Laurence Blair
The Guardian
Paraguay
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Past articles by Laurence:
‘The PCC are after me’: the drug cartel with Paraguay in its clutches
What began as a prison gang is threatening to turn Paraguay into a narcostate and its deadly tentacles extend much further → Read More
Risking it all: migrants brave Darién Gap in pursuit of the American dream
Last year a record 133,000 people risked their lives on a perilous trek through a lawless jungle – and the numbers keep rising → Read More
Chile’s archaeologists fight to save the world’s oldest mummies from climate change
The desert graveyard where the ancient Chinchorro decorated and buried their dead is now a Unesco World Heritage site → Read More
‘For our grandchildren’: the man recording the lives of Paraguay’s vanishing forest people
Mateo Sobode Chiqueno’s lifelong project compiling cassettes of the Ayoreo people’s stories, songs and struggles to survive is now the subject of an award-winning film, Nothing but the Sun → Read More
Wildfires sends giant cloud of ash across southern Paraguay
Smoke blown from fires in drought-striken Argentina shrouds Asunción and surrounding regions in dangerous haze → Read More
Rocky road: Paraguay’s new Chaco highway threatens rare forest and last of the Ayoreo people
Forced from their homes by missionaries, the Ayoreo cling on in the Chaco. Now the Bioceanic Corridor cuts through the fastest-vanishing forest on Earth, refuge of some of the Americas’ last hunter-gatherers → Read More
Gabriel Boric’s triumph puts wind in the sails of Latin America’s resurgent left
The decisive victory reflects Chileans’ revolt against a threadbare welfare system and a society systematically stacked in the favour of the rich → Read More
Albion absolved: Britain was not secret instigator of Paraguay war, book claims
The notion that South American neighbours had a ‘fourth ally’ in the 19th-century War of the Triple Alliance is a myth, author says → Read More
Indigenous community evicted as land clashes over agribusiness rock Paraguay
Police in riot gear tore down a community’s homes and ripped up crops, highlighting the country’s highly unequal land ownership → Read More
Historic letters from Brazil reveal nation’s yearning for unity
The Dutch-Portuguese war of 1645 split the Potiguara people but their leaders’ correspondence across battle lines has finally been translated from Tupi → Read More
Why a Tiny Guerrilla Group Has Paraguay’s Government on the Ropes
The killing of two Argentine girls in a botched raid on the Paraguayan People’s Army, followed by the EPP’s most high-profile kidnapping to date, has reignited debate in Paraguay about this small Marxist guerrilla group. The government considers it a terrorist organization that should be eradicated militarily. → Read More
Bolivia protesters bring country to standstill over election delays
Demonstrators allied to Evo Morales say authorities are using Covid-19 to delay vote → Read More
In Latin America, Economies Ravaged by COVID-19 Prompt Calls for Debt Relief
As the coronavirus pandemic takes a terrible toll across Latin America, the region is increasingly facing a financial and humanitarian emergency. Pandemic-related spending is straining state finances, with most countries banking on emergency lending and a recovery next year to help them scrape through. → Read More
Bolivia in danger of squandering its head start over coronavirus
Despite imposing an early lockdown, containment may be unravelling amid poverty, an underprepared health system and a bitter political standoff → Read More
Funding cuts threaten ancient sites, warn Mexican archaeologists
Sharp reduction in heritage body’s budget is part of wider savings due to Covid-19 costs → Read More
Is Bolivia's 'interim' president using the pandemic to outstay her welcome?
Jeanine Áñez has postponed elections, and her government, which mixes militarism with religious zeal, is accused of persecuting political opponents → Read More
A Leftist Loss in Uruguay’s Presidential Race Wasn’t Exactly a Conservative Triumph
Ending 15 years of governing by the leftist Broad Front coalition, Luis Lacalle Pou of the center-right National Party was declared the winner on Nov. 30 of Uruguay’s closely contested presidential runoff. But any conservative triumphalism should be tempered by Lacalle Pou’s narrow victory and cautious agenda. → Read More
Archaeologists fear Bolsonaro agenda will kill Amazon civilisation research
Brazil’s president has cut science funding while opening the region to loggers, miners and farmers – putting priceless evidence of ancient cultures at risk → Read More
Bolivia crisis: how did we get here and what happens next?
A disputed election, a deposed president, an unelected interim government and widespread street protests have left the country in turmoil → Read More
Evo Morales: indigenous leader who changed Bolivia but stayed too long
The son of llama herders was a coca farmer before transforming his country during 14 years in office but his personalised rule was a fatal weakness → Read More