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Latest Columns

  • 27 August 2010

    Opponents of California’s landmark Proposition 19 fear the worst. Surely, they say, decriminalizing the use, production and sale of marijuana is an invitation for trouble and neither an estimated $1.4 billion in new tax revenue for strained state coffers nor millions saved in incarceration costs justifies its passage in November’s elections. Among their top concerns: It will create more crime.

  • 20 August 2010

    I'm not often surprised in this job. You can't help but think you've seen it all covering Latin American politics and the likes of Alberto Fujimori, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez for 17 years.

    But this past week when Peruvian President Alan Garcia and I sat down in Lima for an interview, I have to admit I was taken aback by his candor and strong sense of solidarity for his country’s neighbors, two traits not very evident among Andean regional leaders these days.

  • 13 August 2010

    I count myself among the fortunate immigrants that have been lured to this country not by the prospect of a job but by the opportunity for a quality education. Mine was a far more privileged entry point, for sure, especially considering that many jobs taken by newcomers are among the worst, while the education available to international students is second to none.

  • 6 August 2010

    There is little doubt that women are more powerful in Latin America than ever before. This past decade women have been elected to the presidencies of Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica. By the end of October, Brazil too may elect a woman president. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of women legislators in Latin America jumped to 22 percent, an average higher than any other region of the world, even Europe.

  • 30 July 2010

    For those who got to know Alvaro Uribe during his eight years as Colombia’s President it was evident that he would, in his words, “work, work, work” until the last minute of his last day in office. Slowing down and walking quietly into the sunset wouldn’t have been his thing.

  • 23 July 2010

    More than 15 months have passed since President Obama lifted the ban on U.S. telecommunication companies seeking to operate in Cuba, ending a 50-year-old embargo against such businesses. The directive was billed as part of Obama’s search for a new direction in U.S.-Cuba relations and allowed, among other provisions, the signing of roaming contracts with Cuba's mobile phone operators.

  • 16 July 2010

    Starting this year and continuing over the next 14, countries throughout Latin America will host extensive festivities to commemorate 200 years since the end of Spanish rule and the advent of independence.

    In many respects the bicentennial celebrations could not have come at a more appropriate time. Latin America has successfully weathered the worst financial crisis in decades, fairing better than most other regions and far better than it has in previous crises.

  • 2 July 2010

    In admitting recently that the United States will never totally seal its border with Mexico, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano acknowledged a fundamental yet politically perilous fact: there is no way to close a 2000 mile border with a country that is the U.S.’s third largest trading partner. She followed the admission minutes later saying that she won’t be satisfied until all routes used by drug dealers are shut down.

  • 25 June 2010

    World leaders want the Chinese to buy more and save less. You won't hear them say that outright, but that is what statements like the following from President Obama’s June 18 letter to the Group of 20 mean: “A strong and sustainable global recovery needs to be built on balanced global demand.”

  • 18 June 2010

    The cell phone has proven to be the weapon of choice for gang members serving time in El Salvador's prisons. By phoning threats to Salvadorans at home and in the U.S., last year gang members funneled into prisons between $750,000 and $800,000 dollars, illicit profits of extortion that corrupt the correctional system from within.

  • 11 June 2010

    I just returned from an extended trip to see my parents in Colombia. Their health has deteriorated this last year and by the time I arrived my father was in the hospital looking extremely thin and having difficulty breathing. As he puts it, in nine months he went from feeling 60 to turning 80.

  • 4 June 2010

    Not long ago the road connecting Jorge Chavez International Airport to the rest of this Andean capital was lined with the misery of an improvised shantytown. Now it is more common to see Las Vegas-style casinos, grand hotels and extravagant shopping malls than gloomy shacks. A square meter of commercial property is less expensive today in the fluent south of the city than the previously poor north.

  • 28 May 2010

    As the seemingly unstoppable gusher entered its sixth week, spewing 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil daily deep in the Gulf of Mexico, leaders in the Americas continue to focus their attention on the lessons to be drawn and the measures to be taken to prevent a similar disaster.

    Brazilian experts have traveled to the area to take note, U.S. and Cuban officials have opened new channels of communication to discuss a coordinated response and President Obama ordered a suspension of virtually all offshore oil drilling activity pending a comprehensive safety review.

  • 21 May 2010

    Washington welcomed Mexican President Felipe Calderon this week with a mix of deference and diplomatic pomp that only this city can furnish. But state dinners, a congressional address and taking the stage with stars such as President Obama and Beyoncé aren't exactly his thing. As Mexicans would say, Calderon wasn’t in his mero mole.

  • 14 May 2010

    On May 8, her first day in office, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla fulfilled a campaign promise and created a national anti-drug commission to combat drug trafficking and reduce the consumption of illegal substances in Costa Rica. The day before, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera flew over Santiago on board a spy plane that helped seize more than 300 kilograms of illicit drugs and disband two criminal organization involved in drug trafficking.

  • 7 May 2010

    With less than two years left in his administration, former Honduran president and Hugo Chavez acolyte Manuel Zelaya attempted to extend his presidency beyond the permissible four years. Zelaya and his supporters believed they could outmaneuver entrenched powers and cash in on his presumed appeal among the poor and disenfranchised with a popular referendum to amend the constitution.

  • 30 April 2010

    As Birmingham, Ala. became the flashpoint for sweeping civil rights legislation in 1964, Arizona is becoming the locus for events that could force the federal government to finally fix its dysfunctional immigration system.

    Arizona has been tempting federal action for some time, and now by enacting SB 1070 it may have crossed a line. The law will allow authorities to demand proof of legal entry from anyone merely suspected of being in the country illegally. Even if no crime or violation has been committed, police will be able to stop an individual and demand proper paperwork.

  • 16 April 2010

    In recent years Latin America has seen reduced inequality, a burgeoning middle class, and good economic governance that helped it recover from the latest recession sooner and better than others. But for all of its advances, the region still struggles to produce goods and deliver services more efficiently. In fact, over the last 40 years the region’s productivity growth has been dead last in the world.

  • 9 April 2010

    The International Monetary Fund believes it. Politicians, economists and consumer groups the world over believe it. And the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, South Korea and the United States have said it: the ongoing recovery from the world's worst economic crisis in decades may thwart efforts to reform the financial system that created the mess.

  • 2 April 2010

    You would think that the Latino electorate would have a lot to be pleased about after President Obama’s first year in office.
    Take health care. Prior to reform one in three Latinos did not have health insurance. Thanks to the landmark overhaul, some Latinos will benefit as early as late June when many uninsurable or “priced out” citizens with preexisting conditions will begin to see new insurance options. Also, small firms with less than 25 employees will soon be eligible for tax credits to help provide coverage for their workers.

To publish Ms. Sanchez’s column, please contact the New York Times Syndicate:

Isabel Amorim Sicherle
in Sao Paulo
55-11-3812-5588
sicheia@nytimes.com

Ana Muñoz
in New York
212-556-5177
munoza@nytimes.com