Latin America Politics

La Costa Nostra es una victoria ciudadana. Este audiolibro es el resultado de la obsesión periodística de Laura Ardila, de su deseo de escudriñar un poder con alcances inimaginables y de su propósito por comprender el éxito y la habilidad en los negocios, las prácticas clientelistas y los vínculos afectivos del clan empresarial y político más poderoso de Colombia.

Experts believe that Brazil, the world's fifth largest country and its seventh largest economy, will be one of the most important global powers by the year 2030. Yet far more attention has been paid to the other rising behemoths: Russia, India, and China. Often ignored and underappreciated, Brazil, according to renowned, award-winning journalist Michael Reid, has finally begun to live up to its potential but faces important challenges before it becomes a nation of substantial global significance.

In this compelling, behind-the-scenes account, former top CIA officer and Cuba expert Brian Latell examines the extraordinary Castro brothers and the impending dynastic succession of Fidel's younger brother, Raul. Exploring the brothers' remarkable relationship, he reveals how Fidel and Raul have collaborated, divided responsibilities, and resolved disagreements for more than 46 years, a challenge to the notion that the little-known Raul has been an insignificant player.

Regina Martínez was no stranger to retaliation. A journalist out of Mexico’s Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Regina's stories for the magazine Proceso laid out the corruption and abuse underlying Mexican politics. She was barred from press conferences, and copies of Proceso often disappeared before they made the newsstands. In 2012, shortly after Proceso published an article on corruption and two Veracruz politicians, and the magazine went missing once again, she was bludgeoned to death in her bathroom. The message was clear: No journalist in Mexico was safe.

Latinos are already the largest minority group in the United States, and experts estimate that by 2050, one out of three Americans will identify as Latino. Though their population and influence are steadily rising, stereotypes and misconceptions about Latinos remain, from the assumption that they refuse to learn English to questions of just how "American" they actually are.

Hunger of Memory is the story of Mexican-American Richard Rodriguez, who begins his schooling in Sacramento, California, knowing just 50 words of English, and concludes his university studies in the stately quiet of the reading room of the British Museum. Here is the poignant journey of a "minority student" who pays the cost of his social assimilation and academic success with a painful alienation - from his past, his parents, his culture - and so describes the high price of "making it" in middle-class America.

As late as the 1960s, tacos were virtually unknown outside Mexico and the American Southwest. Within fifty years the United States had shipped taco shells everywhere from Alaska to Australia, Morocco to Mongolia. But how did this tasty hand-held food - and Mexican food more broadly - become so ubiquitous? In Planet Taco, Jeffrey Pilcher traces the historical origins and evolution of Mexico's national cuisine, explores its incarnation as a Mexican American fast-food, shows how surfers became global pioneers of Mexican food, and how Corona beer conquered the world.

Promoting a socially just Haiti entails imagining a country in which each and every person, from all backgrounds and walks of life, can live with dignity, safety, and harmony. It demands that structural injustices be addressed, democratic institutions be strengthened, and fair access to healthcare, education, and employment possibilities be promoted. focuses on ensuring that everyone is treated equally regardless of their history, identity, or socioeconomic level by distributing opportunities, privileges, and resources in society in an equitable manner.

Power Shift charts the rise of Latino political power and its impact, from the breakthrough election of the first Mexican American to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 to today’s leadership of California and its heavyweight role in polarized America. This inspiring story recounts the origins and development of 10 LA-based Latina and Latino leaders who transformed politics and government, forging a progressive political tradition in the process.

Witchcraft has made a comeback in popular culture, especially among feminists. A growing subculture of BIPOC witches, led by Afro-Caribbean immigrants, Indigenous Americans, and other witches of color, is reclaiming their ancestral traditions and contributing their voices to the feminist witchcraft of today.

In this groundbreaking economic analysis, Juan Rodriguez Aceves reveals a stunning truth hidden behind the headlines of violence and arrest statistics. Mexican cartels haven't just become criminal enterprises—they've evolved into the economic backbone of entire regions, employing millions of people and contributing tens of billions of dollars to Mexico's economy annually.

