Juan Pablo Spinetto

A week after two earthquakes struck Venezuela, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths and counting, the courage and generosity of its people and the professionalism of international rescue teams have underscored the incompetence and callousness of the “Chavismo” that has hung over the country for more than a quarter century. That poses a problem for the Trump administration and its goal of exerting more influence in the critical South American country just six months after snatching its president,

So much for the panic attack.

It’s rare these days to hear a dictator openly admit he won’t bother holding elections. Even the world’s most brutal authoritarian regimes usually resort to sham votes and other tricks to cloak themselves in a veneer of legitimacy.

A country whose rulers openly reject elections has no place in this neighborhood.

It's rare these days to hear a dictator openly admit he won't bother holding elections. Even the world's most brutal authoritarian regimes usually resort to sham votes and other tricks to cloak themselves in a veneer of legitimacy.

Can Guyana outrun the mismanagement and corruption that have afflicted so many other petro-states?

Smiles, cooperation and lots of patience.

Brazilians will head to the polls in less than two months to elect their next president. What do the country’s 159 million voters care most about? Crime, narcotrafficking and corruption. They also worry about the economy, inflation, healthcare and education — the typical “kitchen table” issues of elections almost everywhere. What they don’t care much about is foreign policy. So as long as the US and Argentina try to make it such by supporting rightwing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, it looks like t

Six months after Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged that the US-Venezuela partnership would lead to a “dramatic increase” in oil, natural gas and electricity production, the gusher has yet to gush.

It’s a familiar sight across Mexico’s urban landscape: cities every time more congested, with inadequate public transportation and tortuous journeys from one end to the other. Traffic is a problem across Latin America and beyond, but Mexico City has more than earned its rank by some measures as the world’s most congested city.