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…
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?
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
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?
In Colombia, Who Needs to Invent a False Victim, President Santos?
While Santos enjoys an official visit to the UK, his inflamatory remarks about a group of human rights lawyers who have worked for years to end impunity in Colombia, has left them fearing for their lives in Bogotá. What does this…
Gay Marriage Legalized in Argentina Despite Huge Opposition From Church
On Thursday the 15th of July, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize gay marriage, granting to gay and lesbian couples the same legal rights and benefits that heterosexual couples have traditionally…
Making their Mark - the rise and rise of The Latino-Brits
First generation Latino-Brits are bubbling under the surface and seeping through into mainstream British cultural life.
The Change in the Latino Vote
Once thought of as natural Republicans, Barack Obama captured the hearts of Latinos in the last US election. But the words 'American Dream' are no longer enough, they want help to achieve it. In the run up to the 2012…
The Uribe Legacy: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
In his eight years as president Álvaro Uribe changed Colombia. But was it all for the best?
The President and the Miners
Chilean president enjoys his moment in the spotlight after rescuing ‘the 33’. But beneath the media coverage he is in danger of burying some more complex issues.
¿Viva la Revolución? What happened to Mexico’s Zapatista Movement...
“Excuse the inconvenience, but this is a revolution,” proclaimed Subcomandante Marcos on the 1st January 1994. But in 2010, is it just a mild inconvenience that the government and media readily ignore, or is the Zapatista…
Los Niños Vascos and The English Lord
In 1937, as Bilbao was being bombarded, 4,000 Basque children arrived in Southamption, thanks to some extraordinary individuals who defied the British government's official policy of appeasement (which ultimately contributed…
Modern Spain: Stylizing the Stereotypes?
Spain is a country that attracts strong stereotypes. Images of wife-beating machos, blood thirsty sports and crazy drivers may have dissolved since the years of Franco isolation, but siestas, fiestas and Flamenco is still what…
Sarmiento: Argentine National Hero or Ideologue of White Settler Racism?
2011's Latin American bi-centenaries saw governments celebrating their national heroes again. In Argentina, a broader process of revising its recent 'Dirty War' history has made many eager to revisit their more…
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…
Mexican Milk
Indigenous culture is used to market the country at home and abroad, so why is it that only white faces appear on Mexican adverts?
Latinos in London Part 2-The Liberation of being Latin in London
Lazy, violent and corrupt?…it’s sometimes tiring countering the contantly reinforced stereotypes of Latin America in the British media, but if we don’t do it who will? In the second part of our Latin London identity series we…
And will God look favourably this time?
Having withstood years of international criticism, Chavez may need a bit of divine favour in his closest election battle yet.
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…
Revolutionary People - A Brief History of Latin Americans in London
From Francisco de Miranda and the revolutionaries of the Wars of Independence to Ossie Ardiles and the new UK-Latin music pioneers of today, Latin Americans in London have always been trailblazers and visionaries. Forging new…
Would Oil be a Blessing or a Burden? The Cubans Sure as Hell Want to Find Out...
With speculation in the air and a Chinese drilling rig poised off its coast, Hugh O'Shaughnessy visits the island and talks to Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban Parliament, about the country's hopes and fears.
Chavez' Victory - A Point Proven?
Hugh O'Shaughnnessy reports from Caracas on an amazingly good electoral process and how cold warriors in some of London´s progressive papers who have been dissing Chavez as a dictator are having to eat their words.
Not So ‘Pura Vida’
Sun and sea yes, but sex tourism, in Costa Rica? Behind the image of the Caribbean’s cleanest and most civilised tourist hotspot, lies a murky world, fed by foreign sex tourists, of exploitation and poverty.
Argentina finds a New Kind of Meat to Export
They're on the television all the time, they're in the magazines, they're on the arms of footballers, politicians and businessmen in all the smart restaurants and nightspots of Buenos Aires.........they are the new…
Cheap Frills Better than No Frills for Argy women
In post-crisis Argentina, middle class women have been forced to lower their lingerie standards.