On the occasion of his 89th birthday, Fidel Castro wrote an open letter expressing his hopes for the future of humanity.

In such divergent cases as Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Perú, Chile, and Spain one thing stands out as patently clear: the left is in decline.

There has been progress with basic services in education, health and housing, but the big problem is rising food prices outrunning increases in household income. 

The Left needs to find a candidate who can break the 1% mark. 

Parties must be horizontal, pluralistic, and tolerant civic networks savvy in the ways of modern media. 

The increase in economic inequality is characterized by the concentration of income in the upper echelons of society. It’s a phenomenon that has been growing since 1980 and is now evident across the developed world.  But it is also a clear and continuing trend in developing countries, exacerbated by local factors.

For many years Colombia has pursued economic management based on “failed theories” that only continue to hold sway because of their backers’ stubborn refusal to admit reality. 

The Chilean president seems paralyzed by indecisiveness. 

During the era of neoliberal hegemony one of the strategies to undermine the idea of useful government involvement in the economy was an offensive against paying taxes.  The idea was that they only “feed useless and corrupt bureaucrats” and lazy people.   

The XVII World Economy Meeting, held at the University of Oviedo in Spain, focused on “winners and loser in a world economy.”  To Latin American eyes, it’s clear that the “Great Recession” continues to have an influence, in both the developed and developing worlds.