WorldcrunchBenjamin Witte is a professional journalist and translator based in Montpellier, France. He spent a decade living and working in Latin America and continues to write about the region for an online journal published by the University of New Mexico, in the US. He also works part time as an editor with Worldcrunch.
You’re hungry and restaurants aren’t serving because of COVID lockdowns, but at least there are always vending machines. Hmmm? What looks tempting from behind that plexiglass?A Snickers bar or a bag of chips? Or maybe a pair of plastic-wrapped triangle sandwiches and a can of Coke? Otherwise, if you’re in the Franche-Comté region of eastern […]
BUENOS AIRES — It’s only now that the news is finally spreading. El Vesuvio, the country’s oldest heladería (ice-cream shop), is no more. Founded in 1902 by the Cocitori family, the legendary Buenos Aires establishment had actually stopped operating shortly before the pandemic began. Its most recent owner was no longer able to keep it […]
Amid a wave of protests against the Paraguayan government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, one unlikely voice — that of a sharp-tongued, silver-haired abuelita (grandmother) — has stood out above the chorus of discontent. One of countless people taking to the streets in the capital Asunción in recent days, the elderly woman has yet to […]
It’s a modern tale with a rich and fragrant whiff of Jonah and the Whale, when a group of Yemeni fishermen made the catch of their lives this week in the Gulf of Aden. After a large, dead whale was spotted floating in the waters of the coast of Yemen, 37 fishermen helped drag it […]
The 18-year-old was doubled over in pain, but her parents thought it was just a case of exam-time nerves. She survived… and then some!
Residents in the far-flung city of Trinidad, Bolivia can rest assured: 1,100 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine were successfully delivered this week, albeit by the most unlikely of means. After being flown into the region on a flight operated by the national airline Boliviana de Aviación, the potentially life-saving cargo was loaded […]
Founded a century (or centuries) ago, these businesses survived world wars and economic depressions. Now the pandemic could close them forever.
A dictator-in-waiting orchestrates a violent assault on the seat of government. Shots are fired. A stunned world watches what most agree is an attack on democracy itself, a rejection of what had long seemed self-evident: that a nation’s health and prosperity depend on an orderly transfer of power from one elected leader to another. Two […]
Tuesday’s deadly explosion couldn’t have come at a worse time for Lebanon, which is also struggling with high inflation, the collapse of its currency and a new wave of coronavirus infections.
-Analysis- PARIS — In his most recent book, Chine, le Grand Paradoxe (China, the Great Paradox), Jean-Pierre Raffarin reminds us that, “the key to diplomacy is reciprocal respect.” Prime minister at the height of the SARS crisis, in 2003, Raffarin was one of the rare foreign leaders to proceed with a scheduled trip to China. […]
PARIS — In diplomacy, there’s always room for talk, even when the window for negotiation seems all but shut. Such is the scenario that Emmanuel Macron faces in wake of the assassination by the United States of Ghassem Soleimani, an act that has kicked up a whirlwind in the Middle East, with consequences that remain […]
More than 25 years after graphic novelist Enki Bilal invented a fictional sport that combines chess and boxing, it is now a very real — and growing — pastime.
VAL D’ARAN — It wasn’t until I’d made may way clear through to other side of the village that I finally crossed paths with another human: A man about my age returning from a walk in the hills with his dog. “The only thing I can tell you is that up along the road, after […]
An interview with Peronist candidate Albérto Fernández, who together with his running mate — former president Cristina Kirchner — is looking to unseat Mauricio Macri.
No, no…not one of *those Yankees! But this lifelong American baseball fan (Milwaukee Brewers was his childhood team) is rediscovering the sport in his adopted home of France.
The crush of migrants trying to flee Venezuela is only part of what makes the border region so chaotic. There’s also a dangerous power struggle between guerillas and criminal gangs.
In the rugged terrain of the Antioquia department, a group of former guerillas recently helped scientists discover 14 new plant and animal species.
“In Japan, white is the color of mourning.” So wrote Samuel French in his play All the Way Home. Or at least that’s the line as I remember it from my high-school theater days. White is also the color that the Brazilian national soccer team was wearing in the infamous “Maracanazo” match, a decisive showdown […]
The people of Rapa Nui (better known as Easter Island) have a proposal: return their pilfered sculptures, and get a hand-crafted replica replacement.
PARIS — Are there pictures? Nowadays, in almost every criminal inquiry, this is the first thing judges and prosecutors ask. “We can’t work without these tools,” says Elisabeth Sellos-Cartel, video-protection officer in the Interior Ministry’s security cooperation delegation. “Big Brother is watching you” is no longer a concept of much concern, it seems, to authorities […]
From Madrid to Cork to Shanghai, some of the most revered old bookshops are closing doors as they face pressure from big chains and e-readers. But our bookworm writer found some small signs of hope.
Less than two decades after divorce was legalized, Chileans have a relatively high rate of retying the knot with their exes.
