Latin America and the Caribbean

I could feel the bass of the music thumping in my thoracic cavity. The soles of my shoes were sticky with the beer that had spilled on the floor when I saw Eva inhaling a line of white powder off the kitchen countertop.

Note: This article is featured in the Kennedy School Review’s 2022 print journal. The War on Drugs and Violence in Latin America: Time to Hit Reset Latin America is the most violent region in the world, with only 8 percent of the global population accounting for 38 percent of the global share of murder. That […]

Interview with Leopoldo Lopez, former Presidential Candidate and political prisoner. First, we would like to hear what initially got you into politics? What motivated you and has it changed over time? I’ve always been interested in politics. Not in the exercise of politics as such, but in the public; being useful to address deep inequality […]

Calls for a green industrial revolution and transition away from greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting forms of energy are anything but novel. The newest to make the call is the International Energy Agency (IEA), which calls in a 2021 report for immediately halting oil and gas development and achieving net-zero emissions from electricity generation by 2040.1 […]

On 30th November 2021, Barbados became a republic. Nearly 400 years after the first British ship arrived on the island, and exactly 55 years after independence from British colonial rule, Prime Minister Mia Mottley conducted a ceremony replacing Queen Elizabeth II with Dame Sandra Mason as the head of state. Bells chimed across the capital, […]

If LAC wants to close its infrastructure gap and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the region will need to significantly increase investment in infrastructure. The pre-pandemic annual investment level of 1.4% of GDP compares poorly with the 3.1% needed to close the gap. Finding innovative policies to finance them would ensure that […]

Over the last 50 years, schooling expanded dramatically in most low- and middle-income countries, however, some disparities still remain, and have even been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. In Peru, even though in 2019, 97% of children between 6 and 11 years old had access to primary education, 13% of youngsters between 12 and 16 […]

While CBDCs hold tremendous potential in closing the financial inclusion gap in LAC, they will also encounter many roadblocks generated by cultural, social, and economic determinants. Central banks and other authorities will be tasked with no less than integrating the vulnerable and marginalized into the financial system.  Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have recently taken […]

In 2016, Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro designated an area larger than the size of Portugal as a “strategic development zone” to facilitate the mining of gold and other minerals. The area, called “The Orinoco Mining Arc,” includes some of the most pristine areas of the Amazon and borders Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage […]

Palmerina Ferreira Lima was a small-scale farmer in the Brazilian Cerrado, until her land was stolen. At the age of 77, she watched a company put up fences to keep her out and build a massive industrial soy plantation. In the decade since they seized her and her neighbors’ property, the project has nearly dried […]

Our team discussed with Pedro Francke, former Minister of Finance of Peru. His designation was described by the Guardian as a “relief in Peru as moderate is made finance minister”.

Interview to Jaime Saavedra, Global Director Education World Bank To give us some context, what is the post-covid situation of education in LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) compared with the rest of the world? We cannot talk about post-covid because we are not yet out of the woods. With this in mind, this is […]