Worldcrunch
Venezuela’s elections this year took a very different course than Nicaragua’s in 2021. In both Latin American countries, an authoritarian leader wanted to stay in power and committed electoral fraud to do so. But in Venezuela, the opposition was able to create resistance to Nicolás Maduro.
-Analysis- BERLIN — World politics is currently dominated by “strongmen,” those leaders who see themselves anointed to negotiate “deals’ among themselves to chart the world’s destiny. Vladimir Putin’s Russia, in alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran, has stifled the Syrian people’s rebellion against Bashar al-Assad, allowing his Damascus regime to regain almost complete control […]
None should be more dismayed by Daniel Ortega’s despotic slide than those who hailed his revolution as a triumph of democratic socialism, some 40 years ago.
-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 […]
Protests in Nicaragua against a proposed tax hike to finance the social security system have revealed the people’s disgust with President Ortega’s regime. His brutal response does not bode well.
Calling rulers like Venezuela’s Maduro or Nicaragua’s Ortega democratically elected leaders is to mock the real meaning of elections — and democracy.
Nicaragua’s once revolutionary president Daniel Ortega has won reelection, this time with his wife Rosario Murillo as VP. It’s an accumulation of power and money that makies their own supporters squirm.
-OpEd- BOGOTÁ — On Sunday, Colombians will decide whether to ratify a peace deal that makes the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, lay down their arms. But if that happens, what will the future of FARC look like? Will it become a socialist party like the one that has driven Venezuela into an […]
As President Daniel Ortega and his relatives continue to accumulate power in Nicaragua, they are becoming a close copy of the venal political dynasty Ortega fought to overthrow.
SPOTLIGHT: AUSTRALIA’S REFUGEE PROBLEM While Europe’s migrant crisis has made headlines over the past year, another continent’s treatment of refugees has received far less scrutiny — until now. In a joint report published yesterday, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch took the Australian government to task over what they describe as the “appalling abuse” and […]
Worldcrunch With the conclave set to begin Tuesday afternoon, the lists of papabili are being narrowed down and scrutinized by the Cardinals gathered at the Vatican. Back in the home countries and dioceses of the top contenders, the secret vote to choose the successor of Benedict XVI can be viewed with a mix of pride […]