Time to Rein in the Global Arms Trade
Even as the world remains mired in the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, one sector continues to thrive: global arms exports. Mexico is the largest new market.
Archive for 'Regular Columnists'
The Path of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States
Eight years after negotiations began in May 2004, the U.S.Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into force on May 15. Negotiations began together with the four member countries of the Andean Community that are beneficiaries of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which permits the entry of products not traditionally tariff-free into [...]
Dismantling the monoculture mentality
“Young people today are more critical than they were in the seventies,” Adolfo Pérez Esquivel observes, much to the contrary of what the majority of his generation thinks. He was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 during the middle of the Argentine military dictatorship.
South American Fiber Optic Ring
On March 9th, the Ministers of Communication from 12 countries that make up the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR, for its acronym in Spanish) made the decision to build a fiber-optic ring that created a direct connection between countries in the region without relying on the United States. The network will be completed in 18 months and they will begin laying ocean cables between South America, Europe, the United States and Africa.
The Capital of Colombia Says, “Farewell to Arms”
Hanging from City Hall in the center of downtown Bogota is an enormous banner that reads: “To arm or to love?” [Armar or amar], advertising an initiative being carried out by the new administration of democratic leftist mayor Gustavo Petro Urrego. The initiative bans legal firearms from public places in an effort to reduce the number of homicides. The measure is also intended to strengthen the ability of the police to dismantle criminal bands and decommission illegal firearms and other weapons.
High time to demand peace on drugs
The U.S. drug war on neighboring American countries has been going from bad to worse ever since Plan Colombia and Plan Condor began wreaking untold environmental destruction of herbicidal fumigation on the biologically diverse countries of Colombia and Mexico in the 1970s.
Economic Growth with Social Deficit
Statements by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates that Peru doesn’t need international assistance because it is a middle-income country have led Peruvian authorities to take a hard look at the nature of our economic growth.
