Debates and articles from across the openDemocracy website that discuss or are relevant to the Americas
The Republicans' grand experiment
George W Bush's agenda has been to turn the entire federal government into the instrument of a one-party state, says Sidney Blumenthal.
Hugo Chávez: yo, el supremo
If the frequency of elections in Venezuela were the sole criterion of judgment, the country might be said to be suffering from an "overdose of democracy" - as Paraguay's president, Nicanor Duarte, put it in mid-March 2007 (in what was intended as a compliment). But if the definition of democratic rule includes the checks and balances provided by the separation of powers, Hugo Chávez's government fails to qualify.
First elected in 1998, and re-elected for a second time in December 2006 for a fresh, six-year term, the former army officer used to boast that his 1999 constitution increased from three to five the independent branches of government.
Kurt Vonnegut : a voice for life
Kurt Vonnegut worked through despair to infect a generation of Americans with humanity, says Christopher Bigsby.
Bush besieged
The United States president's response to scrutiny of his administration's behaviour confirms his imperiousness, says Sidney Blumenthal.
Argentina's mirror: the causa Malvinas
2 April 2007 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. With the exception of 3,000 Falkland Islanders, 40 million Argentines and some thousands of Britons, arguably the rest of the world continues to be bemused by the whole issue. What is it exactly that we are remembering this week and for the duration of the seventy-four-day war: a tragic and unnecessary conflict, the justified redemption of national territory, a violation of international law by an illegitimate government, the cleansing of a "dirty war" by a "just war"?
Argentina and Britain: the lessons of war
Argentina’s democracy and commitment to global peace are the most important legacies of the Falklands war, argues Justin Vogler.
For someone born after the Beatles split up, I have surprisingly clear memories of the Falklands/Malvinas war, which started on 2 April 1982 when Argentina's military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri seized the islands, and ended seventy-four days later with the humiliating surrender of the Argentinean forces.
Argentina and the Malvinas, twenty-five years on
The story of how Argentineans have responded to defeat in the Malvinas/Falklands war of 1982 contains a quarter-century of contradictions, says Ivan Briscoe.
The great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, who had been raised to admire gauchos and English gentlemen in equal measure, was gravely aggrieved by the sight of his two favourite nations at war in the south Atlantic. "Two bald men fighting over a comb", was his bitter putdown.
Brazil, the United States and ethanol
Biofuel production could offer Brasilia and Washington a source of partnership rather than of conflict, says Rodrigo de Almeida.
'Guantánamo', Paolo Pellegrin
What is life like at Guantánamo Bay? Photographer Paolo Pellegrin offers a rare glimpse: over 100 photos inside the prison complex, plus audio interviews with human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith and former Camp X-Ray detainee, Moazzam Begg.
Churchillism: from Thatcher and the Falklands to Blair and Iraq
In 1982, Anthony Barnett argued that Britain's decision to wage war with Argentina in the south Atlantic was triggered by its deep political culture. Twenty-five years on, he looks afresh at the entrails.
Hugo Chávez at his peak
The Venezuelan president’s status as Latin America’s leading radical icon is intimately tied to the price of oil, says George Philip.
Democracy in America: the money trap
Politics in the United States is being devoured by the sums needed to finance it, says Godfrey Hodgson.
A ship with no anchor: Bush in Latin America
The lives of north and south Americans are becoming both more intermingled and more unequal. This may be as significant for long-term United States interests as the region’s political polarisation, says Ivan Briscoe.
Hugo Chávez's operatic pursuit of a political "corpse" up and down the Americas provided the principal drama, but the most telling signs of the United States's radically reduced influence in its own landmass came in a more discreet fashion.
The Republican subversion of law
The Bush administration's treatment of United States attorneys is the logical outcome of a long Republican effort to distort the constitutional framework in the interest of partisan consolidation of power, says Sidney Blumenthal.
Mexico: living with drugs
Twenty years and the death or disappearance of tens of thousands were necessary for the Mexican state to seriously consider the challenge launched by organised crime networks that were capable of imposing their law in 40% of Mexican territory. In January 2007 a war, whose outcomes are uncertain, was unleashed against them.
Mexico has a 3,000-kilometre border with a power avid for narcotics. The emergence of keen entrepreneurs willing to feed the gluttony was logical; thus were born the cartels whose feats are immortalised in the Mexican narcocorridos. Two decades ago, in 1987, then president Miguel de la Madrid identified drug-dealing as the main threat to national security. They were resounding words empty of content. Four years later, in 1991, I had a conversation with then attorney-general Enrique Álvarez del Castillo, who minimised the problem and boasted about the enormous strength of the Mexican state. This suicidal listlessness has been the norm and set the stage for the growth of criminality, and the foundation of territorial enclaves which the forces of security were forbidden to enter.
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Democratic Wealth
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Conference coverage from 50.50
Articles exploring the themes of the fourth international Nobel Women's Initiative conference May 28-31. Jennifer Allsopp and Heather McRobie will be reporting for 5050
Articles exploring the themes of the fourth international Nobel Women's Initiative conference May 28-31. Jennifer Allsopp and Heather McRobie will be reporting for 5050
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Vron Ware Up in Arms
Jim Gabour Sunday Comics
James Warner Standing Perpendicular, as books do
Markha Valenta Inter Alia: religion, politics, culture
Paul Rogers on Global security
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