Brazil: Community Participation
A very poor, black mother in a fringe neighborhood in Porto Alegre, Brazil, drew herself up with pride as she told me about her recent meeting with the Mayor to discuss the problems of…
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Theme: Public Policy and Governance
Indigenous Movements and their Critics
I arrived in Guatemala for the first time in 1996 to administer the cultural, information and educational exchange programs of the U.S. Embassy. This must have been around the same…
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Interviewing Military Officers
We drove up into the residential hills of Villa Hermosa, overlooking the city of Guatemala, searching for the house amongst the many white-stucco, high-walled mansions. I asked the taxi-driver …
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El Salvador Challenge
Over the past few years, El Salvador has accomplished what can only be described as a political and economic miracle. Peace accords were concluded, ending a decade-long destructive civil…
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The Social Agenda in Latin America
If the 1980s were the era of economic policy reform in Latin America, the 1990s have become the era of social sector reform. Indeed, a consensus is now forming that delivery of health care…
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