A FARC guerilla begins work on a transition zone two weeks after the camp was set to be completed, Carrizal, Colombia, Jan. 16, 2017 (photo by Camilo Mejia).

Perched on a hill above the tiny village of Carrizal in northern Colombia, the camp that was supposed to be housing 300 guerrilla fighters is nothing more than a wooden shack surrounded by a muddy field. Two weeks after the Dec. 31 deadline for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym, FARC, to demobilize, the only guerillas in sight are the 11 men that make up the camp’s construction crew. “There is no water. There is no electricity. There are no houses. None of the necessary things that the guerrillas need to arrive at those points […]

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a news conference, Feb. 1, 2017, New York (AP photo by Mary Altaffer).

All bureaucracies need heroes. The employees of most large organizations spend their days taking notes and bickering over their vacation dates. They require a few exemplary individuals, past or present, to inspire them. Bankers laud the financial wizards who landed big deals. Lawyers lionize the legal eagles who won famous cases. The United Nations is no different. U.N. officials tend to be smart, highly educated and distinctly frustrated by the organization’s struggle to stay relevant on the world stage. Anyone who has encountered this admirably cosmopolitan tribe of officials knows that they are also collectively obsessed by their right to […]

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley speaks to reporters after a Security Council meeting, New York, Feb. 16, 2017 (AP photo by Mary Altaffer).

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss European alarm over Donald Trump’s criticisms of NATO. For the Report, Sarah Hearn talks with Peter Dörrie about the prospects for global development in an era of populist retrenchment in the West. If you’d like to support our free podcast through patron pledges, Patreon is an online service that will allow you to do so. To find out about the benefits you can get through pledging as little as $1 per month, click through to WPR’s Trend Lines Patreon page. Listen: Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes […]

Men look for a place to sleep in a crowded shelter for migrants deported from the United States, Nogales, Mexico. April 28, 2010 (AP photo by Gregory Bull).

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss the battle between President Donald Trump’s White House and the U.S. intelligence community. For the Report, Laura Weiss talks with Peter Dörrie about how shifting patterns of Central American migration are putting Mexico’s asylum system under pressure. If you’d like to support our free podcast through patron pledges, Patreon is an online service that will allow you to do so. To find out about the benefits you can get through pledging as little as $1 per month, click through to WPR’s Trend Lines Patreon […]

Central American migrants attend a Mass at the Basilica de Guadalupe, Mexico City, April 18, 2015 (AP photo by Marco Ugarte).

TAPACHULA, Mexico—David Gramajo was working as a bricklayer in Atlanta in 2012 when he was stopped by police for driving without a license, turned over to immigration authorities, and deported to his native Guatemala. But once he returned to Guatemala City, he and his wife Alejandra struggled to maintain their business and protect their three children. They received constant threats from gang members who extorted and threatened their family for the little money they had. Eventually, they were forced to leave behind their business and again head north, but this time with a different aim: Mexico. I met David and […]

Police scuffle with Afghan migrants as they block the entrance of the Hellenikon migrant camp, Athens, Greece, Feb. 6, 2017 (AP photo by Thanassis Stavrakis).

The turmoil that greeted U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning most travel from several Muslim-majority countries and his plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico understandably focused global attention on the Trump administration’s migration policies. But the fact is that developments in the United States are not occurring in a vacuum. The issue of how to regulate the flow of human beings seeking to resettle from one country to another is climbing on the global agenda, with potentially harmful implications on a number of important fronts. Restricting immigration has always been the subject of bitter, emotional […]

Migrants and refugees wave for help from inside a wooden boat 21 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, Feb. 3, 2017 (AP photo by Emilio Morenatti).

Some of the most compelling dramas about the effects of globalization are playing out in the Mediterranean basin today. This is understandable given the region’s position, where the worlds of the North and South intersect, quite tragically in recent years. But three distinct zones of the Mediterranean show quite different coping mechanisms with respect to three major global challenges: migration, terrorism and economic interdependence. Throughout history, the Mediterranean has been a crossroad of cultural interaction between great empires and civilizations. Resources, people and ideas have moved from South to North, and back again, creating the great multicultural cities of Venice […]