By Paul Craig Roberts Having removed the reformist President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Washington is now disposing of the reformist President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff. Washington used a federal judge to order Argentina to sacrifice its debt restructuring program in order to pay US vulture funds the full value of defaulted Argentine bonds that … Continue reading
By Diane Coyle Is Africa poor? Yes, compared to other regions of the world. But this apparently straightforward question is harder to answer than it seems. This shows why the technicalities involved in constructing GDP statistics matter a lot. Specifically, take the question of whether or not Ghana is officially a poor country. Aid organizations use … Continue reading
Brazil’s beleaguered Dilma Rousseff has changed her plans and will attend a UN event on Friday in New York to make her case against an impeachment process that could remove her from office within weeks, her office said. The Brazilian president lost a crucial vote in the lower house of congress on Sunday and faces … Continue reading
The government of Argentina has finally returned to the scope of the international bond market as of April 18, which has thus ended 15 years of global financial isolation after the South American nation defaulted back in 2001. Fulfilling a campaign promise and following favorable court rulings, Argentine President Mauricio Macri gave the green light for the sale of $15 … Continue reading
By Marieke Riethof The lower house of Brazil’s National Congress has voted overwhelmingly to impeach President Dilma Rousseff for allegedly covering up the scale of the country’s budget deficit, sending the case to the upper house. As the vote was taken, anti-government demonstrations on the Avenida Paulista and outside the congress held aloft a giant inflatable … Continue reading
Venezuela has reversed a half-hour time change that was one of the signature measures of former president Hugo Chávez’s idiosyncratic 14-year rule. Chávez turned Venezuela’s clocks back 30 minutes in 2007 so that children could wake up for school in daylight. But his successor, Nicolás Maduro, has decided to return to the previous system, four … Continue reading
In 1903 the US bullied Colombia into giving up the province that became Panama. The plan was to create a nation to serve the interests of Wall Street This goes back a long way. The Panamanian state was originally created to function on behalf of the rich and self-seeking of this world – or rather … Continue reading
Venezuela’s crisis seems to deepen each passing day while its economy crumbles. The crisis is on two fronts: economical and political. Both crises combined and compounded by a plunge in oil prices have created a “perfect storm” that has engulfed the South American nation. Venezuela relies heavily on oil, which accounts for 95 percent of foreign currency earnings as its economy … Continue reading
By Yesenia Lugo The biggest party in the governing coalition abandoned President Dilma Rousseff last week, increasing the likelihood that the leader of Latin America’s biggest country will be impeached and opening up the country to uncertainty. The $3 billion dollar scandal that’s engulfed Brazil has its origin in a cluster of construction companies and politicians colluding … Continue reading
The special investigator for a congressional commission recommended on Wednesday that the impeachment process against Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, move forward, saying there was evidence she violated fiscal laws. “The facts show serious indications of unconstitutionality, illegality and fiscal irresponsibility,” Jovair Arantes said in a nearly 130-page report. Arantes’ conclusion had been widely anticipated because … Continue reading