“Be careful, someone was killed here last month,” the cab driver said as he dropped us off at the entrance to Vidigal, one of Rio de Janeiro’s infamous favelas, “a foreigner who worked in some hostel.” We got out of the taxi and into a van ...
Francis Torres
Francis, Class of '16, is a BPR columnist and International Relations concentrator from San Juan, Puerto Rico, with an interest in Latin American politics. He also enjoys playing guitar, salsa dancing and keeping up with the Latino indie music and film scene. Perpetually in search of a Puerto Rican-themed food truck.
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“Be careful, someone was killed here last month,” the cab driver said as he dropped us off at the entrance to Vidigal, one of Rio de Janeiro’s infamous favelas, “a foreigner who worked in some hostel.” We got out of the taxi and into a van ...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Last year, I wrote about Uruguay’s ambitious project to fully legalize and regulate its domestic marihuana industry (also, here’s at BPR Media’s video on the issue). Now, almost five months after the pot legalization law passed by a sli...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Last year, I wrote about Uruguay’s ambitious project to fully legalize and regulate its domestic marihuana industry (also, here’s at BPR Media’s video on the issue). Now, almost five months after the pot legalization law passed by a sli...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Last Thursday, the world lost one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. At the age of 87, Colombian author and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez died in his Mexico City home, after years of battling cancer and suffering from senile...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Last Thursday, the world lost one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. At the age of 87, Colombian author and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez died in his Mexico City home, after years of battling cancer and suffering from senile...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
The history of targeted mob violence in this country is not pretty. The act of lynching – heavily racialized in the American context – was characteristic of a dark period of the past, when ignorance and violence was the norm for relations between...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
The history of targeted mob violence in this country is not pretty. The act of lynching – heavily racialized in the American context – was characteristic of a dark period of the past, when ignorance and violence was the norm for relations between...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
In my first column for BPR, I wrote about the legacy of Chilean socialist Salvador Allende and the covert international scheme that led to a reactionary military coup against his egalitarian government. At the time of the coup, General Pinochet could...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
In my first column for BPR, I wrote about the legacy of Chilean socialist Salvador Allende and the covert international scheme that led to a reactionary military coup against his egalitarian government. At the time of the coup, General Pinochet could...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Latin America has experienced a wave of pro-LGBT legislation in recent years. Argentina and Uruguay have legalized gay marriage, as have several cities and jurisdictions such as São Paolo and Mexico City. Chile has passed anti-discrimination laws. ...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Latin America has experienced a wave of pro-LGBT legislation in recent years. Argentina and Uruguay have legalized gay marriage, as have several cities and jurisdictions such as São Paolo and Mexico City. Chile has passed anti-discrimination laws. ...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Russian expansionism makes many alarm bells go off in the Western world. When Putin’s forces occupied Crimea on February 27, observers in Europe and America immediately compared the event to the Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1968, or even to...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Russian expansionism makes many alarm bells go off in the Western world. When Putin’s forces occupied Crimea on February 27, observers in Europe and America immediately compared the event to the Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1968, or even to...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Last week, Harvard Law School hosted a conference titled Reconsidering the Insular Cases, focusing on the controversial Supreme Court decisions (the eponymous “insular cases”) that determined the legality of the United States’ relationship with...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Last week, Harvard Law School hosted a conference titled Reconsidering the Insular Cases, focusing on the controversial Supreme Court decisions (the eponymous “insular cases”) that determined the legality of the United States’ relationship with...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Current neoliberal capitalism, so defined by expansion and instability, is not easily reconciled with the concept of human rights. Many would argue that such extemporaneous considerations fall beyond the logic of the market and lie in the domain of t...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
Current neoliberal capitalism, so defined by expansion and instability, is not easily reconciled with the concept of human rights. Many would argue that such extemporaneous considerations fall beyond the logic of the market and lie in the domain of t...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
We live in troubling times. Protests, wars, coups, government corruption, crime and acts of terrorism are just some examples of the violence and pessimism that permeate global news. Despite a common belief in the boons of globalization and internatio...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
We live in troubling times. Protests, wars, coups, government corruption, crime and acts of terrorism are just some examples of the violence and pessimism that permeate global news. Despite a common belief in the boons of globalization and internatio...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
As one exercise in regional integration keeps disintegrating on one side of the Atlantic, another surges to the South of the Rio Grande. Last week, the leaders of 30 nations of the Americas met to celebrate the second summit of the Community of Latin...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
As one exercise in regional integration keeps disintegrating on one side of the Atlantic, another surges to the South of the Rio Grande. Last week, the leaders of 30 nations of the Americas met to celebrate the second summit of the Community of Latin...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
It wouldn’t be surprising if, five years from now, Brown still looks back at 2013 as the year of the Ray Kelly Event. It’s rare for a single moment to affect an entire community, especially ours — spread out as we are across disciplines, nation...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres
It wouldn’t be surprising if, five years from now, Brown still looks back at 2013 as the year of the Ray Kelly Event. It’s rare for a single moment to affect an entire community, especially ours — spread out as we are across disciplines, nation...
Francis Torres
Francis Torres