Chocolate in Mesoamerica (book)
Cameron L. McNeil, ed., Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao [Maya Studies] (University Press of Florida, 2007).
Posted by David Fahey on January 1, 2009 at 02:23 PM in Belize, Books, Chocolate, Guatemala, Mexico, Religion | Permalink
Chocolate and sex in early modern Guatemala (article)
Martha Few, "Chocolate, Sex, and Disorderly Women in Late-Seventeenth- and Early-Eighteenth-Century Guatemala," Ethnohistory 52/4 (2005): 673-687.
Posted by David Fahey on September 28, 2007 at 07:09 PM in Chocolate, Guatemala | Permalink
Latin America's "wrong left" and drug trafficking
Jorge G. Castañeda, in the May/June 2006 issue of Foreign Affairs, counsels Washington and the international community on what they should do about "Latin America's left turn." Castañeda characterizes his "wrong left" with many "moral" problems, including the tolerance of drug trafficking.
The international community should also clarify what it expects from the "wrong left," given that it exists and that attempts to displace it would be not only morally unacceptable but also pragmatically ineffective. The first point to emphasize is that Latin American governments of any persuasion must abide by their countries' commitments regarding human rights and democracy. The region has built up an incipient scaffolding on these matters over recent years, and any backsliding, for whatever reason or purpose, should be met by a rebuke from the international community. The second point to stress is that all governments must continue to comply with the multilateral effort to build a new international legal order, one that addresses, among other things, the environment, indigenous people's rights, international criminal jurisdiction (despite Washington's continued rejection of the International Criminal Court and its pressure on several Latin American governments to do the same), nuclear nonproliferation, World Trade Organization rules and norms, regional agreements, and the fight against corruption, drug trafficking, and terrorism, consensually defined. Europe and the United States have enormous leverage in many of these countries. They should use it.
Full text here.
Posted by Jon on May 2, 2006 at 12:44 PM in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cannabis, Chile, Coca Leaf, Cocaine, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Drugs (general), Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela | Permalink
Guatemalan opium plantations found
Police discovered 200 hectares (nearly 500 acres) planted with opium poppies in the northwestern Guatemalan province of San Marcos, authorities said Thursday.
The Daily Journal reports.
Posted by Cynthia on February 18, 2006 at 01:23 PM in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Opium, United States | Permalink
Guatemala (dissertation)
Dunn, Alvis E. “Aguardiente and Identity: the Holy Week Riot of 1786 in Quezaltenango, Guatemala.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999. [On the religious aspects of alcohol in the history of Quezaltenango.]
Posted by Jon on June 14, 2005 at 01:58 PM in Alcohol (general), Guatemala | Permalink
A hot year for coffee? The signs look good
The Herald Tribune reports (19 March 2005) that a drop in Brazil's coffee exports and a major growth in Asia's coffee industry has put coffee prices at a 5-year high. Read the full story here.
Posted by Cynthia on March 21, 2005 at 03:11 PM in Brazil, Britain, Burundi, Caribbean, China, Coffee, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, French Caribbean, Germany, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Peru, Russia, Tea, Uganda, United States, Vietnam | Permalink
Pit Stop on the Cocaine Highway
The Washington Post reported on 6 October 2004 that in the 1990s, tons of Colombian cocaine were flown to northern Mexico and then driven across the border into the United States. But now better-equipped Mexican military pilots scramble to intercept suspicious planes. So traffickers prefer Guatemala, where the radar is spotty and the government is largely unable to stop the flights, according to Guatemalan and U.S. law enforcement officials. As a result, Guatemala is now the hottest destination in Central America for Colombian cocaine on its way to the United States. Find the full story here.
Posted by Cynthia on March 17, 2005 at 10:37 AM in Cocaine, Guatemala, Mexico, United States | Permalink