws are not followed well. Some problems are excessive force by police, bad prison conditions, sexual abuse of children, and discrimination and violence against women. There are been reports of police brutality, corruption, and discrimination against gay people. Prisoners are treated poorly by prison guards and children are held in the same prison as adults. There are not a lot of women in the government. There are 1/17 in the House of Representatives, 2/17 in the Senate and none in the cabinet. There are also no minority members in parliament or cabinet. On the bright side, both speaker of the House and president of the Senate are women. Another problem is the violence and abuse towards women. Since women do not testify against their harassers, the government has had trouble addressing this issue however they have been trying to increase women's awareness of their rights and providing a safe place for women and children.  - Daniel Lin
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      Part Two  The few schools that the government provided often has shortages and the parents often provide the chairs, tables, and books. There is a huge problem with child abuse like rape and men having sexual relationships with young girls. Contrary to other sources, this one states,"girls and boys have equal access to health care and other public services." They also state that there are no reports of discrimination against people with disabilities considering that there is not a law that prohibits discrimination against the handicapped. - Daniel Lin
Javier E

For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-of-opportunity-is-mexico.html

mexico opportunity culture economy latin america

shared by Javier E on 22 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • it is already cheaper than China for many industries serving the American market.
  • while Mexico’s economy is far from trouble free, its growth easily outpaced the giants of the hemisphere — the United States, Canada and Brazil — in 2011 and 2012, according to International Monetary Fund data, making the country more attractive to fortune seekers worldwide.
  • residency requests had grown by 10 percent since November, when a new law meant to streamline the process took effect. And they are coming from nearly everywhere.
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  • Spanish filmmakers, Japanese automotive executives and entrepreneurs from the United States and Latin America arrive practically daily — pursuing dreams, living well and frequently succeeding.
  • “There is this energy here, this feeling that anything can happen,” said Lesley Téllez, a Californian whose three-year-old business running culinary tours served hundreds of clients here last year. “It’s hard to find that in the U.S.”
  • more Americans have been added to the population of Mexico over the past few years than Mexicans have been added to the population of the United States, according to government data in both nations.
  • If the country of 112 million people can harness the energy of foreigners and newly educated Mexicans, become partners with the slew of American firms seeking alternatives to China, and get them to do more than just hire cheap labor, economists and officials say Mexico could finally become a more equal partner for the United States and the first-world country its presidents have promised for decades.
  • “There’s been an opening to the world in every way — culturally, socially and economically.”
  • global trends have been breaking Mexico’s way — or as President Enrique Peña Nieto often puts it, “the stars are aligning” — but there are plenty of obstacles threatening to scuttle Mexico’s moment.
  • The challenge, he said, is making sure that the growing interest in his country benefits all Mexicans, not just newcomers, investors and a privileged few.
  • Mexico has failed to live up to its economic potential before. “They really blew a moment in 1994 when their currency was at rock bottom and they’d just signed Nafta,”
  • The number of Americans legally living and working in Mexico grew to more than 70,000 in 2012 from 60,000 in 2009, a number that does not include many students and retirees, those on tourist visas or the roughly 350,000 American children who have arrived since 2005 with their Mexican parents. For DiscussionWhy did you decide to move to Mexico?Please share your story in the comments below.
  • closer ties with Mexico’s beloved and hated neighbor to the north, through immigration and trade, have made many Mexicans feel less insular. Millions of emigrants send money earned abroad to relatives in Mexico, who then rush out to Costco for more affordable food and electronics.
  • “Europe feels spiritually dead and so does the United States,” Mr. Quemada-Díez said. “You end up wanting something else.”
  • “We are now more certain about the value of sharing certain things.”
  • Some of the growth is appearing in border towns where foreign companies and binational families are common. American retirees are showing up in new developments from San Miguel de Allende to other sunny spots around Cancún and Puerto Vallarta. Government figures show that more Canadians are also joining their ranks.
  • More and more American consultants helping businesses move production from China are crisscrossing the region from San Luis Potosí to Guadalajara, where Silicon Valley veterans like Andy Kieffer, the founder of Agave Lab, are developing smartphone applications and financing new start-ups. In Guanajuato, Germans are moving in and car-pooling with Mexicans heading to a new Volkswagen factory that opened a year ago, and sushi can now be found at hotel breakfasts because of all the Japanese executives preparing for a new Honda plant opening nearby.
  • Mr. Pace, bearded and as slim as a Gauloises, said he moved to Mexico in 2011 because college graduates in France were struggling to find work. He has stayed here, he said, because the affordable quality of life beats living in Europe — and because Mexico offers more opportunity for entrepreneurship.
  • Some Mexicans and foreigners say Europeans are given special treatment because they are perceived to be of a higher class, a legacy of colonialism when lighter skin led to greater privileges. But like many other entrepreneurs from foreign lands, Mr. Pace and his partners are both benefiting from and helping to shape how Mexico works. Mr. Rodríguez, the former Interior Ministry official, Cuban by birth, said that foreigners had helped make Mexico City more socially liberal.
  • Many immigrants say Mexico is attractive because it feels disorderly, like a work in progress, with the blueprints of success, hierarchy and legality still being drawn. “Not everyone follows the rules here, so if you really want to make something happen you can make it happen,” said Ms. Téllez, 34, whose food business served more than 500 visitors last year. “No one is going to fault you for not following all the rules.”
  • compared with South Korea, where career options were limited by test scores and universities attended, Mexico allowed for more rapid advancement. As an intern at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency here, he said he learned up close how Samsung and other Korean exporters worked. “Here,” he said, “the doors are more open for all Koreans.” He added that among his friends back home, learning Spanish was now second only to learning English.
  • There were 10 times as many Koreans living in Mexico in 2010 as in 2000.
  • Europe, dying; Mexico, coming to life. The United States, closed and materialistic; Mexico, open and creative. Perceptions are what drive migration worldwide, and in interviews with dozens of new arrivals to Mexico City — including architects, artists and entrepreneurs — it became clear that the country’s attractiveness extended beyond economics.
  • Artists like Marc Vigil, a well-known Spanish television director who moved to Mexico City in October, said that compared with Spain, Mexico was teeming with life and an eagerness to experiment. Like India in relation to England, Mexico has an audience that is larger and younger than the population of its former colonial overlord.
  • “In Spain, everything is a problem,” he said. “Here in Mexico, everything is possible. There is more work and in the attitude here, there is more of a spirit of struggle and creativity.”
  • it was not a country that welcomed outsiders; the Constitution even prohibited non-Mexicans from directly owning land within 31 miles of the coast and 62 miles of the nation’s borders.
  • He struggled to make sense of Mexico at first. Many foreigners do, complaining that the country is still a place of paradox, delays and promises never fulfilled for reasons never explained — a cultural clash that affects business of all kinds. “In California, there was one layer of subtext,” Mr. Quemada-Díez said. “Here there are 40 layers.”
  • Mexico has allowed dual nationality for more than a decade, and among the growing group of foreigners moving here are also young men and women born in Mexico to foreign parents, or who grew up abroad as the children of Mexicans. A globalized generation, they could live just about anywhere, but they are increasingly choosing Mexico.
  • Domingo Delaroiere, an architect whose father is French and mother is Mexican, said Mexico’s appeal — especially in the capital — was becoming harder to miss. When he came back here last year for a visit, after two and a half years in Paris, he said he was surprised. “Art, culture, fashion, architecture, design — the city was filling up with new spaces, things that are interesting, daring,” he said. He soon decided it was time to move. Compared with Mexico, he said, “Nothing is happening in Paris.”
Javier E

