In 1980, the Cuban port of Mariel witnessed the departure of 100,000 state-approved émigrés fleeing towards the United States. More than 30 years later, the island’s government hopes to see an influx of foreign capital flow in through the port to...
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.
In 1980, the Cuban port of Mariel witnessed the departure of 100,000 state-approved émigrés fleeing towards the United States. More than 30 years later, the island’s government hopes to see an influx of foreign capital flow in through the port to...
Protest songs have always been an important mode of political discourse. Easily produced and disseminated, good protest songs and the artists that create them can infiltrate mass consciousness and gain relevance beyond the realm of the strictly polit...
Protest songs have always been an important mode of political discourse. Easily produced and disseminated, good protest songs and the artists that create them can infiltrate mass consciousness and gain relevance beyond the realm of the strictly polit...
On October 18th, the 23rd Ibero-American Summit met in Panama, bringing together Latin American and European leaders for two days of important political, social and economic discussions and policy-making. Or at least that was the plan. In theory, the...
On October 18th, the 23rd Ibero-American Summit met in Panama, bringing together Latin American and European leaders for two days of important political, social and economic discussions and policy-making. Or at least that was the plan. In theory, the...
While Washington has been wrangling with the shutdown and the largely synthetic debt ceiling crisis, a smaller but no less worrying debt problem brews just beyond the mainland. Puerto Rico, technically a commonwealth of the United States, is dangerou...
While Washington has been wrangling with the shutdown and the largely synthetic debt ceiling crisis, a smaller but no less worrying debt problem brews just beyond the mainland. Puerto Rico, technically a commonwealth of the United States, is dangerou...
Guerilla warfare has been a defining characteristic of modern Latin American history. The cult of the freedom fighter has been present from the Hispanic Caribbean to the Southern Cone, reflected in popular music, literature, politics, and even clothi...
Guerilla warfare has been a defining characteristic of modern Latin American history. The cult of the freedom fighter has been present from the Hispanic Caribbean to the Southern Cone, reflected in popular music, literature, politics, and even clothi...
Latin America has a tendency of looking back in history for political inspiration. Perhaps the most obvious current manifestation of this is Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, devised and led by the late Hugo Chavez and continued by the politic...
Latin America has a tendency of looking back in history for political inspiration. Perhaps the most obvious current manifestation of this is Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, devised and led by the late Hugo Chavez and continued by the politic...
Warning: Contains Breaking Bad Spoilers For those of us that watched Breaking Bad, the recent bust of the Silk Road online illicit trading network seems like a bit of déjà vu. The similarities between the AMC show’s shady underworld and the illic...
Warning: Contains Breaking Bad Spoilers For those of us that watched Breaking Bad, the recent bust of the Silk Road online illicit trading network seems like a bit of déjà vu. The similarities between the AMC show’s shady underworld and the illic...
These days, most politicians have put the government shutdown and health care reform above immigration reform in their list of concerns. Notably, the most recent news on immigration policy in the Americas does not come from the U.S., but rather from ...
These days, most politicians have put the government shutdown and health care reform above immigration reform in their list of concerns. Notably, the most recent news on immigration policy in the Americas does not come from the U.S., but rather from ...
70-year-old Oscar Lopez Rivera.Source: 80 grados.Creative Commons In a previous article, I wrote about the case of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera and the growing campaign in favor of his liberation. This week I take the opportunit...
70-year-old Oscar Lopez Rivera.Source: 80 grados.Creative Commons In a previous article, I wrote about the case of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera and the growing campaign in favor of his liberation. This week I take the opportunit...
Chilean Armed Forces bomb the Presidential Palace during the 1973 coup. Wikipedia Commons. Creative Commons. The events of September 11th hold a massive and merited weight in the world’s collective consciousness. It was a date in which great viol...
Chilean Armed Forces bomb the Presidential Palace during the 1973 coup. Wikipedia Commons. Creative Commons. The events of September 11th hold a massive and merited weight in the world’s collective consciousness. It was a date in which great viol...
On the night of July 31st, the lower house of Uruguay’s legislature passed a bill that would legalize the production, distribution and sale of cannabis. It is expected to pass the Uruguayan senate in a few months and be approved by the country’s ...
On the night of July 31st, the lower house of Uruguay’s legislature passed a bill that would legalize the production, distribution and sale of cannabis. It is expected to pass the Uruguayan senate in a few months and be approved by the country’s ...
#ChangeBrazil, #VemPraRua, #OGiganteAcordou. Whoever first thought to use these trending Brazilian protest labels must feel like an unacknowledged celebrity. Over the course of the last few months, demonstrations across a hundred cities in Brazil too...
#ChangeBrazil, #VemPraRua, #OGiganteAcordou. Whoever first thought to use these trending Brazilian protest labels must feel like an unacknowledged celebrity. Over the course of the last few months, demonstrations across a hundred cities in Brazil too...