Articles by: Zach Dyer
A media-fueled specter of drug-war spillover from Mexico is stalking the U.S. border region. A closer examination of these issues casts doubt on the connection being made between Mexican cartel violence and crime in the southwest, leading some officials to dismiss the spillover claim. But that's not stopping anti-immigration forces and militarized border agencies from crying that the sky is falling.
Generating enough electricity to power a small city while offsetting several hundred thousand tons of carbon emissions sounds like an ideal source of eco-friendly energy. But tell that to the residents of La Ventosa in Oaxaca, Mexico. The construction of Latin America's largest wind farm on these communal campesino lands in the wind-whipped Isthmus of Tehuantepec is threatening their lands and their livelihoods.
A multinational mining company's suit against the Salvadoran government may be the opening salvo of a larger struggle against the consequences of free trade agreements in Central America. The legal battle could also have serious political consequences in the country's March 15 presidential elections.
A proposed gold mining project in northern Costa Rica has stirred grassroots opposition in this country, which has long prided itself as a world leader in "green" environmental policies. The Crucitas mine threatens two species facing extinction, and the government's approval of the project has led to a criminal investigation into whether Costa Rica's president knowingly violated local and international environmental laws.
Remittances, the money immigrants send to their home countries, have become an essential economic lifeline for several Latin American nations. Mexico receives more remittances from migrants in the United States than any country in the world. But amid a tanking U.S. economy, the amount Mexicans are sending home dropped this year for the first time on record. Strangely, while Mexico reels, remittances to Central American countries have continued to rise—for now.