Why Doesn’t the T-Shirt Exporter Pay, While the Coffee Exporter Does?
Anyone in Guatemala who wanted to buy something as simple as imported chocolate, before 1986, had three doors available. The Comisariato Militar, if you had a military ID and knew someone inside: a “passport to paradise” of imported consumer goods. Selectas or Exclusivas, if you had the money of the capital’s upper class. For everyone […]
Why Does No One Connect Through Guatemala?
Guatemala sits between two oceans and at the heart of the Americas, yet for centuries it has functioned more as the end of the line than as a crossroads. This essay traces that history from the ports of the Kingdom of Guatemala to La Aurora International Airport and asks what it would take to turn geography into connectivity.
The Sunday Colombia Chooses Its Future
Andrés Rodríguez is twenty-three years old and lives in El Poblado, Medellín. Four years ago, when he turned eighteen and was able to vote for the first time in his life, he confidently cast his ballot for Gustavo Petro. He did not do it on a whim. He did it because he believed in the […]
Should Guatemala Follow Mexico? A Mirror We Cannot Ignore
Do you remember Demetrio? The man from the Alka-Seltzer commercials of the 1980s who, after a night of excess, would return home feeling miserable. Well, when Demetrio wanted to buy his Corolla in the year 2000, he needed twenty-seven months of salary to pay for it. That same year, a Demetrio in Guadalajara needed only […]