On September 16th, 2015, Chile was hit, yet again, by a strong earthquake. The 8.3 magnitude quake was centered in the northern region of Coquimbo, 285 miles north of the capital and largest city, Santiago, and caused flooding in more southern regions such as Illapel, only 177 miles from the capital. Only five years ago in 2010, Chile was struck by another large earthquake but with much more serious consequences.
On Monday September 21st, Héctor Tobar kicked off the Literary Monday Night Lecture Series presented by Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures with a discussion of his latest book, Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free. His book is the story of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped unground for 69 days in 2010, a story that sparked international interest.
On September 28th, 2015, world leaders met at the UN Headquarters in New York to discuss, among other issues, the mass migration of Syrian and Middle Eastern refugees to Europe. The migration of people from the war torn region of the Middle East has put tremendous strains on European infrastructure, has tested the limits of their foreign policy, and has generated an unprecedented migration crisis. While Europe is bearing most of the brunt of the refugees, other countries like the United States and Brazil have vowed to open their doors to Syrian refugees in the coming years.
La implementación de las reformas de modernización inspiradas en la Nueva Gestión Pública (NGP) provocó efectos positivos, pero también generó algunas consecuencias no deseadas.1 En varios países, las reformas llevaron a una mayor complejidad institucional, debilitaron la capacidad de los gobiernos para resolver problemas ciudadanos y generaron una fragmentación del gobierno al imponer objetivos y metas específicas a cada agencia debilitando la acción coordinada entre ellas.
The growing attention paid to transnationalism that has occurred in the last two decades has enriched scholarly and public understanding of how and why diverse forces connect with each other around the world. It has brought to light the critical ties that exist between and among state and non-state actors on a variety of levels and in a range of geographical, political, and social settings across the globe.
As the devastating consequences of the recent earthquake in Ecuador continue to roll in, it is increasingly evident the depth of destruction that Ecuador faces. On April 16th an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude struck the coast of Ecuador near Muisne, in the province of Esmeraldas. The towns of Manta, Pedernales and Portoviejo were also hit heavily. The capital, Quito, felt the tremors but was less affected.
Trabajo académico sobre la ‘generación de la memoria’ en Chile y Argentina (como el de Steve Stern, 2004: XVIII, o Ana Ros, 2012 ) ha enfatizado el carácter selectivo y la inversión imaginativa en recordar colectivamente un proceso histórico, en particular aquellos relacionados con trauma y sufrimiento social como los vividos en ambos países durante sus respectivas dictaduras.
Until recently, gay marriage in the US was one of the most polarized issues in American culture. But while this matter was at a stand still for so many years in the U.S., Latin America was already opening up to the issue.
This November, Peruvian president Ollanta Humala signed a decree designating a massive area of the Amazon jungle a new national park.1 Sierra del Divisor National Park, whose an area of 5,470 square miles is greater than the United States’ Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks combined, connects two protected areas on either side of it to finally link together the Andes-Amazon Conservation Corridor.2,3 The green corridor now protects 67 million contiguous acres of pris
At the end of September, the International Court of Justice, the primary judicial branch of the United Nations, agreed to take the case between Bolivia and Chile about a border dispute, stating it has jurisdiction over the matter. Since Bolivia ceded territory along the coast to Chile as a consequence of the War of the Pacific and lost access to the Pacific Ocean, relations between the two countries have oscillated between periods of normal and nonexistent diplomatic relations.
