Newsletter Writing Kellogg Institute Kellogg Fall '06
About the time ADRIAN DE LEON-ARIAS was finishing his PhD in economics at Notre Dame, both sides of the US-Mexico border were anxious about the impact of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
MIRIAM KORNBLITH's journey from quiet academic at the Instituto de Estudios Políticos of the Central University in Caracas to public figure seems to surprise even her.
In 1998, she was nominated to become vice president and member of the board of directors of Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE). Ultimately, she would oversee five elections, including the one that elected Venezuela's controversial President Hugo Chávez.
The famous New York Times newsroom story goes something like this: In 1957, at the invitation of a charismatic young revolutionary named Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, the paper dispatched its veteran war correspondent, Herbert Matthews, to Cuba.
Although Castro had been rumored to be dead since his disastrous, so-called invasion of Cuba and there was little evidence of a widespread insurrection or any significant support for a rebellion, the exclusive was still too juicy to resist.
Once there, Matthews trekked into the Sierra Maestra Mountains, skirting Batista's troops until he rendezvoused with Castro and his ragtag handful of men. The front-page article portrayed Castro heroically in his fight against Batista's dictatorship, and incorrectly asserted that his rebel force numbered around 1,000 men.
Perspectives from the Kellogg Institute
The post-World War II period has brought enormous challenges to the Catholic Church in Latin America. Among the challenges today are a gradual erosion of the religious monopoly the Church once enjoyed, growing secularization, and an erosion of some values that the Church has traditionally upheld, including a rapid increase in single-parent households.
Read more: The Challenges of Pluralism and the Catholic Church
