Worldcrunch
👋 Héébee!* Welcome to Wednesday, where fears of starvation mount as aid has yet to reach Gaza, China voices concerns over Donald Trump’s new $175-billion “Golden Dome” missile defense system, and today’s quiz highlights a slip-up by Japan’s farm minister. Meanwhile, in the wake of a very awkward moment involving the French and Turkish presidents, […]
Portunhol is a hybrid language spoken on the borders of Portuguese-speaking Brazil and its Spanish-speaking neighbors. The author’s time learning it was a reminder that language is so much more than just a means of communicating.
Were it not for the weather spoiling its flight plans, a Venezuelan plane with suspected ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards would have traveled through Argentina undisturbed.
Latin American businesses and governments are seeing the marketing and export potentials of an incipient liberalization of marijuana laws in the region. But to really cash in, it must be an investment in more than simple commodity crops.
If you hated greenwashing, you’ll be appalled by green colonialism.
“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 […]
A Latin American consultant argues that excellence is an end unto itself, something that often gets lost in the pursuit of business
MONTEVIDEO — While other world leaders used their slot at this week’s United Nations General Assembly to argue over Syria or the global economy, Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez had smoke on his mind. After winning a second non-consecutive term last November, Vázquez launched a full-scale attack on the global tobacco industry, accusing cigarette companies of […]
Uruguay shows again why it is one of the world’s most progressive countries, with the government’s recent pledge to aim to use only clean energy in the future.
With the region still divided into different trading blocs, Chile is leading efforts to bring Latin American nations together for a joint policy to expand global trade.
Foreign interests are eyeing Uruguay’s recent legalization of cannabis use in its territory. Will big pharmaceutical firms be allowed to move in on this huge business opportunity?
Despite the high profile women presidents of Brazil and Argentina, the fairer sex is notably underrepresented in cabinet positions across Latin American governments.
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch MONTEVIDEO – Members of Uruguay’s House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize marijuana on Wednesday night. If it goes on to be approved by the Senate, Uruguay will become the first country to regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana. The measure is backed by the government of President […]
BUENOS AIRES – Last month, at the magnificent Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (“Palace of Flowing Waters“) in Buenos Aires, representatives from 12 Latin American countries came together to discuss something so basic, and so vital. How can we work together in our region to make best use of that priceless resource: water? I had the […]
EL OBSERVADOR (Uruguay), LA NACION (Argentina) Worldcrunch MONTEVIDEO – Latin American diplomacy is buzzing after Uruguayan President José Mujica — apparently unaware that his microphone was still on — made nasty comments about his Argentinian counterpart, and her late husband. At the end of an online broadcast about relations between Uruguay and surrounding countries, Mujica […]
TELAM, EFE (ARGENTINA) Worldcrunch MONTEVIDEO – Uruguay introduced a bill last November to regulate production and sale of cannabis. Under the proposed legislation, Uruguayans over 18 will be able to purchase pot in state-approved distribution centers. Time to light up? Well, not exactly. While the country is waiting for Congress to pass the bill, the […]
MONTEVIDEO – Racism and racist expressions are often ingrained in society. In Uruguay, they are also written in the dictionary. Last month, Vice-Minister of Culture and Education Oscar Gomez urged the Uruguayan Academy of Letters to remove racist and offensive expressions from the Dictionary of Uruguayan Spanish. It is part of a campaign launched on […]
EL PAIS (Uruguay) CLARIN (Argentina) MONTEVIDEO – The past year has been a momentous one for supporters of gay marriage. And 2013 looks like it may begin with at least one more country — and the second ever in Latin America — to legalize same-sex marriage. Last week, the lower house of Uruguay’s legislature approved […]
Worldcrunch SEATTLE – Possession of marijuana became legal Thursday in the U.S. state of Washington, a month after voters opted for decriminalization. Source:Facebook Anyone aged 21 and over is now allowed to carry up to 1oz (28.4g) of cannabis. Smoking cannabis in public will remain illegal. Though legal for medicinal purposes in other states, the […]
EL OBSERVADOR (Uruguay) CLARIN (Argentina)

 Worldcrunch MONTEVIDEO – As the Southern Hemisphere’s summer vacation season approaches, the tourism industry in Uruguay is already sweating Argentina’s new restrictions on changing money to dollars and using it for travel abroad. The Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Uruguay has taken extra steps to attract Argentines, including publishing […]
MONTEVIDEO – Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica placed his country in the global drug-policy spotlight when he presented a bill earlier this year seeking to decriminalize marijuana. Many observers – including Nobel Prize winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru – pointed to the move as an example of what countries can do to prevent […]
AMERICA ECONOMIA (Chile) SANTIAGO – With the World Cup coming to South America in 2014, the soccer-crazed continent is already worrying who will qualify, and who will be forced to stay at home and watch the others soak up the glory. Well, if you are an Argentinian, Chilean, or Uruguayan, your team is going to […]
Worldcrunch O GLOBO (Brazil), EL PAÍS (Uruguay) MONTEVIDEO – Uruguayan president José “Pepe” Mujica wants to make his country the world’s first to grow and sell pot. With marijuana consumption already legal in Uruguay, Mujica says that drug-related crime continues to plague the country, and that handing over production and distribution to the government can […]
Human rights violations committed during Uruguay’s 1970s and 1980s-era military regimes have come back to haunt the South American country, where the legislature’s recent failure to revoke a stubborn amnesty law has sparked a major political crisis.