The controversial Colombian program of 'democratic security' appears to be working. And because Colombia's population is also giving the government of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez good marks halfway through its term, the president's efforts to win reelection are gaining new momentum. The...

At the end of February 2005, nearly twenty years after their accession to the then European Community, Spain and Portugal have once again given a clear signal of their identification with the European Union (EU): In Spain the first national referendum on the ratification of the Treaty...

Bolivia appears to be over the worst of its current crisis, now that parliament has accepted President Carlos Mesa's resignation and early elections are in prospect. Mesa held the office of president from October 2003 to June 2005 after Gonzalo Sánchez de Losada was toppled and fled to the...

If proof had ever been needed that the United States' Latin America policies had failed, it was provided by the latest Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata. Washington only just managed to get its prestige Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) project onto the meeting's final statement at...

Despite concerted political efforts to isolate the Colombian peace process from Venezuela's internal unrest, the signs suggest coalescence and tectonic strife in the region. There are justified concerns that the increasingly interconnected constellation of precarious peace in Colombia and...

On 5 November 2020 Mexico ratified the socalled Escazú Agreement, a treaty between Latin American and Caribbean states on establishing regional transparency and environment standards, as the eleventh country to do so. The prescribed quorum of ratifications has thus been attained, and the...

On 3 March, the Federal Cabinet adopted an act on corporate due diligence in supply chains. This represents an important step towards German businesses assuming full and proper responsibility for the supply chains associated with their goods and services. The move puts Germany in a group of...

The Covid pandemic has severely upset global supply chains. This disruption has now spread to many branches of industry, and consumers are starting to feel the impact. No short-term improvement is in sight, which has serious implications for manufacturing processes all over the world. To begin...

Die wachsende Entfremdung zwischen den USA und ihren Partnern in Mittel- und Südamerika ist das sichtbarste Ergebnis des 9. Amerika-Gipfels, der Anfang Juni 2022 in Los Angeles stattfand. Kontrovers war bereits die Einladungspolitik der Regierung Biden gegenüber den 34 Staaten der Region;...

Eine lange Reihe von Störungen des Welthandels in den letzten Jahren hat eine Reorganisation der internationalen Lieferketten auf die politische Tagesordnung gebracht. Die Unregelmäßigkeiten begannen mit dem Handelskrieg zwischen den USA und China, setzten sich fort mit der Covid-19-Pandemie...