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Venezuelan Government Announces Disarmament Plan — Again

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro launched a nationwide disarmament program in Caracas over the weekend as the head of state tried to cap the alarming rates of violence endemic in his country, which has the second-highest homicide rate in the world behind Honduras.

The plan, announced on September 20 — International Day of Peace — will see the Venezuelan government establish a $47 million fund to help establish 60 centers where citizens can voluntarily surrender their firearms.

Despite passing a law last June to restrict gun sales only to members of the military and security forces, effectively outlawing civilian possession of guns ­— being caught with a firearm in Venezuela can land you with up to 20 years in prison — firearms are still a major cause of death in the country.

Will Brazil-style protests spread throughout Latin America?

Ro de Janeiro, Brazil – 24/06/2013 – as published by The Christian Science Monitor.  By Olivia Crellin and Steven Bodzin RIO DE JANEIRO; AND SANTIAGO, CHILE — Across the Americas, and even at home in Brazil, many were surprised by the quick surge in protests that brought millions to the streets in 80 cities across […] Read more

CELAC Summit Produces Mixed Results

The most controversial outcome of last month’s second CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit in Santiago, following close on the heels of the first EU-CELAC meeting, was the decision in Santiago to appoint Cuban President Raúl Castro to the chairmanship of the 33-member regional body. Castro, who will be splitting the two-year term with his Costa Rican counterpart, Laura Chinchilla, could not resist several pointed remarks aimed at the United States. He decried the presence of multinational companies in the region and the U.S.’ continued possession of Puerto Rico. The 81-year-old leader’s message was clear, however:

Chile’s Tax Reform: An Answer to Education Woes?

Just like the cueca (Chile’s national dance that will be on full display during Independence Day celebrations this weekend) Chilean politicians were running round in circles last week over controversial tax reform legislation to overhaul its protested education system. The bill, which will increase education-allocated government revenue by $1.23 billion, originally did not clear the Senate—where it was rejected on August 28 by a vote of 6 yeas, 19 nays and 7 abstentions. The legislation had included a welcomed increase of the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent. But it also included controversial measures, including a 2-to-5-percent tax decrease—compared to 2011—for the top income-earners in Chile as well as incentives for children in private subsidized schools.

Chile’s Lithium Reserves: The Nationalization-Privatization Battle

Chile has embraced extractive industries as a tool for sustained economic growth, but this relationship does not come without controversy. At the beginning of this month, only one week after the government had announced the winner of its lithium contract, the concession had been scrapped and Sub-Secretary of Mining Pablo Wagner had resigned. Chile is the world’s biggest lithium producer, generating 30 percent of the world’s profits on the sale of raw lithium and sitting on an estimated 23 percent of global lithium reserves—second only to neighboring Bolivia.

Letter from Rio

In Tunisia a flower-seller set himself on fire. In Turkey protesters gathered to protect a local park. Now in Brazil, an increase of 20 cents (£0.90) to the cities’ bus fares has brought tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of 23 major cities, including Rio de Janeiro, in the biggest protests to hit the country in the last 20 years.

“It’s not about the bus fare,” said Rogerio Luiz, a 45-year-old analyst. “We are tired of what is happening to the people: the violence, the corruption, poor healthcare, the high cost of living. We are not getting a service from our government.”

On Monday afternoon around 100,000 people took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Some had just left the office and were dressed in suits, while others in the packed crowd danced to brass bands, draped in Brazilian flags and holding flowers.

But this was no Carnival: this was the moment Brazilians woke up to the poor infrastructure and widespread government corruption crippling their country.

Brazil’s protests: Not the final whistle

AS BRAZIL’S football team beat Italy on June 22nd to secure a place in the Confederations Cup semi-finals, Brazilians were out again on the streets of more than 100 cities. Though the weekend saw more marches than on previous days, the demonstrations were more sparsely attended than earlier protests. Indeed, the weekend seemed almost quiet compared with June 20th, when an estimated 1.5m people took to the streets to protests against ropy infrastructure, poor public services and corruption.

Marijuana Debate Rages in Chile

It’s not just Olympic athletes who live in fear of a drug test ruining their career. Chilean politicians are being threatened with the revival of a bill that would remove politicians from public office if caught using illegal drugs. The legislative hype began last month when Chilean Senator Fulvio Rossi admitted in an interview with Chilean newspaper La Tercera that he smokes marijuana “two or three times a month”—a revelation that shocked his colleagues and delighted a nation of thousands of cannabis users.

‘Dictatorship’ Textbook Controversy

Listen to an interview I did in January 2012 with PRI’s The World based in Boston about Education Minister Harald Beyer’s decision to remove the words “military dictatorship” from children’s history syllabus in Chile.