Latin American Lowdown

  I'm trying to learn more about Latin America. Summarizing news stories about the region is one way to do it. Follow along if you are interested. This is no more than a retirement hobby. This blog is free.  Looking south beyond our borders stirs no end of  useful thoughts. We can see how a big part of the world sees us. It's sobering to realize they don't see us the way we see us. We can learn from that. We can learn about the unending struggle between autocracy and democracy in many countries. That way, we'll know more about the challenges our political system faces. Democracy is under attack here.   We can see the challenges to our economic power that many of us just don't know about. China, not the United States, increasingly looms large in Latin America's future. When my language teacher in Costa Rica said he bought a new car, I was startled to learn that it's Chinese. Maybe that's a silly example. Here's another one: did you know that Brazil...

“Quick Retreat After Troops Storm Palace in Bolivia,” New York Times, June 27, 2024 A coup to topple the government of Bolivia’s democratically elected president Luis Arce fizzled after three hours June 26 when popular support for the top general who engineered it failed to materialize. The general, Juan José Zuñiga, disappeared after an attempted show of muscle in which his security forces occupied the main square of the capital La Paz, a camouflaged tank rammed into a palace door, and soldiers tried to enter the palace. Arce made his way onto the plaza and urged Bolivians to reject the coup. “Long live democracy,” he shouted during a television address. Zuñiga had criticized Arce, a leftist, saying he was trying to install “a true democracy,” not rule by the few. “Our children have no future, our people have no future,” he said. But a general Arce had chosen to replace Zuñiga urged him “not to spill the blood of  our soldiers.” The general is José Wilson Sanchez Velásquez. B...