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Porfirio Lobo Sosa

Lobo who? You mean wolf? Oooh, I’m scared…

Environment

BRAZIL: Tapajós industrial waterway -- a potential environmental disaster

In early August, the Brazilian government unexpectedly cancelled the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric power station, the largest of a series of major dams planned along the Tapajós River and its tributaries. Indigenous groups…

History

Sarmiento: The Forging of a Racist Ideologue (part 2)

In this second part of our article on the Argentine national hero, we travel with Sarmiento to Africa where he took notes on how the French waged war on the natives to promote white immigration and settlement. The lessons he…

Environment, Society

Transforming Urban Spaces: Guatemala City’s barrancos

“We dream of a green city, an inclusive city, full of squares, full of children. We dream of a fair, walkable, accessible, liveable city. We believe in a greener, happier, more human city.” Urban planners and community gardeners…

LGBT activists in Mexico. Photo credits: Fundación Heinrich Böll.

Human Rights, Mexican

Same-Sex Marriage Becomes Legal in Mexico

On 26 October, Tamaulipas became the last of Mexico’s 32 states to legalise same-sex marriage. Legislators approved the measure to reform the state’s civil code - which previously only recognised marriage as the unity between a…

Ana Victoria's Story - Part 2: Helena

Ana Victoria is an Afro-Colombian biologist who was ordained as the first female Colombian priest of the Anglican church in July 2017 in St Paul Cathedral. After being kidnapped by armed traffickers while she was working with…

Film, Health

COVID STORIES: Fabian, a London Survivor

Fabian Cataño is a London surviver. In 2005 Fabian was badly injured in the 7/7 bombings, but came back from 2 years of rehabilitation to build his cafe in Seven Sisters indoor market. In March 2020 Fabian spent 30 days in ICU…

Being Latin in London - Part 1

We all come with a different story. From the high life of Carlos Acosta and polo players who mingle with royals, to the invisible cleaner working double shifts in city offices so that she can put her children through school back…

Colombia/Venezuela: How Petrol is Fuelling Instability on the Border

The smuggling of petrol and other products from Venezuela is part of daily life in Cúcuta

Human Rights, Politics, Society

EXHALE AND RELEASE: The Story of Colombia’s Diaspora Women

Five years ago Diaspora Woman was founded under the name Truth, Memory and Reconciliation Commission of Colombian Women in the Diaspora. The idea was to bring together Colombian women, from all political and social backgrounds,…

Zapatistas Embark on 'Journey for Life' World Tour

Zapatistas visit UK on voyage to five continents of the world to meet with those building ‘a better world'

Chile: The Right, Victor Jara and a Crucial Plebiscite

According to polls, the majority of the Chilean public favours changing the Pinochet constitution, yet as the Piñera government attempts to repair the economy by rapidly moving the country out of lock-down, the campaign to oppose…

Environment

Colombia’s struggle for sustainable development

The relationship between the natural environment and the armed conflict in Colombia is deeply interwoven and complex. Even following the Peace Accords, the issue of governance is at the root of the environmental challenges…

Mexico: Slim pickings

How does a country like Mexico, with perhaps close to half its inhabitants - some 50 million people- living in poverty, come to produce someone who is by some reckonings the richest man in the world? That is the question the…

Latin Londoner #43: Vinicius de Carvalho, Director, King's Brazil Institute

Born in Barra Mansa, Brazil, Vinicius de Carvalho is Director of University of London’s King’s Brazil Institute. He is also Vice-Dean International for the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s College, and Reader…

Classical Jazz and Folk

Bolivia Clasica

Making her professional debut aged eight years old, a Gold Record aged eleven, and performing at the White House aged twelve, pianist Ana-Maria Vera has remained devoted to chamber music ever since, performing across the globe…

Environment, Film

The Condor and The Eagle

The Condor and the Eagle (2019) is a prize-winning documentary film directed by Sophie and Clément Guerra, about the collective struggle of the Indigenous peoples of North and South America to defend their land and water against…

Health, Literature

“Happiness is a Myth"

In his book 'You are not Meant to be Happy, so stop Trying' Basque psychiatrist Dr Rafa Euba argues that happiness is merely an ethereal ghost that inhabits our brain, not something to strive for. Released in these…

Human Rights, Lifestyle

LATIN LONDONER #8 BIanca Jagger - Style Diva and Human Rights Activist

A ‘one off’, a glamorous Latin American who has poured her passion and pride into doing the right thing; an example of Latin American solidarity personified.

This Latino Week

Protests in Buenos Aires, Brazil Bans fires in the Amazon, Peru's president calls for general election, Bolivian protests, Aztec remains found and voting now open for Los Premios Juventud

No One is Above the Law: an interview with the man investigating Alvaro Uribe

On August 4th former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe was detained by the Colombian Supreme Court, following an investigation spearheaded by human rights lawyer Reinaldo Villalba; the first ever instance of a former president…

Putting the Joy back into Christmas

What is Christmas about? Is it about running around town looking for the best Christmas gift? Most would argue that the season is about- and should be about- family and loved ones, but in reality, it seems we have lost sight of…

Costa Rica: Religious Extremism Becomes Election Favourite

The April 4 runoff vote for president is likely to be won by an evangelical singer

LATIN LONDONER #66 - Diego Soto-Miranda, Barrister

Born in Palmira, Valle, Colombia, in July 2001 Diego Soto-Miranda became the first Latin American barrister to called to the Bar of England and Wales. Growing up with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Type 2) and by a single mum, Diego…

Argentina: Forty years of the ‘Mad Mothers’

April 30 marked the 40th anniversary of the foundation in Argentina of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. Some of them are still searching for their disappeared loved ones.

"They Looked for Them out of Love"

'Abuelas' is a film about a group of ordinary grandmothers who became extraordinary women. Known as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, these women have spent almost 50 years looking for their ‘disappeared’ grandchildren who…

Health

Covid-19 in Latin America – Update 13, 25 August

The incidence of coronavirus and the responses of governments and local communities. Update No.13.

Ana Victoria's Story - Part 4: A Life of Purpose

Ana Victoria is an Afro-Colombian biologist and the first female Colombian Anglican priest. After being kidnapped by armed traffickers while she was working with indigenous communities in the Choco region, she subsequently fled…

Literature, Politics

Retracing Galeano’s Open Veins

‘Gold, Oil and Avocados, A Recent History of Latin America in Sixteen Commodities’ by Andy Robinson is an account of export extractivism in Latin America. Robinson argues that to understand the major political upheavals in Latin…

Joe Biden: Something Different for Latin America?

US Democratic Presidential candidate promises more of the same for Latin America, argues John Washington.

Evo Morales, President of Bolivia

Ana Caistor-Arendar falls under the Aymaran charm of Bolivia’s first indigenous president.

Culture, Human Rights

London's Latin Culture Under Threat

Stefanie Alvarez, who grew up amidst the bustling 'Pueblito Paisa' market, where her mother works, in Seven Sisters, is set on defending the much-loved north London Latin hub from the designs of property developers who…

Film, Human Rights

Río Turbio: women marginalised by the mine

Filmmaker and archivist Tatiana Mazú González sheds light on the role of women in the Río Turbio miner’s struggle