Carlos Cruz Infante

Independent · Independent

All of Latin America burns. Literally. Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship in Venezuela, the populisms of Andrés López Obrador in Mexico and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, the dismantlement of Peru’s congress by its president and the social crises in Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia: the whole continent is in upheaval. Profound changes are in sight and p...

The EU could learn valuable lessons from German Chancellor Scholz’s recent official visit to South America, writes Carlos Cruz Infante. Scholz showed a diplomacy formula that could leverage the Union’s geopolitical influence in the region

EU's geopolitical position in Latin America is weakened. In the meantime, China and Russia have gained ground commercially and politically in the region. Still, there are some opportunities for the Union to catch up. Here I present four of them.

Chile does not appear likely to restart efforts to write a new Constitution soon. The failure of the first draft – rejected by 62 percent of Chilean voters – has significantly weakened political leaders’ ability and resolve to try a second draft. Pollsters predicted that Rechazo (rejection) would win on September 4, and the result would fit within...

It is the second Op-ed of a series published by the American University in Washington, D.C. Miguel Zlosilo and I have followed up on the Chilean Constitutional process from a socio-political view. Our goal is to deliver a shortcut to those who are not experts on the matter but would like to know a little more about it in a five-minute reading.

Op-ed published by Aulablog of the American University https://aulablog.net/2022/03/07/chile-whither-the-constitutional-process/

Latin America is facing a challenging historical moment. Its societies must choose between the way uphill to development for good or enjoying short-term benefits from the past 30 years of work. What will it be? How did one of the once wealthiest regions on Earth end up in this conundrum? What could help Latin Americans to solve it? In 2019, Latin A...

Countries in Latin America and Europe, despite their substantial differences, are currently wrestling with a similar strategic question: whether they should engage in regional integration or ‘go it alone’. Carlos Cruz Infante and Roland Benedikter present a detailed comparison of Latin America and the EU across six key indexes. Their findings sugge...

The situation in Chile after the Constitutional Referendum of October 2020 posits the question: Where is the country headed? Is this the end of a long transition from “adolescent” neoliberal democracy to “mature” welfare democracy—or the start of a new era of uncer- tainty? Without substantial improvements of the constitutional reform process, its...

Between public distrust and Covid-19: author Carlos Cruz Infante is at odds about which pandemic is more dangerous for Latin America now.

Does wealth equate to health? In his piece, Carlos Cruz Infante discusses the oppositions in play across Latin America and their relationship to the devastating and far-reaching impacts of Covid-19.

Center-right Latin American governments have proven to manage the Covid-19 crisis far better than their populist counterparts. Regarding the first group, I used the cases of Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. About the populist governments, I analyzed the examples of Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

We already know which countries have controlled the spread of COVID-19 better and what "good practices" have enabled them to do so. Eventually, some of these policies could be replicated in other countries. But it is not enough to make a well-informed public intervention. We also need quickly available indicators of how actively populations are res...

Comparative politics about the pensions reforms -Chile, Brazil and, France- and how prepared is each country in terms of public policy and institutional frame to get those reforms done.