Nicaraguan migrants send over US$1 billion home each year. This money has played a changing role in domestic politics – first boosting the Ortega regime and, now, sustaining the uprising against him.
Fifty years ago, soldiers gunned down hundreds of student protesters in a Mexico City plaza. It was neither the first nor the last time Mexico’s army would be deployed against its own citizens.
The financial crisis provoked by the lira’s fall isn’t the true drama in Turkey. The real drama is a democratic transformation threatens the increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
With its attempt to purge the country’s courts of 40 percent of its judges, Poland’s right-wing ruling party passed another milestone on the path towards establishment of a one-party state.
The Turkish election highlights the growing strength of Turkish opposition despite the defeat and approves of a president who could be weaker than he would like to appear.
Venezuela has freed 79 political prisoners in recent months, to global plaudits. But the hard-line regime has also charged 100 military officials with conspiracy. Does President Maduro fear overthrow?
Maduro’s landslide May 20 re-election marks the official death of democracy in Venezuela. Dozens of nations worldwide have declared the vote illegitimate, and the US imposed new sanctions.
The Venezuelan opposition is asking people not to vote in the country’s May 20 election, which they call a ‘farce.’ President Maduro regime has jailed or blacklisted most of his competitors.
If the referendum goes President Pierre Nkrunziza’s way, it will also be a further blow to ordinary Burundians, who live in a state of hardship and adversity.
Turkey’s June 24 elections are the first in 16 years that could be politically meaningful. Opposition parties seem revitalised and could launch anti-Erdoğan coalition into the second round.
When considering this question, we need to distinguish between the pomposities of monarchies and the purpose they serve as checks on untrammelled authoritarianism.
For 11 years, Daniel Ortega’s regime has been unshakable. But Nicaragua’s autocratic leader is vulnerable after weeks of deadly protest. Now, some citizens are calling for him to resign.