Archive RSS Feed: Washingtonpost Marcela Sanchez Desde Washington

El dulce fruto de la urbanizacian

Cuando era nia en la Bogota de los aos 70, el reciclaje no tenÃƒÂa un programa gubernamental o un estudio ambiental que lo motivara. Simplemente ocurrÃƒÂa. Cada semana, un carro de madera aparecÃƒÂa en la calle y una voz penetrante repetÃƒÂa incesantemente: Ã‚Â¡botellas, frascos, papel! Mi madre salÃƒÂa con lo que habÃƒÂa guardado y lo intercambiaba por unos cuantos pesos con aquellos bogotanos que intentaban subsistir con la basura de otros.

Urbanization's Green Outgrowth

WASHINGTON -- Recycling didn't have a government program or environmental study behind it when I was a kid in Bogota in the 1970s, it just happened. Every week, a wooden cart would appear in the street and we'd hear the cry -- botellas, frascos, papel! My mom would rush out with whatever bottles, jars and newspapers she had saved and exchange them for a few pesos with those Bogotanos who eked out an existence in repurposed trash.

Chavez, el socialista 'amable'

El Presidente venezolano Hugo Chavez comenzo su tercer mandato la semana pasada con la promesa de profundizar su "revolucion bolivariana" y acelerar la marcha de su pais hacia el "socialismo del siglo XXI".

Chavez, The 'Polite' Socialist

WASHINGTON -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week began his third term in office promising to deepen his "Bolivarian revolution" and accelerate his country's march toward "21st-century socialism."

Como Limpiar La Guerra Sucia En Colombia

Desde el pasado 15 de enero, el excomandante paramilitar Salvatore Mancuso ha horrorizado a sus compatriotas colombianos con los detalles de su actividad asesina. Mancuso ha reconocido mas de 300 asesinatos, una pequea porcian del nÃƒÂºmero de muertes que los expertos creen que cometia como gestor de algunas de las peores atrocidades en las cuatro dÃƒÂ©cadas de conflicto en Colombia.

Cleaning Up Colombia's Dirty War

WASHINGTON -- Since Jan. 15, former paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso has horrified his fellow Colombians with detailed accounts of his murderous profession. Mancuso has admitted to killing more than 300 people, a fraction of the number of deaths that experts believe he was involved in as the architect of some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's four-decade-old conflict.

Ã‚Â¿Puede el poder de los artistas salvar a los pobres de AmÃƒÂ©rica Latina?

Ciertamente es inusual y tal vez incluso sin precedentes que un autor premio Nabel, una de las cantantes latinoamericanas mas populares del mundo y el tercer hombre mas rico del planeta unan fuerzas. Pero bajo la nueva Fundacian AmÃƒÂ©rica Latina en Accian Solidaria (ALAS), personas como Gabriel GarcÃƒÂa Marquez, Shakira y el magnate de las telecomunicaciones Carlos Slim intentan "dar un salto formidable hacia una LatinoamÃƒÂ©rica de iguales," segÃƒÂºn palabras del escritor colombiano.

Can Star Power Save Latin America's Poor?

WASHINGTON -- It's certainly unusual and perhaps unprecedented that a Nobel Prize-winning author, one of the world's most popular Latin American singers, and the world's third-richest man would join forces. But under the new Latin America Solidarity Action Foundation (ALAS), notables such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Shakira and telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, intend, in the words of the Colombian writer, to help take "a formidable leap toward a Latin America of equals."

Ã‚Â¿Un nuevo cortejo entre Estados Unidos y MÃƒÂ©xico?

Durante su primera visita a Washington despuÃƒÂ©s de haber sido elegido presidente de MÃƒÂ©xico, Felipe Calderan no sona muy distinto a otros presidentes mexicanos que intentan causar revuelo en esta capital. Repitia con frecuencia su deseo de hacer de MÃƒÂ©xico "uno de los mejores lugares para invertir en el mundo" y agrega que la prosperidad mexicana ayudarÃƒÂa a reducir el nÃƒÂºmero de inmigrantes que ingresan ilegalmente a Estados Unidos. En vez de tener "gente que cruza la frontera en busca de capital . . . Necesitamos capital que cruce la frontera en busca de personas."

The U.S. and Mexico: A Newly Courting Couple?

WASHINGTON -- During his first visit to Washington after being elected president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon didn't sound that different from other Mexican presidents trying to make a splash here. He frequently repeated his desire to make Mexico "one of the best places to invest in the world," and added that Mexico's prosperity would help reduce the number of illegal immigrants coming to the US Instead of having "people crossing the border looking for capital ... we need capital crossing the border looking for people," he said.