Weekly Round Up - Stories from the Americas

Submitted by Ana Maria Vidal on 4/12/11

Muchísimas gracias to everyone that joined us yesterday for our first ever Policy Day. The NDN LAPI Board of Advisors and team are very proud to have hosted "Forward Together/Avanzando Juntos/Avançando Juntos – A Conference Looking at the Changing Politics of the Americas”. Remember to check the website again in a few days to watch the conference speeches and discussion panels.

Now, below a couple of cool stories from the Americas that you might have missed while worrying about the government shutdown. Enjoy!

In light of Peru's recent presidential elections, Spanish newspaper El País publised a must-read article on Perú’s persistent social inequality despite its economic success.

Central America will grow by an average of 4 % in 2011 propelled by the Panamanian economy. To read the Infolatam analysis, click here

The Christian Monitor put out an interesting piece on Mexico’s nomination of the first female attorney general. An excerpt below:

If ratified by the Mexican Senate, Morales would be the first woman to hold the male-dominated post – the significance of which would resonate widely in a nation that lags behind the region in terms of gender equality. Mexico places 91 on the World Economic Forum’s 2010 Global Gender Gap Report, one of the lowest rankings in Latin America and only better than Belize, Suriname, and Guatemala.

After much speculation, a family court in Guatemala has approved the divorce of President Alvaro Colom and his wife Sandra Torres. See BBC for full story.

The New York Times takes a look at Suriname’s new phenomenon and/or art on the move: elaborately painted mini-buses. By exploring social and political themes:

...these colorful minibuses gliding through Paramaribo’s streets show a different side of the evolution of this astonishingly diverse South American country. Drivers adorn these “wilde bussen” with hand-painted illustrations of the heroes, outlaws, religious temples and musical subcultures that beguile this nation, home to an ethnic variety that includes Javanese, Indians, Chinese, indigenous groups, mixed-race Creoles and Maroons, descendants of runaway slaves.

“Qaddafi will be my next subject,” said Mr. Bruyning, referring to the embattled Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. “I want to paint him before he is gone".