Latin America and the Caribbean

Since the last decades of the last century, international migrations have increased and are present in various regions of the world (Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa). According to data from the National Population Council, in 2020 there were already more than 280 million international migrants. This migratory increase has been linked to the effects of the expansion and consolidation of neoliberal capitalism and globalization. The increase in poverty, the increase in inequality and the (…)

Since the last century and to date, in Mexico, as in other places in Latin America, the State and agribusiness and natural resource extraction companies (national and transnational) have played a preponderant role in the construction of territories in rural contexts. Not infrequently, these rural territories are structured according to governmental and commercial logics and rationalities, to the detriment of rural ethnic populations.
From different disciplines of the Social Sciences, these (…)

Among the occupations with very low pay and high risks, agricultural laborers are one of the most numerous jobs, without social rights and with very precarious wages. According to different sources (such as La Jornada), the number of people who, in alarming conditions of poverty and marginalization, work in this type of laboral occupations in Mexico is estimated at about 3 million; and, a large part of them are from the south of the country (Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas), and originating from (…)

The production of forced cross-border and irregular mobility
Neoliberal globalization, with its characteristic reforms towards the free market and economic deregulation in different regions of the world, has fostered processes of capital accumulation and concentration of wealth, with their respective consequences in the disproportionate increase in inequality and the increase of poverty, with a special presence in the countries of the global south (Robinson and Santos, 2014). These complex (…)

Cross-border migration and mobility policies as dynamics of exclusion
International, “irregular” and cross-border mobilities from the south and towards the global north are one of the features of the dynamics of exclusion related to neoliberal globalization (Brettell and Hollifield; 2015), and they occur in many countries and various regions of the world (CONAPO, 2020 & 2019). Migrations, although they have been linked to various processes of development and spatial and temporal growth (…)

Between global exclusion and cross-border human mobilities
Massive irregularized and cross-border migrations are one of the most reliable faces of the processes of exclusion from globalization and are present in various regions of the world (UNHCR, 2016; CONAPO, 2020, 2019 and 2020). These human mobilities, although they have had a long historical character and have been related to the expansion of capitalism and colonialism in previous times (Mezzadra, 2012; Delgado et al., 2009; Castles, (…)

10 de Abril de 2019 - Americas Program - In March, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited U.S President Donald Trump to discuss deepening relations between their countries. Both leaders shareconservative views, making for plenty of back-slapping.They also share a commitment to dismantling environmental protections.
In their joint statement, the two presidents agreed to “catalyze investment in the Amazon region”. More recently, Bolsonaro revealed that he proposed to Trump a joint (…)

August 7th, 2018 - Americas Program - There are moments that remain etched in the memory with all their details intact. I remember the angle of the sunbeam that fell on the floor of the hall, the dry heat of the California summer, the phone ringing and the words from the other side of the line: “They won! Somoza is out and the Sandinistas have taken power!”
The call marked the beginning of a long relationship with the small Central American country. The images of the revolutionary forces (…)

May 15th, 2018 - Americas Program - Dec. 29, 2017 began like most days in San Josecito, the central settlement of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, in Urabá, Colombia. Community members fed their livestock, went to tend to their crops, or helped sort and sell cacao in their community store. A man arrived to ostensibly sell cacao. A few minutes later four more men arrived. Community members recognized some of them as members of the self-denominated Gaitanista Auto-Defense Forces of (…)

February 8th, 2018 - Americas Program - Many believe agribusiness pulled Brazil out of the worst recession in its history. Estimates for 2017 register a scant 0.4% growth after four years of crisis, according to the Boletim Focus from the National Central Bank. Agribusiness represents almost 23% of Brazil’s GDP.
Although renewed growth is good news for the world’s 9th economy, progressive sectors of society worry that the rise of agribusiness hides severe labor and environmental costs. (…)