Monthly Archives: September 2021

edited by William I. Robison https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/lapa/48/6 Debate is heating up among scholars over the ongoing crisis in Nicaragua. For some, the Ortega-Murillo government is a continuation of the 1980s Sandinista revolution while for others it is a corrupt and nepotistic regime that has promoted capitalist expansion while carrying out harsh repression against its opponents. This symposium brings together 10 scholars who debate the crisis at a time when it is generating deep fissures among the left and progressives in and out of the academy. This issue also includes two commentaries on the July 11, 2021 protests in Cuba as well as nine additional articles on a variety of topics including indigenous movements, agriculture, precarious work, religion, and film as well as a number of book reviews.

by Steve Ellner LAP’s Political Report 1459 titled “The Washington Consensus Arrives in Brazil,” takes an uncritical look at Jair Bolsonaro and his policies. At first glance, the article appears to be neutral and the authors, Marc Castillo and Sírio Sapper, impartial analysts. Neither of these initial impressions are the case and indeed elsewhere both authors have defended the policies of the Bolsonaro government. A careful reading of Political Report 1459 reveals that the article, albeit for the most part subtly, justifies Bolsonaro’s policies and his presidency. At the same time, there is absolutely nothing in it that is at all critical of the Brazilian president. Below I provide quotes from the article which demonstrate the point I am making.Latin American Perspectives correctly does not adhere to a specific political line or ideology, but we are nevertheless on the left. I also believe it is acceptable that we publish articles that fall outside of the left side of the political spectrum or ones that are politically neutral (if such a thing exists). At the same time, we have not over the years published articles that even remotely support the positions of the political right. “Political neutrality” may or may not exist [...]

By: Tony Wood | 30 August 2021Nearly two months after Pedro Castillo’s narrow victory in Peru’s second-round runoff, the new president has only just managed to get his first cabinet appointed. The 73 to 50 vote through which the Peruvian Congress approved the ministers on 27 August came at the end of several weeks of obstruction and outcry from the opposition. This included a prolonged refusal by Keiko Fujimori, the defeated candidate, to acknowledge the result, as well as yet more of the hysterical redbaiting that had marked the presidential campaign. The turbulent weeks since the 6 June election provide a depressingly clear indication of what Castillo can expect in the months (and indeed years) ahead; yet at the same time, they also amply demonstrate the profound dysfunction that brought him to power in the first place.The Peruvian political establishment has in many ways still not recovered from the initial shock of the first round of voting on 11 April. Though the field was crowded, few expected Castillo, the former leader of the teachers’ union and a native of the northern province of Cajamarca, to emerge as the front-runner with 18% of the vote. Still more surprising was that [...]

by Esteban Morales DomínguezAlthough it still causes many prejudices, misunderstandings and challenges, there is no choice but to pay attention to skin color. Above all, in its consideration within the media and national statistics.Cuban society is a multiracial society, or rather, multicolored, mestizo. And that reality has to be registered statistically. Not by handling the Census as a simply numerical matter, but as a cultural demographic one.It is about the fact that color is a legacy of slavery. It is not possible to avoid it, since it has marked Cuban society since its origins.When the Spaniards arrived in Cuba, in 1492, they did it with white credentials and that is how they stayed. Those who came of their own free will did so in search of a fortune, which they often found.But Spain is not White. Colonized by the Arabs for 800 years, it is impossible to consider it as such. Even when the Spanish do not assume that identity.So, the colonizers of our Archipelago were not white. Their power did not consist in being white, but in having arrived with the cross and the sword.They arrived in a territory of indigenous people, of low culture and they only [...]

by Marc Castillo and Sírio SapperAbstractJohn Williamson´s renown paper "The Washington Consensus" while causing controversy is nothing more than basic capitalist tenants.  Brazil has been undergoing a "Washington Consensus" transformation for decades now.  During the last several years this evolution has progressed at a more ambitious pace.  This paper examines the actions and mechanisms that the Bolsonaro administration has undertaken to make free market principles more concrete in Brazil.Keywords:  Free Market Principles, Brazil Economy, Bolsonaro Administration, Brazil, Brazilian PoliticsTHE WASHINGTON CONSENSUS AND BRAZIL: CONTEXTUALIZATIONThe ‘Washington Consensus’ has arrived in Brazil and it is there to stay.  In 1989, US Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady came out with a solution to the immediate debt crisis faced by countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Panama, and Peru among others at the time.  Shaped as a debt refinancing agreement, the initiative proposed extended terms between creditors and debtors under specific requirements to be fulfilled.  Though it is not thought of, several of the economic initiatives used by various Brazilian governments throughout the last several decades have heralded from the famous work of John Williamson called "A Short History Of The Washington Consensus, " these reforms haven given way to privatization and in a [...]