WorldcrunchBorn in Tehran, educated in Britain and France, I have been a freelance translator since the late 1990s.
-OpEd- BOGOTÁ — Father Jorge, dear Pope Francis, less than a month remains before your visit to Colombia. Before Sept. 6, you still have time to make your excuses and cancel. Believe me, you really needn’t expose yourself to a trip that wil inevitably be both a failure and a risk. Colombia is irredeemable. We […]
What kind of a world do we live in, when Turkey can’t even give us a proper coup anymore? Unable to sleep for the summer heat in Valencia, I remember that twisted thought coming to me as the July 15 coup — or at least its broadcast version — was unfolding on the radio. Typically […]
It’s taken a few days to accept, but Cuba’s less-than-ideal WiFi situation may be a blessing in disguise for one Argentine visitor.
Marketing firms are embracing a strategy called ‘femvertising’ to challenge the sexist gender molds of the past. Are they pushing equality for equality’s sake, or just trying to woo consumers?
A Bogotá family invented a system to drain rainwater from any rooftop and store it in an ‘Ekowall’ of plastic bottles.
Until recently, conservation focused mostly on land. But Industrial-scale fishing and massive pollution are spurring interest in protecting the seas.
The response of regional states to the Venezuelan regime’s assault on democracy is a lesson in how to humiliate democracies with your petrodollar clout.
Holding a contested vote to replace parliament with a loyal popular assembly may give Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro a little more power and time. But how long for?
The regional government of Catalonia will hold a controversial independence referendum in October. Opinion is deeply divided in the cities of Lleida And Berga.
Like many in Argentina, psychiatrist Martín Reynoso was raised Catholic. But as time went on, his approach to the modern world began to involve meditation and mindfulness.
A wealth of hidden, unfamiliar fruits could help protect Colombia’s embattled rainforests by luring peasants and settlers away from coca farming.
Scientists have the technology to bring extinct species back to life, give or take a few missing DNA strands. But should they?
Colombian novelist William Ospina had advice for Fidel Castro, and now for Nicolas Maduro. Given the discontent with modern capitalism, Latin America must offer a realistic and democratic alternative.
The Obama administration sought a Cuba policy aimed at helping ordinary Cubans. Trump is keeping most of the policy in place, with one wrong-headed exception.
César Pelli has designed some of the world’s best known skyscrapers. But he writes that the wonder of a beautiful city is collaboration over generations of many talented architects who care about the way people live.
Designers are starting to take global warming into account when planning buildings, particularly in seaside locations like Miami.
Beef is a big deal in Argentina. But in the Casa Rosada presidential palace, people (including the president himself) are now going meat-free. What gives?
In spite of the thousands of miles and cultural distances between Colombia and Japan, Gabriel García Márquez’s masterpiece has become a national treasure among Japanese readers and artists.
Technology is indeed eliminating jobs, but mostly routine tasks that young people spurn. It is also giving people a chance to recycle their working selves into something interesting.
-Analysis- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is still in charge — that much we know. What is less clear is whether he has a stronger or weaker grasp on power after the murky late-night helicopter shooting at the Supreme Court building, and a mob attack on parliament this past week. The brazen assaults on power may […]
Iran’s Islamic regime may have harsh penalties for drug trafficking, but officials are now estimating that the number of “regular drug users’ has doubled in the past six years, from 1.3 million to about 2.8 million. The head of the country’s drug control organization, Parviz Afshar, told Iran’s ISNA news agency that currently “about 2.8 […]
Francis has traveled the world and proven himself to be an able messenger of peace. But so far, he’s avoided his home country, where his unifying spirit is sorely needed.
A project that encourages villagers to protect local river sources is helping revive community life and traditional culture.
A current exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires isn’t just about remembering a great 20th-century artist. It’s about reclaiming him as a national treasure.
Dictators, gangsters and gun-toting guerillas all seem to have a fondness for facial hair — specifically above their upper lips. But why?
The Antarctic, one of the last, unspoiled parts of the natural world, will, like the Amazon, face man’s destructive onslaught unless states take action quickly.
-OpEd- BOGOTÁ — Feminism is an acidic drink, strong, seething and so concentrated that it should be sipped at a pace suitable for each person’s palate. There is no key or magic recipe that makes you a feminist and nobody has the absolute truth on how to most effectively pursue the cause. What is certain, […]
Three men tied the knot in a city-sanctioned ceremony that protects inheritance rights of this self-proclaimed ‘polyamorous’ family.
The great powers seem to be spurning multilateralism and resorting once more to force as a means of pursuing national interests.
-Essay- BOGOTÁ — A theology teacher I knew used to tell me, a mocking grin on his lips, “you’re the last communist left,” to which I would reply, smiling, “and you’re the last evangelist.” In today’s upside-down world of thieving politicians and self-righteous saints, corrupt and holy men, such concepts as communism have lost their […]
BUENOS AIRES — Eduardo Roverano, 61, inherited the family business, a Buenos Aires funeral home founded in 1883 by his great grandfather. “I have vague memories of when the funeral cart was drawn by black horses,” he recalls. “I began working at 15. And it wasn’t a desk job. They sent me to pick up […]
As Venezuela’s leftist regime further tramples its own laws and social-democratic ideals, protesters are reminding us what a popular uprising looks like.
India is a nation both eminently democratic and full of poor people. What can Mexicans learn from changes happening there?
Firms in Argentina are recruiting over-40s for their steady hand and people skills — and their affordability.
U.S. President Trump has changed from a candidate concerned with the economic plight of ordinary Americans, to an imperialist president fascinated by military power.
Colombia may have massive shale oil and gas reserves that could cover the decline in its crude output, but environmentalists are raising alarms.
Just as terrorism in the name of other religions has existed throughout history. We must call evil things by their name if we want to overcome them.
-Analysis- LA PAZ — As it stands now, half of Latin America’s power is generated by hydroelectricity, an energy source that is also of vital importance worldwide, producing more electricity than all renewables combined. Hydropower is especially beneficial for countries that depend on global commodity prices — particularly with regards to oil, natural gas and […]
MADRID — As a freelancer without a fixed salary, I’m rather desperate to buy a studio apartment, something to help ground me in these turbulent times and provide at least some measure of financial security. So far my search has focused on two places: Mexico City and Madrid. The former has a well-established reputation for […]
A Syrian family granted asylum in Argentina has opted to go back home in spite of its calamitous state of their hometown of Aleppo. But things seemed even worse in Cordoba.