Americas 360

In July 2021, the Americas have been hit by a variety of extreme weather events, including major heat waves in Canada and the United States and intense tropical storms in Central America. Recent droughts and fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest have killed nearly 2.5 billion trees, greatly hampering its function as a carbon sink. These events, as well as historic droughts in Mexico, Central Am...

The recent discovery of 751 unmarked graves at a former residential school in Saskatchewan, Canada, sent shockwaves throughout the country and brought attention to the country's past and present mistreatment of its indigenous population. While shocking to some, for indigenous peoples across the hemisphere, this discovery is another example of discrimination and unfair treatment stretching back 500...

The first year of implementation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the USMCA, was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shockwaves it sent throughout the region and the world. Difficulties aside, the pandemic also served to reinforce the importance of North America as an economic bloc. Wilson Center Public Policy Fellow Earl Anthony Wayne, former Ambassador of the U.S. to Mexico and...

On Sunday, June 6, voters participated in the largest election in Mexico's history, choosing officials for over 21,000 offices. That same day, Peruvians also went to the polls for the run-off presidential election between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori. In this episode of Americas 360, Alejandro Moreno, Director of Public Opinion Polling at Mexico's El Financiero , and Cynthia Sanborn, a Profes...

 Over the last month, Colombia has erupted in protest, with citizens taking to the streets in frustration over pandemic lockdowns and rising poverty and unemployment, among other issues.  Demonstrations have been mostly peaceful, but some have been marked by extreme violence, extensive property damage, and deadly clashes with the police. Is Colombia a harbinger of things to come elsewhere in Latin...

President Biden took office with the promise that the U.S would return as the global leader on climate, and make climate change a pillar of American foreign policy. Biden's Leaders Climate Change Summit brought together leaders from across the world to discuss the world's most pressing issues relating to climate, and government's commitments to this agenda. Our Wilson Center experts discuss the cl...

In this episode of Americas 360, our Wilson Center experts review the political repercussions faced by President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil stemming from his mishandling of the pandemic, the outcome of recently held elections in Ecuador and Peru , and forthcoming elections in Mexico and tentatively in Canada and why these are so crucial to the hemisphere and beyond.

The economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been severe across the globe, but across the Americas and in other regions, women have suffered disproportionately. The pandemic's effects range from a decline in women's labor force participation, reversing the gains of previous decades, to a surge in gender-based violence during lockdowns. In this episode of Americas 360, Executive Se...

It has been a year since the COVID-19 virus began its deadly spread through the Western Hemisphere. Vaccination efforts are only slowly getting underway, and in some countries have barely begun. Across the Americas, governments have struggled to procure vaccines from multiple public and private sources. Thus far, only Chile can be seen as a vaccination success story. In this episode of "Americas 3...

As Canada looks to restrengthen relations with the United States under the Biden administration and reconsider its role in a Western Hemisphere devastated by COVID-19 and economic disruptions, Pierre Pettigrew, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, joins our experts to discuss the state of U.S.-Canada relations, the upcoming Summit of the Americas, and the role of Canada in Latin America.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt around the world, and Latin America is no exception. IMF lending to bolster COVID-ravaged economies has gone to 21 countries in the region, where the pandemic's impact has been magnified by natural disasters. As countries work to bounce back amid increased viral spread, Alejandro Werner, Director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department,...

The Inter-American Development Bank mounted a momentous effort in 2020 to help Latin America respond to the public health and economic impacts of the pandemic. As the region battles a second wave of the virus that is clouding its recovery prospects for 2021, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the IDB's new president, joins our experts to discuss the IDB strategy for addressing these historic challenges.

On January 6, the day the U.S. Congress met to certify President-Elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, a pro-Trump protest turned violent, overwhelming security, breaching and attacking the U.S. Capitol. Guests José Díaz-Briseño of Mexico's Reforma, Paola De Orte of Brazil's O Globo, Rafael Mathus Ruiz of Argentina's La Nación, and Alejandro Santos formerly of Colombia's Semana Magazine joi...

As the inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden draws near, special guest Dan Restrepo, former Senior Director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council under President Obama, joins our experts for a second episode to discuss Biden's potential plans and policies for the Americas, with a focus on Canada, Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina.

As Latin America prepares for a new U.S. administration, special guest Dan Restrepo, former Senior Director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council under President Obama, joins us to explore the potential hemispheric priorities for President-elect Joseph Biden, including migration, climate, and COVID-19 support. Additionally, Cynthia Arnson, Director of the Wilson Center's...

With Hurricanes Eta and Iota smashing into Central America only two weeks apart, countries in the region are dealing with widespread devastation. Special guests Gina Kawas Arita of Honduras, a Wilson Center-Vidanta Foundation Fellow, and Carlos Fernando Chamorro of Nicaragua's El Confidencial join our experts to discuss the scale of the destruction, its implications for migration and the spread of...

Most leaders in the Americas, with the notable exceptions of the Mexican and Brazilian presidents, quickly recognized Joe Biden as the U.S. president-elect and began planning for major changes to U.S. policy in the region. In this episode of "Americas 360," our experts, and special guests Ernesto Londoño of The New York Times and Ana Paula Ordorica of Televisa, examine perceptions of the election...

In this episode, our experts review the consequential outcome of Bolivia's presidential election, discuss Chile's plebiscite on writing a new constitution, and check in on Justin Trudeau's shaky hold on the premiership and the new bedfellows keeping him in charge.

Research shows Hispanic Americans are more likely to identify as Hispanic or Latino rather than Latinx, a term introduced to be more inclusive and non-gender-specific. For Hispanic Heritage Month, we welcome special guest Mark Hugo López of the Pew Research Center to discuss the origins and rise of Latinx. Our experts step aside to welcome a group of young Latino professionals to discuss how the L...

The 2020 U.S. Election will be the first time that Latinos will be the largest non-white demographic in the electorate. In this episode, our experts and guest Sabrina Rodriguez, Trade Reporter at Politico, discuss Latino voters in the United States, the differences within this demographic and key policy priorities, and how political campaigns are working to earn the Latino vote, including the use...

How serious a threat is disinformation and freedom of expression infringement to democracy in the Americas? In this episode, our experts and guest Nina Janckowicz, the Wilson Center's Disinformation Fellow, discuss the origins of disinformation, its pernicious role throughout the COVID-19 crisis and how to sustain and build institutions to mitigate its effects.

COVID-19 has upended school systems and worsened academic disparities throughout the hemisphere. Governments are scrambling to cobble together remote learning programs, including in regions where few students have laptops or tablets and many lack internet access. In this episode, our experts and guest Gabriel Sánchez Zinny, the former education minister for the Province of Buenos Aires, discuss ba...

Even in normal times, countries in the Americas have struggled to contain corruption, including in the vulnerable public health sector. The coronavirus has amplified this challenge, given snowballing demands for medical equipment and services, and the urgent need to ramp up public spending to support sputtering economies. On today's episode, we ask our experts and guest Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair...

COVID-19 is challenging Latin America's fragile democracies in many ways, including the region's capacity to hold safe and fair elections. As the region struggles to contain the world's worst outbreak, several countries have postponed elections, while others have muddled through. To discuss how governments should approach elections during a pandemic, we speak to our experts and to  Daniel Zovatto,...

Last week, in the first foreign trip of his presidency, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump. To help make sense of the visit, our experts and a special guest, Mexico Institute Global Fellow and Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan, discuss the state of bilateral relations, the significance of the...