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The Environmental Consequences of Privatizing Mexico’s Oil
The Mexican government’s decision to expropriate the country’s oil in 1938 was sparked by uprisings tied to the labor and environmental abuses of foreign companies. If the state-run energy company is...
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What Happened to Mexico? An Interview with Anabel Hernández
Over the last decade, as many as 100,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug-related violence. The fighting is sustained by consumer demand for drugs and guns from the United States, but for most...
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Claiming Space on the Mexican Left
In late September Mexico was caught between two destructive tropical storms.The metaphor should not be taken too far, but Mexican public life is also under the influence of multiple and contradictory...
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Teachers, Education Reform, and Mexico’s Left
Mexican leftists have flocked to support teachers’ unions in their protests against proposed education reforms. But by overlooking the unions’ undemocratic features and lack of popular support, the...
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Charity or Justice? Pope Francis Revisits Liberation Theology
Under Pope Francis, the Vatican has shown sympathy for a radical Catholic tradition. But Francis sidesteps liberation theology’s most revolutionary ideas. Continue Reading…
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The End of the Drug War—Or a New Cartel of Cartels?
This summer, Mexico’s four major cartels signed a pact of alliance. Is this a sign that they’re weakening—or are we entering a new era of state–cartel cooperation? Continue Reading…
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Mexico On the Brink
Why, after nearly a decade of drug war violence, police incompetence, judicial impunity, and official corruption, have Mexicans suddenly taken to the streets to demand political change? And can Peña...
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Narcos Anonymous
In a twisted parallel to the country’s long tradition of masked luchadors, Mexico’s cartel leaders have carved out their own traditions of anonymity. Continue Reading…
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What Does El Chapo’s Escape Mean for the Mexican Drug Trade?
El Chapo’s escape shows the Sinaloa Cartel still has extraordinary financial and political clout. Benjamin T. Smith explores the effects his newfound freedom might have on trafficking and violence in...
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The Anarchist Spirit
Many popular movements around the world today oppose hierarchy and embrace direct democracy. This is a spirit that we should applaud and help to flourish.Continue Reading…
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The Two Lefts of Jorge Castañeda
Jorge Castañeda speaking at the CAF-OAS Inter-American Dialogue Conference in Washington, D.C., September 5, 2013 (Juan Manuel Herrera / Organization of American States / Flickr) In 1981, as revolution...
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Not Just Trump: A Brief History of U.S. Hostility Toward Latin America
Donald Trump’s statements about migration and foreigners should not be dismissed as an anomaly of primary season politicking. From a historical perspective, they express broadly shared although largely...
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Big Philanthropy Takes the Bus
In 2002, Royal Dutch Shell’s grant-making arm set out to influence transportation policy in developing countries. Initial “market testing,” the Shell Foundation itself has said, revealed that a program...
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Latinos and the New American Majority
Since the 1980s—dubbed the “Decade of the Hispanic”—every major election cycle brings the breathy declaration that the Latino vote will be decisive in selecting the next U.S. President. But after...
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Booked: Our Fellow American Revolutionaries
In her new book, Our Sister Republics, Caitlin Fitz exhumes a forgotten moment in the history of the Americas, a time when residents of the newly formed United States came to see Latin Americans as...
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The Spanish-Speaking William F. Buckley
Buckley’s seldom-acknowledged fluency in Spanish shaped his worldview—including his admiration for dictators from Spain to Chile and beyond.Continue Reading…
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Why Protecting Journalists is Critical for Mexico’s Democracy
Javier Valdez was the sixth journalist murdered in Mexico so far this year. What will it take for his killers to see justice? Continue Reading…
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Unleashing the Military on Mexico’s Drug War
2017 was Mexico’s deadliest year on record—and a new law deepening the military’s role in law enforcement threatens only to make things worse.
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A New Hope for Mexico?
Andrés Manuel López Obrador is hardly the demagogue of his critics’ imaginations. The more relevant question is: if he becomes Mexico’s next president, will he actually bring the changes the country...
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¿Una nueva esperanza para México?
Andrés Manuel López Obrador no es el demagogo que imaginan sus adversarios. Si se convierte en el próximo presidente de México, la pregunta más relevante es: ¿podrá llevar a cabo los cambios que el...
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