What do you want? This is a question so few of us actually ever encounter past childhood. If we do, we may hear the question riding on the edge of irritation, as in “what do you want, now?” No, the question asked by someone who truly cares about an honest…

Hours after his defeat, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was despondent. He was not talking. One of his closest political allies, Valdemar Costa Neto, shared with Brazilian media outlets days later that he was not eating. Weeks later, Bolsonaro left the country and moved into a suburban single family home…

A few weeks ago, I posted my thoughts on the Garcia Luna trial about half way through. Now he’s been found guilty. He is looking at a heavy conviction, maybe life in prison. Here are a few thoughts about the trial’s conclusion. It’s a win for the good guys. Though…

In the same Brooklyn courtroom where Mexico’s infamous criminal warlord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was tried, the prosecution has nearly completed its case against a man who many believe worked with — and maybe for — El Chapo. Gerardo Garcia Luna served the Felipe Calderon presidency as the Secretary of…

A neoliberal, conservative operating system installed in the 90s is breaking, but the current protests are not enough to completely remove a decades’ old governance structure that influences and discards presidents. Peru will find a new normal in months, but it will be a slow, bumpy path to get there. …

Lessons from Failure Failing well is one of the hardest things to learn. I have made many mistakes over the years, but I have learned to look at failure as a stepping stone, a reason to keep climbing. In 2021, my executive coach helped me define failure by stating that…

This piece was initially drafted in late 2018 as a vision statement for what later developed into De Facto, a Southern Pulse product focused on mis- and disinformation in Latin America. It has been updated and presented as part two of Three Challenges and Two Opportunities. …

Through a brief walk in history, I outline how the lines between Latin America’s licit and illicit economic actors have blurred. This piece is the first of five for Three Challenges and Two Opportunities in Latin America. In 2018, the COO of a gold mining company was tense and tight-lipped…

Latin America presents a more challenging and complex environment for investment and business operation in 2023 than any other moment in the past four decades. I introduce below a series of forthcoming thought pieces on challenges and opportunities in the region. It is designed to be high-level, and contextual. …