The outpouring of rage and resentment that erupted in last weekend’s “yellow vest” demonstrations in Paris made headlines around the world. In far-flung Chile, which has had plenty of its own experience in recent years with large-scale, anti-government demonstrations, there was keen interest in the French protesters taking umbrage with leaders who seem out of […]
-Analysis- BOGOTA — Nicaragua is facing its most violent crisis since the 1980s, when President Daniel Ortega first led the country. Between 295 and 448 people have been killed after more than three months of protests and violent crackdown by security forces, according to various rights groups. Ortega himself put the number last week at […]
La Voz“s Aug. 9 front page Deeply disappointing for some. A reason to celebrate for others. After an historic senate vote on Wednesday, Argentina is still “without legal abortion,” the front page of today’s La Voz reads. The high-stakes session played out “as expected,” the Córdoba-based daily reports, with senators voting 38-31 against a bill […]
-Analysis- Months of impassioned public debate, colorful protests and determined counter-demonstrations are coming to a head today in Argentina, where the Senate is set for an historic vote on whether or not to legalize abortion. The high-drama session comes nearly two months after the country’s lower house opted narrowly — following a marathon, 22-hour debate […]
Like an elaborate film set, everything about the place may look real — like a typical 1950s town square, for example, or a medieval “bastide” (fortified village). And there are certainly some real aspects to it. The cinema really does show films. The coffee shop really does serve hot drinks. But it’s also a carefully […]
-Analysis- Many of the Colombian players broke down in tears after coming up just short in last night’s World Cup match against England. Still, they can hold their heads high, and not just because of the valiant effort they put forth. The “truth” of the matter is they got robbed — at least according to […]
PAU — Not far from this southwestern French city, up in the snow-capped Pyrénées mountains that tower in the distance, there are bears. Still, even the most intrepid human adventurer would be hard pressed to ever spot one. Researchers believe there are only about 40 of the omnivores in the entire, 490-kilometer long Pyrénées range, […]
-Analysis- Nicaragua’s crafty caudillo, Daniel Ortega, has weathered the storm — for now at least. But his grip on power is certainly not what it was before the dramatic developments of the past two weeks. The student-led protests that erupted on April 18 against changes to the country’s pension system left 46 dead after a […]
Asian long-horned beetles in North America. Tropical parakeets in the capital cities of Europe. The plague of frogs Bart accidentally unleashed that time the Simpsons visited Australia. Yes, invasive species are a growing problem in our globalized world. And yet there’s something absurdly uncommon about the animal invaders that, over the past quarter-century, have made […]
Bolivia’s beaming president, as pictured (right) on Wednesday’s front page of Tarija-based daily El País, has good reason to smile: He’s just been cleared to seek reelection indefinitely. Evo Morales, 58, was first elected in 2005 following a period of upheaval that saw four presidents come and go in less than five years. Once in […]
-Analysis- A political neophyte who launched his presidential campaign by railing against Mexican “rapists’ and “murderers’ was never supposed to win, especially against a seasoned stateswoman backed by her party’s establishment. Add to that unthinkable episodes, like his mocking a disabled reporter or the revelation of the infamous “grab ‘em by the p***y” recording, and […]
GENEVA — It’s just before 7:30 a.m. on the train station platform. White letters on the display panel spell out the final destination of the approaching train: Geneva Airport. A-I-R-P-O-R-T. Just the sight of those seven small letters produces a cold sweat, a knot in the stomach, a slight dizziness. For most people, airports are a launching point for a world of possibilities. They’re synonymous with vacations, new horizons. But not for me. I wander around them like a zombie, clutching my box of anti-anxiety pills like it’s my best friend. I admit, I’m afraid of planes. Every time I […]
Chile, not chili! A national deconstructing of that viral video of the hungry Latin American canine stealing the internet’s heart.
El Universo, May 24 Wheelchair-bound politician Lenín Moreno assumed Ecuador’s highest office today, nearly 20 years after a shooting attack left him paralyzed. “Lenín’s big day,” as the front page of Wednesday’s El Universo reads, gives Ecuador its first new leader in a decade. Moreno, 64, replaces leftist Rafael Correa, whom he served from 2007 […]
BUENOS AIRES — Lucía Cabrera was as frightened as she was annoyed. The 25-year-old physical education student had dealt with catcalling before. But in this case, the taxi driver hollering comments also followed her — for more than a block. Luckily she ran into a police officer and decided, for the first time in her life, to register a complaint. “I just wanted to report the situation,” Cabrera told the Argentine daily Clarín. “At first, I thought it wouldn’t amount to much,” Cabrera said. Mostly she just wanted to send the taxi driver a message; let him know that something […]
VILLA UKIKA — Just outside of Puerto Williams, the world’s southernmost city, lives an extraordinary woman. This far-flung outpost on Chile’s Tierra del Fuego, across the Straight of Magellan, is quiet literally at the end of the earth. And at 89, Cristina Calderón is nearing the end of her life — when she will take […]
The French election coincides with the bicentennial of British economist David Ricardo’s seminal work. Never has it been more relevant.
El Correo, April 26, 2017 The front page speaks for itself. “Guernika,” Wednesday’s edition of Spain’s El Correo reads, with the Basque spelling of Guernica displayed in bold red letters against a black background.