As Latin America’s commodity boom has slacked off over the last year, presidents in the region have watched their popularity decline. Despite the damage attributed to corruption scandals, presidents across the political spectrum have suffered growing unpopularity that seems to be driven by economic issues. 

Nicaragua’s proposed trans-oceanic canal could be “the scenario for a slightly implausible summer blockbuster movie” with darkly powerful business interests, environmental dangers, social upheavals and “and even global intrigue.” 

The Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG) has caused political polarization in the country since its creation, especially because powerful interests connected to the military governments of yore have convinced conservatives that it was the “creature of the leftists.”  Yet it is still needed.  

The prospects for justice and resolution of disputes in Mexico “are bleak.” The process is expensive, slow, inflexible, and open to manipulation. 

Although he was wrong about the inevitability of communism, Marx correctly predicted many of capitalism’s recurring ills. 

The old ways and practices of the agricultural system have historically generated a “lousy” outcome, with concentrated land ownership and low productivity. 

For a market economy to function property many actors must do their part.

There is something fascinating about the popular will. Occasionally it wearies of its rulers, in which case the people can mobilize and change an undesirable and unsustainable state of affairs. 

Since late last century, and especially since the beginning of this century, left-leaning governments have been installed in Latin America, themselves the products of the failure of neoliberalism. In the search for alternatives, there have been different approaches on the Latin American Left, some more successful than others. 

The exercise of power through control of the media is a constant in history, and represents the “depraved tendency of political actors” who strive to manipulate the system, a dynamic that is clearly present in Guatemala.