Latin America & the Caribbean

Photo: Inauguration of Gustavo Petro as president of Colombia in 2022. Source: Twitter Samantha Power, USAID.

Gustavo Petro's Election Promises a Major Change in Colombia

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The leftward shift in South America that gained momentum in 2021, with right-wing politicians being worsted in presidential elections in Peru, Chile and Honduras, continues its sweep in 2022.

Colombia, famous for its coffee and the novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has long remained under right-wing regimes that enjoyed a cosy equation with Washington. Some of these regimes were terrible dictatorships which forced people like Marquez, best known for his One Hundred Years of Solitude, to live in exile out of fear of being killed by state-sponsored mafia elements.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 14 August 2022

Photo: (Left) Álvaro Alberto, Brazil's first nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) concept, courtesy of Serviços e Informações do Brasil; (Right): US Navy Virginia-class SSN, courtesy of General Dynamics Electric Boat Public Affairs, Creative Commons Licence 040730-N-1234E-002)

Nuclear Submarines and The Non-Proliferation Treaty: Brazil Gets a Jump on Australia?

By Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) — Originally scheduled for April-May 2020, due to postponements because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) finally convened in these turbulent times at the United Nations in New York on 1 August and will conclude its deliberations on 26 August.

NPT review conferences are held every five years to assess the implementation of the NPT across its three "pillars": nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 August 2022

Photo: Floods in Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil in December 2021. Credit: Camila-Souza-GOVBA / WMO Report

Climate Change and COVID-19 Playing Havoc in Latin America and the Caribbean

Viewpoint by Mario Cimoli

The writer is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — The Latin America and the Caribbean region is home to some of the widest biodiversity on the planet. From Caribbean marine and coastal oases to the Amazon rainforest and down to the southern-most reaches of Patagonia, the region is filled with natural wealth.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 29 July 2022

Image: Flags of CARICOM countries. Credit: TELESUR

CARICOM’s Policy “Coordination”: Successes, Failures and Limitations

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretary-General Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti has called for unified positions by the 79-member grouping ahead of several international meetings, namely, the 77th United Nations General Assembly in September, the World Health Summit 2022 in Germany in October as well as the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCCC COP 27) to be staged in Egypt in November and the Convention on biological diversity COP 15 in Montreal, Canada in December.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 28 July 2022

Photo: Submarino Nuclear Brasileiro (SNB) "Alvaro Alberto" SN10, the future SSN of the Brazilian Navy. Source: Navy Recognition.

Safeguards — Brazilian Nuclear Submarine

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is an Ambassador, former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affair, and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) — The public curiosity about the Brazilian nuclear-powered submarine, named “Alvaro Alberto” in honour of a nuclear research pioneer in Brazil, has raised interest in the special verification procedures applicable to the project. This is the first time that a country that does not possess nuclear weapons, such as Brazil, decides to activate such procedures for the fuel to be used in a conventionally armed submarine powered by a nuclear reactor. It is thus important to review the legal provisions of the relevant international instruments, as well as the obligations assumed by Brazil in this field.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 07 July 2022

Photo: Álvaro Alberto, Brazil's first nuclear-powered attack submarine.

The Brazilian Nuclear Submarine

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is an Ambassador, former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affair, and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Last July 8 the Director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, informed the Board of Governors that Brazil had decided to start consultations on the special safeguards procedures to be applied to the nuclear materials that will be used in the country’s first nuclear-powered submarine.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 15 June 2022

Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian Rebel

By Marc Raboy

Marc Raboy (http://www.marcraboy.org/) is a writer, journalist, and emeritus professor at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This article is based on his latest book, “Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian Rebel”, published in April 2022 by Oxford University Press.

MONTREAL, CANADA — June 17, 1976, was a brisk winter’s day in Mendoza, the capital of Argentina’s wine country.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 04 June 2022

Photo: The British destroyer HMS Coventry (D118) underway in the Atlantic Ocean, circa in 1981. In the background is the U.S. Navy frigate USS Bagley (FF-1069). Wikimedia Commons.

Malvinas, Falklands and the Lines on the Map for the United Kingdom

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn

Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. is an ex-diplomat & ALCAP’s Special Adviser for Asia & Africa and Jainendra Karn is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — A recent Tweet by Piers Morgan about the impending and inevitable collapse of the United Kingdom reminded one of the Twitter post made in February 2022 titled “Will British brinkmanship result in Argentina getting Malvinas (Falklands) back in 2023-24?.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 May 2022

Image: Map of the Caribbean from CIA's The World Factbook

Caribbean Foreign Relations and Super-Power Politics of Putin’s Ukraine War

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes

Dr P.I. Gomes is retired Ambassador of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union and former Secretary-General of ACP Group of State, now the Organisation of African, the Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) — Recent events of the Russia-Ukraine war bring in their wake untold upheavals across Europe.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 23 April 2022

Photo: Chilean president Gabriel Boric celebrates following his election victory in December 2021. His rise to power and prospective victories for leftist candidates in key elections in Latin America in 2022 have fuelled talk of a new 'pink tide' of progressive politics in the region. (Image: Fotografoencampana / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Can Latin America’s New ‘Pink Tide’ Turn Green?

This article was issued by the Diálogo China and is being republished under the Creative Commons licence.

Viewpoint by Felipe Betim

SÃO PAULO, Brazil (IDN) — Much like the early 2000s, Latin America could be on the brink of a new “pink tide”—but one that is awash with another colour. Gabriel Boric won Chile’s presidential elections last December promising “development compatible with the environment”.