Category: LATIN AMERICA

Rainforest in Ruin: Bolsonaro and the Amazon

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Photo by Felipe Wernicke

By Isana Raja
Staff Writer

The Amazon rainforest, home to over 3 million plant and animal species and over 120 Indigenous groups, has been and continues to be under threat. Deforestation by means of illegal logging, mining, and land clearance fires have surged at a rate of 55% since 2019. Not only do these practices endanger thousands of species and put Indigenous communities at risk, but they are also one of the greatest contributors to climate change. Much of these rapid changes to the world’s largest rainforest lies within the hands of Brazil’s government. 

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Rising Up and Reinventing the Playing-Field: Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Disparity Against Women in Honduras

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Credit: REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Shirin Asgari
Staff Writer

Globally, Honduras has one of the highest incidences of violence against women. It is reported that sixty-four percent of women living in Honduras have been subject to either a direct threat or an attack at least once in their lives. Additionally, this violence is inflicted either by someone within a woman’s social circles or by gang members, and can take the form of rape, femicide, disappearances, as well as physical and physiological abuse. Honduras further lacks any specialized structures to ensure the prevention, protection, and prosecution of violence against women. For instance, a statistical average taken over the course of six years found that around 93.5 percent of femicide cases within the country have gone unpunished. High rates of impunity feed into the perpetuation of this cycle, normalizing and facilitating such attitudes and actions which stem from the country’s machismo culture.      

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How the Developing World is Coping with COVID-19: The Case of Bolivia

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A Bolivian woman in La Paz covers her face with a mask to protect against COVID-19. 
Credits: Abad Miranda

By Olivia Bryan
Staff Writer

It seems that there isn’t anything new to be said that hasn’t been said already regarding COVID-19. Unprecedented. Once in a lifetime. Unforgettable. Most mainstream media coverage of the pandemic remains fixed on East Asia, Europe, and North America, the three geographical areas that have been hit the hardest. But viruses know no borders, and many smaller, poorer countries are being largely omitted from the coronavirus media narrative. These countries are often the ones most vulnerable to the virus’s externalities: lacking proper medical supplies, social welfare programs, and efficient governance to aid citizens’ health and well-being. 

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