Railways in Chile

Chilean rail transport is operated entirely by Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) through subsidiaries. Since creation in 1884, the company expanded to its present monopolistic state. Oddly, Chilean rail gauges are not standardized within the country, although the gauges have been segregated in the north and south of the country. Rail lines in…

US Ambassador Booted from Ecuador Over Wikileaks Incident

United States ambassador Heather Hodges was removed by the administration of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on the 4th of April, 2011. A leak revealed by Wikileaks reportedly revealed that a State Department cable implied that Correa appointed a General, Jaime Hurtado, despite having knowledge that Jaime had “used his positions to extort bribes, facilitate human…

US Ambassador Strains Relations with El Salvador

Mari Carmen Aponte was appointed by the Obama administration as Ambassador to El Salvador. Because she has been a controversial appointment, twice rejected by the US Congress, Obama appointed her while the Congress was not in session to avoid a traditional confirmation. Almost immediately after beginning her tenuous tenure, Ms Aponte exposed the justification for…

Plurinations

Along with Bolivia, Ecuador is a country which recognizes the right of native ethnic groups to assume affiliations within the formal state. In 2009, Bolivia’s controversial constitution formal bestowed this right to it’s indigenous population. In Ecuador, these countries-within-a-country are represented by criollos, mestizos, and Afro-Ecuadorians across the country. Ecuador officially recognized these groups, and granted them certain rights…