First it was Brexit, then Donald Trump, followed by French president François Hollande announcing he would not run for reelection (an admission of defeat), and now Italy’s Matteo Renzi resigning as prime minister in the wake of the “No” victory in the constitutional referendum he...
The victory of Mauricio Macri in Argentina’s recent presidential election, and the overwhelming support the Venezuelan opposition appears to enjoy going into next Sunday’s congressional elections, confirm the wave of anti-populist sentiment in Latin America. What a pity that few outside of Latin America seem...
A technical committee of the Chamber of Deputies has voted to recommend the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. If two thirds of the lower house of Congress vote to impeach her, her fate will rest with the Senate, where a simple majority will certainly accept...
Un evento de la Fundación Internacional para la Libertad y la Cátedra Vargas Llosa reunió en España esta semana a una selección cultural e ideológicamente amplia de personajes políticos y literarios de muy diversos países. La dimensión política de estas jornadas abarcó un abanico de asuntos,...
Donald Trump´s campaign, and to some extent that of Bernie Sanders, have led foreign leaders and commentators to ask if the United States is entering a populist era. Americans themselves have asked the same question, but there is a difference: populism has more sinister connotations...
El triunfo de Bernie Sanders, el senador de Vermont, en las primarias demócratas de New Hampshire, y el de Donald Trump en las republicanas en el mismo estado han confirmado un fenómeno que ya venía insinuándose desde hacía algún tiempo. La fiebre de los “outsiders”,...
Spain’s December election outcome has put the country in political limbo. With no conclusive winner and no possibility of a coalition government, Madrid’s current rulers have become a caretaker government with no end in sight. This scenario would be a libertarian’s dream except that, in the...
La caída en picado del precio del petróleo tendría que ser una gran noticia. La reducción de los precios del crudo empuja la reducción de los costos de medio mundo: al abaratar la energía, ella hace menos oneroso tanto producir como transportar toda clase de...
The refugee crisis has become a pretext for what some who are uncomfortable with the free circulation of people in the European Union have long wanted—the reinstatement of border controls. Denmark has cancelled all trains bound for Germany; in turn, Germany will impose passport controls on...
2015 es el año de la muerte del uruguayo Eduardo Galeano, uno de los clérigos de la izquierda latinoamericana (para usar la expresión medieval que hacía indiferenciable al hombre de pensamiento del hombre religioso) y el año en que cumple cuarenta primaveras la obra maestra...
Claiming to be the victim of a coup, former Bolivian president Evo Morales has been granted political asylum by Mexico, where he and his allies will continue to push the fiction that he was forced out by Bolivia’s powerful oligarchy. Morales’s claim stands truth on its head....
The recent poison gas attack in Syria, America’s stepped up military activities in Afghanistan, a presidential power grab in Turkey and the clownish bellicosity of North Korea’s “leader” have overshadowed an important development closer to home: left-wing populism’s slow-but-steady decline in the Americas. Just a...
It was recently revealed that Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant, paid $788 million in bribes to obtain government contracts and/or ensure the passage of friendly legislation in 12 countries. The disclosure is part of a settlement with the authorities of Brazil, the United States, and...
