Day 1: World Economic Forum

Today was the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with the participants emphasizing the use of creativity to continue economic development, search for peace and stability and assure the prosperity of all the world's citizens. The hot topics at the inaguration were fear that the world economy and specially the US economy lived in an unchecked bubble, the rise of China and labour market problems worldwide.

Mexico's and Latin America's participation at this year's World Economic Forum will be quite limited but not necessarily because of lack of interest by the World in our region. Instead, the absence of most of the region's leaders confirms the feeling that perhaps Latin America does not see itself in the ranks with India and China. In this fashion, it is sad then to confirm that we are throwing in the towel and letting Latin America as a whole fall of the Davos map simply because it is believed that the economic power centre is shifting East to those two nations and the once Southeast Tigers, Japan and South Korea.

Latin America should learn from this. Instead of having leaders complain about the world economy and visit the alternative "anti-globalization" summits, they should continue to go to the World Economic forum and promote the region. We are not an "also ran", we can be an India + China + Latin America! Mexico can definetely also learn to open up to the structural reforms that our country needs to better our economy and competitivity, without removing the vital aspects of our social safe net. Mexico still has a chance, as does most Latin America. We just have to learn that globalization, reform & strict fiscal policy aren't enemies of the people but enablers that will allow all of us to participate in the global economy.

Tags: Current events, International, In the News, Latin America, Davos, Mexico

Canada: A Different Coloured Minority

Canadians went to the polls yesterday to elect for the second time in two years members of parliament that would rebuild a government after the last Liberal minority government fell last November. At the end of the night, Canada had gone from Liberal red to Conservative blue.

The election threw out a fragile minority for the Conservative Party and their leader, Stephen Harper, will now be forming a minority government having won 124 seats in parliament in contrast to the Liberal's 103. In Canada, 155 seats are needed to form a majority government and the Conservative Party will probably reach out to the Bloc Quebecois (who lost ground in Quebec this time around) and even in some cases to the New Democratic Party who bettered their standing nationally to pass through budgets, legislations and other plans.

A mood of cautious change seemingly invaded Canadians as they sought new options to change the Liberal government that had been with them for so long. It seems that most were convinced by the more moderate social message that the Conservative party shared in their campaign. Others gave their trust to the New Democratic Party which made head way in provinces (such as British Columbia) where it wasn't prominent before. Whatever the choice, it seemed clear that Canadians finally decided to truly hold the Liberal party accountable for their scandals.

Stephen Harper must now seize this opportunity to prove his party is capable of running a government with fiscal and social policy that is congruent to what makes Canadians, Canadians. The minority in Canada is now blue.

Tags: Current events, International, In the News, News and Politics, Canada

Bolivia Versus Fox?

The new political map of Latin America continues its development in this 2006, focusing on yet another controversial leftist leader in South America: Evo Morales.

Since his election, he has gone off on a tour to Europe and various Latin American countries among which figured his visit to his "comrade" Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Right now, Morales is in China where he has continued to associate himself with socialist icons; this time declaring his admiration for Mao Tse Tung. It is no surprise, that Morales has adopted and proved to have a similar style of rhetoric as Chavez. Which, once again, makes it no surprise that at the first chance his soon-to-be-born government had, it lashed out at our President, Vicente Fox, declaring him to be a "bad charro" for his declarations on Bolivia and its stand on the export of their natural gas. His party and key figures, then continued to demean Fox and outright said that Bolivia's foreign policy towards Mexico would not be negotiated with Fox.

What was Fox's crime?

Fox declared in a Mexico City radio station that "the new government of Bolivia, apparently, would not be exporting its natural gas...they'll apparently have to consume it inside the country or perhaps eat it. It's really their problem... they have too much gas to not export it."

So all right, it might sound spiteful (negotiations for natural gas imports from Mexico to Bolivia have been quagmired since Morales's election) and perhaps a bit meddlesome, but an insult???

Tags: Current events, International, In the News, News and Politics, Mexico, Bolivia, Latin America, Evo Morales, Vicente Fox

Evo Morales Joins Chavez's Fight

Happy 2006!

This year starts with a reminder of how it ended, with elections in Latin America that promised or threatened (depending on how you look at it) to take Latin America to the left. It started with Bolivia, where one of Hugo Chavez's stronger allies, Evo Morales became President. Bolivia cheered but the world worried and ended the year wondering if Evo would in fact nationalize the natural gas industry. The matter is still unsettled.

2006 dawned and Evo's first visit was to Venezuela where he was met by Hugo Chavez. Yes, it didn't take long for Evo to confirm the path his government would take. Evo did mention worthy programs to attempt to help the people of Bolivia but this was overshadowed by Evo's agreement to have Bolivia join Chavez's fight against neo-liberalism and the imperalist United States.

Bolivia is putting a lot of things at risk by joining Chavez's "axis-of-good". After all, the United States does give Bolivia most of its aide, and Brasil and Spain have invested in Bolivia's natural gas reserves. This all starts to strike me as a bad deal for Bolivia and I can only hope that this isn't really the begining of a Latin America ruled by the likes of Chavez.

Read what others have to say:
- Hugo Chavez Offers Ample Help to Evo Morales
- Evo Morales Calls for a "Second Liberalization"

Tags: Current events, International, In the News, News and Politics, Bolivia, Venezuela, Latin America, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez