Top Ten Artists of Canción Social
Some of the most beautiful melodies and inspiring music ever to come out of Latin America were part of the Canción Social movement of the 1970s and 1980s. As democratic and revolutionary movements were being ruthlessly crushed,…
Top Ten Most Common Misconceptions about Latin America
Good dancers? Latin Lovers? Revolutionary guerrillas? You might have watched too many soap-operas or just followed rumours but if you want to check your prejudices about Latin America and the Latinos, here are 10 common…
Latin America's most Influential Feminists
There are many magnificent female figures around the world who have fought for equality and justice, not just for fellow women, but for all those who are deprived of basic human rights. He we salute ten Latinas who have defied…
Ten things you should know about...El Día de los Muertos
Although celebrated around the same time as Halloween, Día de los Muertos is very different from the festivity made popular by Americans. It is all about getting the family together and celebrate loved ones who passed away. The…
Colombia: Starbucks Meets its Match
Starbucks's most recent expansion plan has taken them to Bogota, Colombia. How has the arrival of the coffee giant affected the market?
Uruguayan Elections 2014: Mujica's farewell
As Brazilian elections continue to dominate the Latin American press, another presidential race is taking place over the border in Uruguay. With Jose Mujica unable to run for this term, he leaves behind a political landscape…
Aécio Neves: The Underdog in Brazil's General Election
Aécio Neves is the presidential candidate for PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) but from the start never showed much promise to beat the current president Dilma, who is hoping for re-election. Despite his success in…
Venezuela: A Legacy In Jeopardy
The Chavez legacy is omnipresent in Venezuelan society. The Bolivarian revolutionary re-drafted the education system and even built a new city in the northern state of Vargas. However, the administration of Nicolas Maduro is…
Marina Silva: The Wild Card of Brazil’s Presidential Race
Since the tragic death of Brazil’s opposition candidate Eduardo Campos in a plane crash on the 13th August, his ex- running partner and replacement Marina Silva has shocked the world by taking Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) from…
Correa's Quest for Longevity in Ecuador
On the eve of his inauguration in 2013, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa explicitly stated he would not seek re-election in four years’ time. Now, Ecuador’s Congress has proposed legislation to abolish the limit on the…
Dilma's Dilemmas: On the Road to Re-election
With the first round of Presidential elections in Brazil coming up October 5th, how have World Cup protests and the recent death of opposition Socialist candidate Eduardo Campos on the 13th August affected Dilma Rousseff’s re-…
SPAIN'S CULTURAL ARMADA IN LONDON
You'd have to be deaf not to notice the huge influx of Spaniards to London in recent years. Nowhere was it more evident that at this year's Latin US Awards, which witnessed a huge Spanish participation and success. Here…
LATIN LONDONER #14 Carlos Cruz - Union Leader
Carlos Cruz is Union Learning Organiser in United Migrant Workers Education Project (UMWEP), which is a non-profit organisation that provides support and informal education to migrant workers in Great Britain. His inspiring…
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.
LATIN LONDONER #5 Katya Torres de la Rocha - Entrepreneur
Mexican born Katya Torres de la Rocha, is the CEO of www.mexgrocer.co.uk. which sells authentic Mexican food groceries and at 40 years old was voted Business Personality of the Year by both the public and the judges. Here is her…
The Bogotá Mayor Scandal - separating the politics from the rubbish
Mayor Gustavo Petro's sacking late last year caused public protest and political a political storm. Nevertheless, on the 13th January, the Inspector General confirmed the decision and Petro's cause seemed to be lost,…
Haitian Thinking Girls in Search of School
A group of Haitian nuns are launching a revolutionary post-disaster reconstruction project
Latino Living in Chicago and London
In the space of 10 years, a once bustling Latino immigrant community in Chicago has been replaced with boutiques and bars and a clearly whiter demographic. Those that gave Pilsen the flavour that attracted the property…
The Power of Refusal
Despite harassment and assassinations after declaring themselves neutral to Colombia’s armed conflict, The San José Peace Community, a group of brave rural farmers, have proved to be an inspiration for farming communities around…
The Young Face of the Old PRI?
Now the PRI have been given a second chance by the Mexican public, after its 71-year authoritarian rule, are they proving to be the same old dinosaurs?
Allende’s Children
40 years after the coup that changed Chile, Pinochet’s exiles around the world have inspired a new generation in the fight for justice and equality. There is no better example than the Navarrete family who came to the UK…
“It is only a question of time.” The Last Days of Salvador Allende – an insider’s story
Isabel Camus worked for Chile’s nationalized copper company and was a close aide of Salvador Allende. In the days leading up to the coup in 1973, Isabel travelled to Europe to try to counteract a big legal operation mounted by…
“Che had the voice of a brother”
Ciro Bustos was Che Guevara’s right-hand man in Argentina and survivor of Che’s Bolivia campaign. Once accused of betraying Che, in his new book ‘Che Wants to See You’ Ciro relates what really happened and his life beside the…
For As Long As It Takes
The story of the men who have been camped on Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo for two and a half years
Screaming for Justice
A Chilean brought up in Britain returns home to find that little justice has been achieved for Pinochet's victims, despite four years of a president, Michelle Bachelet, who was tortured under the dictatorship of General…
Argentina's strange brand of nationalism
Argentine nationalistic fervour rests on symbol and myth. This can be impossibly romantic – or eerily macabre. We look at the strange phenomenon of Argentine national fervour from Perón to the present day
Confessions of a Coolhunter
Amaranta Wright was hired by Levi's to travel through Latin America, befriending teenagers and reporting their ideas, hopes and aspirations. As time passed, the more sinister and divisive aspects of what she was being asked…
Argentina's Bi-Centenary: Something to Celebrate?
As several South American countries celebrate 200 years of independence, Nick Caistor gives a view from Argentina.
Richard Gott on Argentina's Bi-Centenary Celebrations
Renowned for his critical-thinking 'people's histories' of Latin America, the UK's most authoritative Latin Americanist - author of 'Land Without Evil' and 'Cuba: A New History' - explores…
Patrick Rice
The Irish Priest who became one of Latin America's most committed and loved Human Rights activists. He dedicated his life to the defence of human dignity and to the hope of a better world
... Latin American Revolutionaries
1. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara – Ask anyone to name a revolutionary and, male or female, the word Che will ooze dreaminly from their lips. The straggly-haired, wispy-bearded, implausibly handsome Argentine hero of the Cuban revolution…
... Bogotá
Like strangling puppies or bankers’ bonuses, bullfighting does not enjoy a good press in the UK. Yet here and now in Colombia, it’s fashionable. As a resident of Bogotá’s La Macarena barrio, I could hardly be nearer to the…
The Roma Gypsies of Colombia
Hazel Marsh celebrates the community that is conspicuously ignored by Latin American history books and modern day media.
2012 and The End of the World as we know it… Mayan Prophecy or Hollywood Hoax?
Based on the ancient Mayan prophecy, the recent Hollywood blockbuster 2012 depicts the imminent end of the world. How much of it relays truth as the Mayans saw it and, more importantly, what did the Mayans know that we don’t?