Delmar Tarragó is a student of international relations at Washington University in St. Louis with particular scholarly interests in Latin American affairs.
In the last thirty years when the majority of the world moved on from the little car, the dying Bug found a new life in Latin America. Mexicans embraced the car and in turn the Beetle not only found a new home, but also a new sense of identity.
This was not the first presidential campaign in which Lόpez Obrador had been in the lead. It was just the first one in which he held it.
What is special about Latino representation in pop music this past year is that not only is an often overlooked ethnicity getting the representation that it deserves, but also that its representation has been diverse.
Netflix’s mega-popular Narcos series romanticizes Pablo Escobar’s Colombian cartel by effectively distancing the international drug trade in time and place. But like the narcotizing effect of the drug Escobar traded in, gripping television should not lure us from the drug problems of our here and now.
Diacritical marks might seem like a tiny blip in the larger picture of tumultuous politics and proposed policies that actively harm our minority populations, yet they serve as a reminder of our important presence and contribution to this nation.
One politician, once revered and adored, continues his charge to reclaim Brazil's presidency while facing a 9.5-year prison sentence. The other, a struggling president, maneuvers his way around allegations as he salvages what is left of his presidency. Either way, for both, the clock is ticking.
With enormous potential, and once heralded as a new global superpower, Brazil proves time and time again to be a house of cards. Just as the country seems to find its way, something shakes, and the whole darned thing comes tumbling down.