Page 3 - Mac Margolis News Today

COMMENTARY The pandemic has finally given scientists more standing in Latin America. Let's hope that helps give the region's bad politicos less of it.

As Goes Colombia, So Goes Latin America? May 11 2021, 3:55 AM May 10 2021, 2:30 PM May 11 2021, 3:55 AM (Bloomberg Opinion) -- When Colombians voted in a 42-year-old development wonk as president in 2018, they knew it was a leap of faith. But what Ivan Duque lacked in political adroitness (he’d served a single term as a senator), the argument went, he would finesse as an internationally accredited emerging market technocrat. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- When Colombians voted in a 42-year-old dev...

There’s No App to Beat Covid in Latin America Apr 16 2021, 10:41 PM April 16 2021, 2:30 PM April 16 2021, 10:41 PM (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Whether it’s standing up to corporate tobacco, pioneering the rainbow agenda or branding Big Marijuana, Uruguay’s public-policy chutzpah stands out in the Americas. So it was little surprise when this nation of 3.4 million joined the world’s pacesetters in vaccine rollout. Some 28 of every 100 Uruguayans have had at least one anti-Covid...

Millennial authoritarian Bukele wins over voters in El Salvador By Mac Margolis / Bloomberg Opinion Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele was busy last year. In February last year, barely a year after taking office, he marched soldiers into the congressional chambers to intimidate the ostensibly obstreperous legislature. He stopped shy of a coup apparently because God told him to stand down. A month later, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he sealed borders and ordered a severe lockdown, shunting ...

Venezuela’s Covid Toll Is About to Surge Feb 18 2021, 6:25 AM February 16 2021, 3:30 PM February 18 2021, 6:25 AM (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Venezuelans had rare occasion to celebrate last week when a government directive cleared the way for hundreds of thousands of their compatriots in harm’s way to receive doses of Covid-19 vaccines. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Venezuelans had rare occasion to celebrate last week when a government directive cleared the way for hundreds of thousands of their ...

As the autocratic Nicolas Maduro entrenches himself, his democratic opponents need some pragmatic wins to recover their mojo. When a Venezuelan patrol boat intercepted a Guyanese fishing trawler late last month, the third such blue-water confrontation in a matter of weeks, investors, diplomats and the government in Georgetownwere understandably alarmed. Was Venezuela poised to invade its neighbor and seize a stake in the worlds Not a chance. Yes, Venezuela has long chafed at its e...

Mac Margolis, Bloomberg News (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As much as pouring cement and building towers, Brazilian construction dynasty Odebrecht was famed for its political panache. “I get down in the mud with the pigs but come out the other side clean in my white suit,” Norberto Odebrecht, founder of the legacy contractor, liked to boast back in the 1970s and 1980s. The catchphrase was shorthand for what became a patently Brazilian way of doing business – the art of buying influence ...

Billionaires Can’t Pay Latin America’s Covid Tab Dec 17 2020, 3:41 PM December 16 2020, 4:00 PM December 17 2020, 3:41 PM (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Pandemic, schmandemic! As Covid ravages Latin America, the material fortunes of its wealthy may have never fared better. The region’s billionaires saw their rarefied ranks grow by one new member every week from March to July, while the collective stash of the megarich increased by $48 billion, according to a report by Oxfam. (Bloom...