El proceso electoral de 2018 cerró diversos ciclos históricos: uno de 50 años, si se considera el movimiento de 1968 como arranque de la democratización; uno de 40, si se ubica en la reforma política de 1977 el inicio del camino hacia la pluralidad; o uno de tres décadas, si se considera a las elecciones de 1988 como el punto de quiebre de la transición. Lo cierto es que la democracia mexicana no nació el 1 de julio de 2018.

Emerging from the ruins of Aztec civilization and from centuries of Spanish contact with indigenous people, Mexican culture followed the Spanish colonial frontier northward and put its distinctive mark on what became the southwestern United States. Shaped by their Indian and Spanish ancestors, deeply influenced by Catholicism, and often struggling to respond to political and economic precarity, Mexicans play an important role in United States society even as the dominant Anglo culture strives to assimilate them.

Los presidentes en Latinoamérica tienen muchísimo poder… para emboscar a sus rivales, complotar, ocultar y robar. Pero, contra lo que suele creerse, disponen de muy poco margen de maniobra para hacer el bien. ¿Quién ha logrado reducir de forma sustancial los índices de violencia, por ejemplo? ¿Alguien ha conseguido acabar con el crimen organizado, consolidar las instituciones democráticas, fortalecer los contrapesos del sistema político o reducir la pobreza de forma radical y duradera en el tiempo?

El 10 de enero de 2000 el Ecuador económico amaneció en calma. Las largas colas en los bancos desaparecieron y las tasas de interés se desplomaron. El día anterior, Jamil Mahuad Witt, entonces presidente de la República, anunció de manera oficial la dolarización de la economía ecuatoriana poniendo fin a una larga tormenta perfecta económica con crisis devaluatoria que había llegado a una tasa de cambio de 28.000 sucres por dólar estadounidense, fuga de capitales y brotes hiperinflacionarios.

With contributions from a wide array of scholars and activists, including leading Chicana feminists from the period, this groundbreaking anthology is the first collection of scholarly essays and testimonios that focuses on Chicana organizing, activism, and leadership in the movement years. The essays in Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activisim and Feminism in the Movement Era demonstrate how Chicanas enacted a new kind of politica at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and developed innovative concepts, tactics, and methodologies that in turn generated new theories, art forms, organizational spaces, and strategies of alliance.

"Biografía del poder", centrada en la historia mexicana de la primera mitad del siglo XX, constituye el segundo tomo de una trilogía que empezó con "Siglo de caudillos" (Andanzas 207), que ganó en 1993 el VI Premio Comillas y que culminará con un tercer volumen dedicado a la historia más reciente del poder en México, desde 1940 hasta nuestros días.

La decisión de cancelar el aeropuerto que había empezado a construirse en Texcoco durante la administración de Peña Nieto, sin duda fue “el sello, el punto de partida, el pecado original” del gobierno de Andrés Manuel López Obrador. En este libro documentado con suficiencia y valioso para el debate público, quien fuera secretario de Comunicaciones y Transportes revela los pormenores de tal determinación tan polémica, sosteniendo que desde su concepción el NAICM fue un proyecto sin futuro, plagado de anomalías estructurales que tarde o temprano lo harían estallar.

Desde Morena, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo es la mayor voz crítica de Andrés Manuel López Obrador. En los últimos meses, la distancia entre ambos se ha incrementado. La voz de Muñoz Ledo—el principal representante de la socialdemocracia en México—se ha ido afilando, y cada día cobra una relevancia mayor para entender qué ocurre en el movimiento que hoy gobierna México, lo que ha de venir y lo que debe cambiar para que la Cuarta Transformación esté a la altura de sus votantes y de sus promesas.

América Latina está molesta. Lo recogen las encuestas, lo confirma la sucesión de "estallidos sociales" en diferentes países, lo ratifica una ciudadanía que vota sin ilusión. En este libro —escrito con la urgencia del periodista y el juicio del académico— Alberto Vergara propone que este malestar se debe a que América Latina está estancada. O, mejor, presa de un estancamiento múltiple: político, económico, social. Como consecuencia, las ciudadanías influyen poco en la política de sus países y las personas cuentan con cuotas de libertad muy desiguales. Es decir, vivimos en repúblicas que no son dignas de ese nombre.