Category: Latin America/Caribbean

Venezuela: one of 21st century’s ‘most impressive defenses of democracy’ – and yet …..

     

President Nicolas Maduro said that Venezuela raised $735 million in early sales of its new “petro” cryptocurrency, launched amid deepening financial and political crises in the country, the Council on… Read more »

Russia employing sharp power in Mexico’s elections

     

Russian meddling has recently become a fixture in Mexican politics too, analyst Maxim Trudolyubov writes for Newsweek. “They [Russians] are trying to create a world in which the electorates are… Read more »

Will Chavismo’s time finally run out in 2018?

     

Seven senior Venezuelan officials are likely to face European Union sanctions from next week, including the country’s powerful chief justice, diplomats said, as the EU seeks to pressure President Nicolas… Read more »

The lost opposition: Democracy dies in Venezuela?

     

As Venezuela falls into ever more tumultuous times, President Nicolás Maduro has tried to hit the final nail in democracy’s coffin. Now opposition parties are a thing of the past,… Read more »

Cuba’s ‘transition to immortality’ aims to guarantee regime continuity

     

A year after Fidel Castro’s death, some wonder whether his brother Raúl is willing to leave power on February 24, 2018—as he promised in 2013, Newsweek reports: Castro has worked to… Read more »

Combatting kleptocracy? Why nondemocratic states can’t deliver on corruption

     

Targeted, personal sanctions aimed at oligarchs create a genuine problem for Vladimir Putin’s hold on power, notes analyst Natalie Nougayrède. Russia is an authoritarian kleptocracy. The elite’s loyalty to the… Read more »

Maduro’s ‘sticking power’: Venezuela shows problems of countering backsliding

     

The recent history of Venezuela shows that neither domestic opposition nor the international community are always able to push back on the retreat from democracy, according to Geoffrey Macdonald, the… Read more »