Trouble in Paradise - 1 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/...trouble_in_paradise

caribbean drug trafficking crime violence economy latin america

shared by Javier E on 23 May 14 - No Cached
  • Over the past decade, Trinidad's murder rate has risen nearly 400 percent; last year, the rate in the capital city of Port of Spain rivaled those in Johannesburg and Baghdad. Proliferating gangs, mostly composed of impoverished young men, are behind many of the killings, centered in the dense suburbs of Port of Spain
  • What has emboldened the gangs and caused the violence? Mostly, drugs. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Trinidad and Tobago has become a major transshipment point for illegal substances heading north from South America. Traffickers send cocaine and small arms from Venezuela, just 7 miles off the coast of Trinidad, via fast boat. The drugs are then shipped out on container ships, planes, and private yachts.
  • he country's annual per capita GDP has risen from about $11,000 to $18,800 in the past decade due to strong exports of natural gas and steel. Still, unemployment remains high, and to create jobs, the government spends about $400 million per year on make-work projects. The bulk of this money is ultimately funneled to gang leaders, who administer "grants" and distribute "salaries." Indeed, corruption -- always a problem in the country -- is reaching new heights. According to several security analysts, a damning unofficial study carried out by the government in 2009 suggested that almost 90 percent of police officers were regularly involved in illegal activities. Those pursuits ranged from running and selling drugs, to colluding with gangs by renting out weapons to criminals, to performing extralegal killings.
lenaurick

Children of Antigua and Barbuda | Humanium - Together for Children's Rights - 1 views

www.humanium.org/...antigua-and-barbuda

children human rights policy education

shared by lenaurick on 12 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      There is a huge problem concerning children's rights in Antigua and Barbuda. First of all, the country does not have enough schools and the ones there are are overcrowded. Higher education schools usually require a fee AND and entrance exam. This means that if you have no money or could not go to school, higher education is basically impossible. Third, the law system there is troubling. Eight year olds can get the same penalties as adults in court and any person under the age of eighteen can be imprisoned in the same jails as adults for life for a murder. Fourth, there is a problem of discrimination in this country. Girls, children born out of non- married parents, people in poverty, and the handicapped children face great discrimination. - Daniel Lin
  • Antigua and Barbuda, a small country made of two islands, has made great efforts in the protection of children’s rights
  • Even though a number of steps have been taken, like providing free schoolbooks and uniforms, access to education remains very unequal in Antigua and Barbuda.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Antigua and Barbuda must therefore continue with its efforts towards universal access to education by promoting free schooling at all levels.
  • A law on corporal punishments still exists in these islands, and it authorizes physical punishment of children at home as well as in more official locations, such as school.
  • The United Nations has thus been advising Antigua and Barbuda since 2004 to put an end to laws that authorize any form of violence against children.
  • Any child 8 years of age can be called before the court and risks the same penalties as an adult. Similarly, a minor (an individual under 16 years of age) may receive the same punishment as an adult if charged with a crime. In this way, it is possible for a person under 18 years of age to be imprisoned for life for a murder.
  • Once the minors are tried, they do not have any special conditions on retention: they are locked up in the same prisons and sections as adults,
  • Girls, children born out of wedlock, and those living in poverty experience differences in access to basic services.
  • Another source of discrimination stems from the absence of physical systems to accommodate handicapped children; t
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