Best of the Moment
central-south-america
Dominic Sandbrook | New Statesman | 15 July 2010
Lovely vignette. He'd now be 82, perhaps with much of the easy charm of a Nelson Mandela, living handsomely on royalties from iconic photographs of his youth. More, please
Adam Thomson FT | 30 June 2010
Ten years ago, with the political monopoly of PRI broken, Mexico looked full of promise. Instead, economy and social order have gone downhill, overwhelmed by China's rise, US policy shifts, homegrown corruption
Ilan Stavans | Chronicle Review | 6 June 2010
Previous generation of Latin American novelists attacked, satirised military dictators. Why doesn't current generation of writers do the same for left-wing caudillos, such as Hugo Chávez?
Chris McGreal I The Guardian I 28 May 2010
"Jesus died for us. We will die for Dudus." Fine despatch explaining local support for alleged drugs lord, intertwining of Jamaican criminality and politics. Still many questions for government to answer - above all, who are the dead?
Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez | New Republic | 25 May 2010
Most Latin American countries have gone through 10 or 20 constitutions. Governments there seem to think they can change society by changing the law. They merely destabilise it
Alma Guillermoprieto | NYR Blog | 17 May 2010
"Astounding and still unfolding story" of Mexican bigamist, pederast, dope fiend, who founded the Legion of Christ, a conservative Catholic order, and became a favourite of John Paul II
Simon Romero | NYT | 7 May 2010
Sparkling profile of Green presidential contender Antanas Mockus, "a quirky, unpredictable mathematician who murmurs in French about arcane philosophical concepts and wears a chinstrap beard"
Jason Berry | NCR | 6 April 2010
Amazing investigation into Marcial Maciel Degollado, drug-addicted pedophile founder of secretive Mexican Catholic cult, hnoured friend of the Vatican
Alex Bellos | Guardian | 31 March 2010
Brazilian tribe, Munduruku, counts only to five, and even then not very reliably. How this can be, and what it tells us about the place of numbers in the human consciousness. Wonderful journalism—and not an April fool
Matt Labash | Weekly Standard | 1 March 2010
Report from post-earthquake Haiti centering on Father Rick Frechette, an American pastor helping with the clear-up. Starts shakily, but picks up speed when action reaches Port-au-Prince