When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital MagazineNEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Economy

In Brazil, A New Gambit In 5G Battle Between U.S. And China

A recent tender for Brazil's 5G network once again highlighted the growing rivalry between the two superpowers. Now, the Biden administration may even have a formula to free countries of their debt to Beijing.

Competition between countries to acquire and sell cutting-edge technologies could become an intractable part of the economic rivalry pitting China against the United States.

Competition between countries to acquire and sell cutting-edge technologies could become an intractable part of the economic rivalry pitting China against the United States.

Farid Kahhat

-Analysis-

LIMA — Competition between countries to acquire and sell cutting-edge technologies could become an intractable feature of the economic rivalry pitting China against the United States. One crucial part of that conflict would be over the fifth generation of communication technologies — known as 5G, which allows information transfers 10 times faster than the current 4G.

We already have examples of how the Superpower rivalry could unfold in Latin America. The most notable case recently (for the size of the market concerned) was the tender put out for Brazil's 5G network. The process had to be postponed due to disagreements between the U.S. and Brazilian governments around a possible role here of the Chinese firm Huawei.


The U.S. says Chinese technology firms are obliged by law to share information with their country's intelligence services, which implies a security risk for others in the operating market (in Germany's case, the U.S. threatened to stop sharing intelligence information with that country if it allowed Huawei to bid and take part in its 5G tenders).

An excuse to exclude

While the security concerns are not unfounded, the fear was that they would become an excuse to impose protectionist policies (which the last president, Donald Trump, threatened more clearly, saying the U.S. could not allow itself to fall behind in this powerful sector of the future). The British government said that to allay security concerns, Huawei merely had to be excluded from certain sensitive areas of 5G, rather than the entire process.

Brazil's tenders indicate that in contrast with the Trump administration, the Biden administration is more amenable to such arguments. In the Brazilian tenders, for example, the cost of excluding Huawei would have been prohibitive, as Huawei provided bidding firms with more than half their wireless networks.

The transaction formula was to have a separate web, excluding Huawei, for Brazilian government agencies. It wasn't a formal or official exclusion, relying rather on corporate governance conditions, which stock market-listed firms must meet if they wished to bid (and Huawei does not).

Customer selects iPhone shell with the image symbolize Rio de Janeiro and Brazil in a newly opened apple store in a Village Mall of Barra da Tijuca district in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,

A recent tender for Brazil's 5G network once again highlighted economic rivalry between the U.S. and China.

Xinhua/ZUMA

Will China accept a "hostile" formula?

While it may be early to hail this as the winning formula, the Brazilian government's transactional condition has so far prompted no objections from either China or the U.S. However, the same may not happen with Ecuador. According to Britain's Financial Times, the U.S. government may help it pay off debts to China in return for excluding Chinese firms from its telecommunications networks.

This is such an obviously political agreement that the head of the paying entity, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Adam Boehler, even called it an innovative model for excluding China from countries like Ecuador.

But would China accept such a "hostile" formula, in contrast with the Brazilian model, where Huawei was ultimately deprived of a relatively small piece of a big business?

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Sexual Violence In War: Listening And Healing — And Never Again

Three women who were victims of sexual violence during the Colombian Civil War recount their stories of struggle and survival. They speak up in the hopes that the judiciary will open a new case to bring justice to them and many more survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated during the conflict.

A gloved, raised fist contrasts against feminist artwork on a memorial monuement

Feminists protest against Colombian president Ivan Duque Maraquez and the police brutality that killed at least 45 during demonstrations in Bogota, Colombia on May 28, 2021.

Camilo Pardo Quintero

BOGOTA – Jennifer, Ludirlena and Diana suffered a living death at the hands of their aggressors. It was their self-love and resilience that saved them, after experiencing sexual violence during the nation’s civil war.

The Colombian government forgot about these women. But now, they are champions in a battle towards justice and dignity. With different perspectives, they manage to find a connection, something that will unite them forever: advocating so that no one else experiences what they endured.

All sides in the war perpetrated sexual violence. But in the case of these three women, it was specifically the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and United Self-Defences of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary groups who exerted power over their bodies, through the cruelty of their crimes.

These were not isolated incidents and, to the shame of our society, they remain a massive, forgotten outrage.

According to official records, during the war in Colombia there were 15,760 victims of sexual violence. Of that total, 61.8% were women, and another 30.8% were young girls and teenagers. Unfortunately, underreporting plays a significant role in these numbers. Organizations such as the Network of Women Victims and Professionals, the collective Focal Groups - Men Victims of Sexual Violence and the British organization All Survivors Project estimate that the real number may be as much as three times higher.

The three protagonists in our story show how armed conflict has marked the lives of thousands of women in Colombia. They are three voices among many that have come together to demand the opening of a "macro-case," or investigation into sexual violence through Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which would uncover the patterns of sexual and gender-based crimes among armed groups which have devastated entire communities.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital MagazineNEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest