Circuitos espaciales de producción y mercados tradicionales en América Latina

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., <i>Olimpismo</i>

A hazard analysis critical control point approach (HACCP) to ensure the microbiological safety of sous vide processed meat/pasta product

Introduction Although anecdotal evidence suggests that HIV infections in Mexico were occurring in 1981, the first cases of AIDS in Mexico were documented in 1983. Since then, approximately 50 000 cases of AIDS have been reported nationwide and it is estimated that there are approximately 150 000 HIV-infected persons living in Mexico [1,2]. While it could be argued that there is some underreporting of AIDS in Mexico [2,3], the epidemic is still significantly less intense than that to the north (USA) or south (Central American countries, e.g. Honduras). One possible explanation for this is that, unlike in the countries surrounding it, the epidemic in Mexico has remained 'nuclear', primarily affecting men who have sex with men in urban areas of the country such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana [4]. This relative containment of the epidemic is by no means accidental but rather the end result of many prevention efforts conducted by the government as well as by community-based organizations. The national response to AIDS in Mexico was early and strong, beginning shortly after the first cases were reported in 1983. HIV testing began the first year the test was available (1985) and in February of 1986 the National Committee for AIDS Prevention (CONASIDA) was founded. In 1988 a Presidential Decree transformed CONASIDA from a committee to a 'National Council', thus giving it a multisectorial composition that went beyond the scope of individual health sector response. While early national-level attention toward containing the epidemic has benefited the population at large, it is clear that prevention efforts of the Mexican government have been most successful in two areas: in the control of transfusion-transmitted HIV and in preventing infections among female commercial sex workers. Because HIV infection through blood and blood products represents only a small proportion of all cases of HIV/AIDS worldwide it has not received the attention this means of transmission merits [5]. Not only is it the most efficient way in which HIV can be transmitted, but transmission via blood and blood products is also the route most amenable to government control. As a result, devoting attention and resources to insuring the safety of the blood supply represents a unique opportunity and a cost-effective intervention for public health authorities to dramatically change the course of HIV infection in a given country. The changing epidemiology of AIDS in Mexico provides compelling proof of this conclusion. With the exception of patients with hemophilia, transfusion-transmitted HIV in developing countries primarily affects women – specifically women who receive blood for obstetric reasons [6]. Because of this observation, a country with a large proportion of infected women may overestimate the level of 'heterosexual' transmission, overlooking a hidden blood and blood products connection. For example, in 1986 there were 26 cases of AIDS in men for every one in women (26 : 1) in Mexico. Four years later, at the same time that the highest proportion of transfusion-transmitted cases were being reported nationwide, the number of infections among women had climbed so dramatically that the ratio dropped to five cases of AIDS in men for every one in women (5 : 1). Then, in 1999, the first year in which no transfusion-transmitted AIDS cases were reported in Mexico, the trend in male-to-female cases reversed direction ( for the first time ), with six cases of AIDS being reported in men for every one in women (6 : 1). In many countries, infection of the blood supply is chiefly an economic phenomenon. For example, prior to 1987, selling one's blood or plasma was such an attractive source of income for many impoverished Mexicans that commercial blood and plasma donors (who had, by definition, no inducement to know their HIV status prior to donation) formed a significant percentage of total blood suppliers. Thus, the control of transfusion-transmitted HIV in Mexico not only involved mandatory HIV testing but also banning the commercialization of blood and closing of commercial plasmapheresis centers. As noted above, this policy has all but eliminated HIV from the Mexican blood supply. Blood transmission of HIV in other countries continues to be a significant problem. Recent reports from China suggest that paid blood donors may be playing an important role in the spread of HIV there [7]. The impact of commercial sex on HIV transmission is well known and has long been considered a critical vector for the introduction of HIV infection into the general population [8,9]. As a result, interventions to limit the extent of HIV infection among commercial sex workers (CSW) are frequently viewed as a priority in many national prevention campaigns [10]. Perhaps the best-known of the successful interventions with CSW to date is the '100% condom use in brothels' initiative in Thailand [11]. This initiative has lead to a marked decrease in HIV incidence among Thai military recruits as well as to a decrease in the incidence of other sexually transmitted infections in that country. In contrast to Thailand and many other countries though, HIV seroprevalence among female CSW in Mexico has remained low since the beginning of epidemiological investigation, with seroprevalence averaging below 1% in large, repetitive serosurveillance studies. This finding suggests that many of the early interventions targeting CSW in Mexico might have limited the impact of HIV in this group. Yet, it could also be argued that the nuclear epidemiology of HIV in Mexico described above has simply meant that female CSW in Mexico are at less risk of exposure to infection than CSW in other countries. If this observation is so, the low seroprevalence among Mexican CSW may not be credited to public health intervention but rather reflect lack of opportunity to be exposed to HIV. In this article, we will review the major interventions conducted to date in Mexico as part of the National AIDS Prevention and Control Program. We will also review the available data published in journals or presented at the International AIDS Conferences for insights into Mexican HIV prevention successes and failures that may have implications for AIDS programs in other developing countries. The control of HIV transmission through blood and blood products When the AIDS epidemic began in Mexico in the early 1980s there was no coordinated system of blood procurement and a large proportion of the blood available in the country was obtained from paid donors. In addition, an unknown number of commercial plasma collection centers throughout the nation also obtained their products from paid donors. Evidence now suggests that these centers frequently re-used contaminated equipment during blood collection resulting in the introduction of HIV to previously healthy donors. As a result, not only did the centers collect and distribute infected blood products, but they also acted as an efficient means for accelerating that process by transmitting HIV to previously uninfected repeat clients during the plasmapheresis process. Until recently, the impact of transfusion-transmitted HIV on the AIDS epidemic in Mexico had been quite significant. In only 4 years (1984–1988) blood and blood product transfusion associated AIDS in Mexico went from being unheard of to comprising over 10% of all cases. Until 1987, paid blood and plasma donors provided approximately one-third of all blood products in Mexico [12]. Stereotypically, a paid donor would be a young man from a rural area who had migrated to one of the shanty towns that surround large cities like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana. He would be unemployed/underemployed, disenfranchised, and had no risk factors for HIV infection prior to his migration. After hearing about the opportunity from a friend or family member, he would become a regular customer at one of the local blood banks or plasmapheresis centers, being paid to donate as frequently as the individual center's policy allowed, perhaps as often as every 2 or 3 days. The more times he donated, the higher his risk became for becoming infected with HIV during the blood collection process. If he did become infected, he would almost certainly transmit that infection into the national blood supply – and to other donors at the same center as well – during his subsequent donations. Additionally, he might also transmit HIV to his wife or girlfriend during sex and, through them, to his children. In May of 1986, when HIV testing of all blood donors became mandatory in Mexico, the full extent of the tragedy of HIV among paid donors first began to surface. In two separate but concurrent studies carried out between 1986 and 1987, a prevalence of 7% was found among 9100 paid donors [12] compared to a seroprevalence of only 0.67% among 319 153 persons who donated blood without remuneration [13]. Further evidence of the extreme health risk disparity faced by paid donors in Mexico at that time is evident when their seroprevalence is compared to that of related donors (0.12%) or volunteer donors (0.09%) [12,14]. When the data were analyzed retrospectively, the scope of the risk faced by paid donors became dramatically clear. For example, the prevalence among paid donors at one plasmapheresis center increased in 5 months, from 6% in June 1986 to 9.2% in October of the same year [14]. Furthermore, seroconversion was documented in 22.1% of these subjects during this period. A case–control study of this population revealed that a history of four or more donations per month (odds ratio, 5.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.9–16.3) was associated with HIV infection. As described above, it is believed that donors were iatrogenically infected with HIV during the plasmapheresis process, probably as a result of improper infection control measures. The procedure included recycling of plasmapheresis equipment, reuse of needles or syringes, and even the injection of small amounts of infected plasma or blood. As the number of donations per month was as high as 12, it is feasible that once the infection was introduced into a specific blood or plasma bank, subsequent uninfected donors became infected at the blood or plasma facility at the time of donation. In 1989, the first case of AIDS in a Mexican paid plasmapheresis donor was reported [15] and by 1990 the reporting of this high-risk group became mandatory in Mexico [16]. Thus a new 'risk group' was defined in Mexico and later adopted by the Panamerican Health Organization: the professional blood donor. However, paid donor is not routinely reported as a risk group in many epidemiological reports and thus it may not be recognized as an important contributor to the spread of HIV in a given country (see Fig. 1).Fig. 1.: AIDS cases in Mexico in 1997 by risk group. Mexico versus WHO/UNAIDS.In May of 1987, as a consequence of poor compliance by blood and plasma banks with the 1986 law that mandated HIV screening of blood and blood products, the executive and legislative branches of the government approved a law prohibiting the sale of blood and blood products in Mexico [6,17]. This law was not without controversy and much opposition. Since Mexico lacked a culture of volunteer blood donation, ready sources of HIV testing, and an organized blood collection infrastructure, there was a major fear among public health officials that shutting down the blood and plasma industry would severely compromise the blood supply, prompting the emergence of a black market in blood and blood products. Because of this possibility, a two-pronged response was quickly approved and implemented. Campaigns promoting volunteer blood donations were begun all over the country while, at the same time, the necessary laboratory infrastructure for HIV testing was established. Within 4 months, a network of 70 laboratories capable of screening donors for HIV was set up in the country's 32 states. In addition, blood collection and distribution centers were established in collaboration with the Mexican Red Cross. Table 1 summarizes the steps taken by Mexico for the control of transfusion-transmitted HIV.Table 1: The Prevention of transfusion-transmitted HIV in Mexico. The implementation of the strategies described above has had dramatic consequences for public health in Mexico. Not only is the future health of the general public more assured – the number of transfusion- associated cases peaked within a year of the blood sale ban and no new cases of AIDS secondary to blood transfusion have been reported since 1999 (see Fig. 1) – but so is the future health of blood donors. After paid donors were banned in 1987 the HIV seroprevalence among donors decreased from 2.6% in 1986 to 0.7% in 1988 [6]. In 1989, HIV seroprevalence among blood donors in Mexico further decreased and has remained low (below 0.08% in all years). For example, only 385 out of 1 099 755 blood units tested positive for HIV in 1999 (0.04% prevalence) and 377 out of 1 140 632 were HIV infected in 2000 (0.03% prevalence), (see Figs 2 and 3). As a result of the change in government policy, it is estimated that over 8000 transfusion-transmitted infections have been prevented.Fig. 2.: AIDS cases associated with blood transfusion in Mexico (through July 2000, by date of diagnosis.Fig. 3.: HIV prevalence among blood donors, Mexico 1986–2000. From the National HIV Laboratory Network.This improvement is certainly a cause for relief but the true extent of the widespread damage caused by the paid donor system has yet to be calculated. Close to 400 cases of AIDS among paid donors were reported to the National AIDS Registry before this transmission of HIV was finally contained. This number of cases represents more than twice those reported among hemophiliacs in Mexico [17,18]. Close to 2500 cases of AIDS considered secondary to transfusion of HIV infected blood have been reported, and those account for only the primary infections [2,19,20]. As noted above, many of the paid donors, as well as the recipients of contaminated blood and blood products may have infected their sex partners (and subsequent children). This possibility is a key observation. Before the tragedy was contained, women in Mexico – particularly poor women – were at risk from contaminated blood from not one but two sources. They were at risk directly, via obstetric-related blood transfusions and they were at risk indirectly from sexual partners who were professional donors and who were infected at the time of blood or plasma collection. We believe that it is this 'double jeopardy' that Mexican women faced that led to the rapid transition in male : female ratio of AIDS cases in the mid 1980s and the apparent 'heterosexualization' of the AIDS epidemic. It is reasonable to suppose that without the now present safeguards placed on the blood supply in Mexico, this double jeopardy would have continued and the male : female ratio of infection would have continued to decrease until Mexico achieved a 'pattern 2' (primarily heterosexual) epidemic. Support for this assumption may be inferred by observing the rapid transition of the male : female case ratio in countries that continue to support a paid donor blood collection system. For example, in areas of India and China where epidemic HIV infection in paid donors has been noted, the epidemic has become overwhelmingly 'heterosexual' [21]. Support for this conclusion may also be found more concretely in the results of a study to determine the risk factors for HIV-infection among women in Mexico. Of 454 women who had an HIV test performed in 1992, multivariate analysis revealed that only a history of blood transfusion, low literacy and having sex with an HIV infected partner were associated with being HIV-infected [22]. In summary, the Mexican experience highlights the critical role that mandatory screening of all donors, prohibiting paid donations, and maintaining strict control of the plasma industry can have on the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS. Such simple control measures undoubtedly require resources but, above all, require political will for their implementation. The prevention of HIV infection among female commercial sex workers Commercial sex in Mexico takes place in the 32 federal states of Mexico under one of two legal frameworks: 'abolitionist' or 'reglamentarist' [23]. The abolitionist movement seeks to eliminate prostitution entirely by making its practice a misdemeanor. More commonly though, prostitution is allowed but controlled by legislation. The reglamentarist system restricts prostitutes' activities to certain areas of the city or establishments and requires them to be licensed and have periodic health exams. Most of Mexico (except for the Federal District where Mexico City is located, and the States of Mexico, Puebla and Guanajuato) functions under a reglamentarist system. The public health threat posed by the reglamentarist system – specifically the requirement for periodic health exams – is the potential for corruption (a sex worker might have the opportunity to 'buy' a clean record) and the potential for a false sense of security on the part of CSW clients. This false sense of security, which may lead some clients to request or insist on sex without a condom, is not just a product of political corruption. Unfortunately even periodic health exams are not sufficient to protect clients from recently acquired HIV infection or sexually transmitted infections (STI). There is continuing debate among public health experts about whether the abolitionist or reglamentarist legal framework provides a better system for preventing HIV infection among sex workers. Thailand's experience, however, would seem to suggest that strictly enforced rules and regulations governing both sex workers and their clients (such as 100% condom use in brothels) can be the cornerstone of a successful program of public health safety [11,24]. Commercial sex in Mexico City takes place under an abolitionist system that has been in place since 1940 when the practice of commercial sex was first banned in that city. In Mexico City, any individual who is found practicing commercial sex may be fined and arrested for 24–36 h [25]. Under this legislation the police are also permitted to detain women who are on the street simply because their personal appearance is considered 'offensive to modesty and good custom', even if there is no evidence that the women were actively engaging in prostitution. Nevertheless, patronizing the services of CSW is tolerated and excused, if not condoned. are arrested or This double is In the Mexico City of young health found that 6% of men reported having their first sexual with a CSW The proportion of men who have been clients of CSW during their is undoubtedly Unfortunately this system CSW in a status and them of health services and legal This in the corruption of police and other authorities who routinely from In 1986 an place CSW that, in may have been in the Mexican AIDS epidemic to its nuclear In that female CSW began at National AIDS (CONASIDA) and to request HIV testing and risk In these women provided an opportunity for public health officials to to an population that is and of with the CONASIDA began to to with these women and them into the public health process. Perhaps the most intervention that place during this time was a between the of in Mexico City and the of Health that allowed CONASIDA to a of and interventions with sex workers without the of the local In this way CONASIDA was to with sex workers and their without them to testing of early revealed that HIV incidence among female CSW in Mexico City was below 1% in the 1980s and has remained low since among 1997 women tested for HIV in This finding is in marked contrast to the prevalence of HIV among male CSW in Mexico or to the epidemic among male and female CSW in other countries. the same time interval, for example, the HIV seroprevalence for sex workers in Thailand increased from in 1988 to over in 1990 A of HIV among sex workers has been in India and [21]. on the seroprevalence of HIV found among CSW who are tested in a CONASIDA it is that factors described below may have a low prevalence of HIV among female CSW in Mexico, the that HIV prevalence has remained low to this could also be to increased condom use like other women in Mexico, are to HIV in one or more of four through the transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products during or for obstetric through the use of contaminated needles injection through infection at the time of blood or plasma professional blood plasma or through sex with a who is HIV For the to be – that low HIV prevalence in female CSW is not primarily to increased condom use – it would be necessary to evidence that the of transmission described above in a risk for HIV infection to female the result could that other or means of than transmission from of those In to and evidence be in to the at the of Health and CONASIDA was and was not known about the transmission from contaminated blood or blood products As noted above, transfusion-transmitted HIV primarily affects specifically women who receive blood for obstetric reasons [6]. There was no evidence that female CSW in Mexico were at less risk of blood transfusions than other the low prevalence of HIV among female CSW was probably to a risk from contaminated equipment There was no that HIV may be transmitted via contaminated needles by equipment or during was in was whether the low prevalence of use among female among those CONASIDA and in was sufficient to account for the low prevalence of HIV among them as For other countries with a low prevalence of use among female CSW have the incidence of HIV dramatically in their female CSW the low prevalence of use among female CSW in Mexico undoubtedly the of HIV in this it did not to be more than condom use for the continued low prevalence of HIV. infection at the time of blood or plasma As has been described above professional blood and plasma donors became infected with HIV until this practice was banned in It was thus possible that could also have been professional donors and thus be at risk for HIV infection through this However, of cases of AIDS among professional blood donors have been among which is by the that men were much more to be professional donors. from sex There are at in which sexual in the of may be with a continued low prevalence of HIV among female an HIV seroprevalence in the general population to a significant transmission if the prevalence of HIV is not spread throughout the population and infected clients not female and if the specific sexual in by CSW not HIV In the first the low prevalence of HIV in the general population of Mexico in 1986 six per meant that sex workers as a group faced risk of exposure from their clients The with this explanation was that had found a high prevalence of in many American countries It was that evidence would be before a could be that are less to female CSW than male CSW and that, the risk for infection from this group was than for female In the it was that female CSW did not practice sexual considered to be of high risk with their clients so the or of a For the of transmitting of transmission and evidence would be before a could be that female CSW in Mexico or only in HIV transmitting As a result of the in a major study was in observation, key and to a of commercial sex in the urban area of Mexico City This allowed the of street and where commercial sex From this it was estimated that approximately of the population of Mexico City were women in commercial sex 000 A of these women were to in a study which included sexual as well as testing for and The results of these studies a low prevalence of among female sex workers and the studies which that the HIV prevalence among these women was quite low (see Table A significant was also found between the risk of having an and the of a street have higher of In addition, a level and the number of years practicing commercial sex were associated with being for HIV and prevalence among female commercial sex workers in Mexico. from The results of the were also of major While all women reported having with their reported having sex and reporting having In addition, reported an in condom use since about However, in contrast to their with their reported with their or In multivariate risk factors for sex with clients included a low street no use of a to use clients of and use of services the years subsequent studies conducted in Mexico City as well as in other cities throughout the country have continued to a low prevalence of HIV among female commercial sex workers (see Table 3). As noted above, this finding is in marked contrast to the HIV seroprevalence among sex workers in other developing HIV prevalence studies among female commercial sex workers in Mexico. In an to further sexual and to risk factors for HIV infection among men in Mexico, a of studies have been conducted by group. studies that men at and had a higher seroprevalence of HIV infection than men versus and that reported condom use was quite with only reporting regular condom use As noted above, the practice of has been reported to be among American men in to a of men conducted in this practice to not be as in Mexico City in In that study of men reported that they had sex in their with reporting and The HIV prevalence in this was among men and among men This study also that men might be to the services of male or female CSW when not in a

The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830–1930: Cityscapes Photographs Debates

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Subjectivity, Agency, and the New Latin American History of Gender and Sexuality

In recent decades, several Latin American cities have implemented policy instruments to reduce urban air pollution and traffic congestion such as license plate–based restrictions on car use. Our research analyzes the factors influencing the public acceptance of these urban policies in four cities: Bogotá, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, and Quito. We use semi-structured interviews and digital diaries to examine participants’ beliefs and emotions about vehicle restrictions as well as their daily mobility experiences. The study illustrates the importance of three main beliefs in shaping the public acceptance of the measures (perceived effectiveness, perceived fairness, and perceived personal impacts). The results also show a certain resignation on the part of the participants, accepting that the policies are necessary and, to some extent, effective in pacifying traffic and improving air quality in highly populated cities, even if the policies generate certain undesirable distributional and personal impacts. The study uncovers the importance of the local context in understanding why certain urban policies, successfully applied in other contexts, might have lower levels of public support in Latin American cities. A high population density, regulatory shortcomings, enforcement difficulties, and deficits in infrastructure and public transport all create a mobility context in which some policies to improve urban air quality and traffic congestion generate high levels of frustration and ambivalence among the residents.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook Reviews Joseph J. Rishel with Suzanne Stratton‐Pruitt, organizers. The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820. Exhibition catalog, Tesoros/Treasures/Tesouros: The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820. Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 20–December 31, 2006; Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, February 3–May 6, 2007; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 10–September 3, 2007; Royal Academy of Arts, London, Autumn 2007. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art (in association with Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art; distributed by Yale University Press), 2006. xxiii+568 pp.; 431 color + 45 black‐and‐white illustrations, chronology, maps, bibliography. $75.00.Claire FaragoClaire FaragoUniversity of Colorado Boulder Search for more articles by this author University of Colorado BoulderPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Winterthur Portfolio Volume 41, Number 4Winter 2007 Published for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc. Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/523021 Views: 23Total views on this site ©2007 by The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Traditional markets in Latin American metropolises may mitigate the risks of urbanization-commercialization in historical sites and mediate rural-city and ancestral-contemporary interactions. Considering that the Xochimilco Market (Mexico City) generates centripetal-centrifugal forces which activate the local economy (formal and informal), the goal of the article is to analyze the indissolubility of its neighboring internal and external trade spaces (producer zones, informal trade, chinampas), creating a territory of supply, labor, and subsistence of the impoverished population. A mixed methodological design is adopted, with participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and qualitative spatial analysis. The decolonial concept of " territorial heritage" and the theory of "circuits of urban economy" applied to the Global South helps verify the socio-spatial experiences and permanence that, from the market, subjects and families have maintained, in a scenario of selective modernization of metropolitan territories and growth of informality onto the continent.

Given the implications of energy use in housing units for global warming, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to examine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although informal settlements, currently known as colonias populares, or barrios, house most of the urban population in Latin America, there is a poor understanding of how people in these communities use energy and contribute to GHG emissions. This investigation provides a comprehensive analysis of resource consumption in Mexico City’s colonia popular, including self-help housing, household energy consumption, and transportation. As there is no spatially specific data on energy use, the author conducted field research in the informal community of Isidro Fabela, founded in the 1960s. Isidro Fabela is an illuminating community that helps understand the energy use of informal settlements at advanced stages of urban consolidation. A mixed-method research approach served to collect empirical data through observations, household surveys, and in-depth interviews. Research sheds light on the efficient and sustainable ways in which families use energy, materials, and resources during self-help construction, and through their daily lives, in their community. The community-based LCA assessment finds that the contribution of Isidro Fabela to GHG emissions is 50% of the average impact in Mexico City. Natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption for water heating is the most significant contributor to GHG emissions because families use inefficient heaters. Interestingly, by using public transportation and even walking, residents moderate the contribution of work commutes to GHG emissions. Therefore, climate change policy should enhance low-energy practices in informal settlements, by improving access to energy-efficient technologies and public transportation, to help families contribute further to GHG mitigation in Mexico City and elsewhere in Latin America.

Ann S. Blum (1950–2015)

HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean

Yet Another History of History Mark Thurner (bio) La Historia y Los Historiadores en el Perú. By Manuel Burga . (Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2005. Pp. 237) How to Write the History of the New World: Histories, Epistemologies, and Identities in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World. By Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra . (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. Pp. 450. $55.00 cloth.) Historia de las Historias de la Nación Mexicana. By Enrique Florescano . (Mexico City: Taurus, 2002. Pp. 530.) Construcción de las Identidades Latinoamericanas: Ensayos de Historia Intelectual, Siglos XIX–XX. Edited by Aimer Granados and Carlos Marichal . (Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2004. Pp. 269.) La Presencia del Pasado. By Enrique Krauze . (Mexico City: Bancomer, 2004. Pp. 495.) Los Pinceles de la Historia. By the Museo Nacional de Arte de México. (Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2000-2003. 4 volumes.) La Nación Como Problema: Los Historiadores y la ‘Cuestión Nacional.’By Elías José Palti . (Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003. Pp. 157.) La Cultura Moderna de la Historia: Una Aproximación Teórica e Historiográfica. By Guillermo Zermeño Padilla . (Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2002. Pp. 246) La tarea verdadera consiste ante todo en examinar los orígenes, los perjuicios y los procesos de las verdades recibidas. En una palabra, hacer cuestión expresa de la historia de la historia. 1 —Edmundo O'Gorman (1947) [End Page 164] In the last five years or so a reflexive history of history has begun to take shape in the nations of, or at any rate in some relation to, that grand subject-object of modern history named "Latin America." In a word, this history takes its object of study to be the productions and production of history itself. For some of its practitioners this newer history of history is closely linked to "the new intellectual history." That history, which began to appear in the Latin American field in the 1990s, is not merely a history of what intellectuals have written and thought in the past; it is a history that isitself intellectual in the best sense of the term. To hijack Dominick La Capra's witty remarks on the significance for European intellectual history of Hayden White's critical opus, one might say without undue hyperbole that this newer history of history is reopening the possibility of thought in Latin American history. 2 This is so because in revisiting the ways in which Latin American histories have been researched, written, and read the newer history of history both retraces and—knowingly or not—questions the epistemological foundations and realist regimes of representation that underwrite contemporary understandings of Latin American pasts. That is, the newer history of history, like the new intellectual history, is often reflexive: its subject-object and limits of inquiry are its own tropos. As a turning inward that, in one way or another, responds to a general crisis of history, it seeks to get to the bottom of its own practice and knowledge. What is perhaps most exciting—and intellectually challenging—about this new work is that those received limits (its bottom) now appear to be much less constraining (deeper, wider) than was previously thought. Not so long ago it was dreamed—under the somnic trance of liberal, dependency, and Marxian mantras—that this part of the world had no intellectual history worth thinking and writing about. It was at most a "tragic story": in the first instance, of colonial derivations in the "Scholastic" mode; and in the second (that is, after Independence), of "aping Europe." "Intellectual history," if it could be said to exist, was a province of Europe, not Iberian America. Such dismissals now appear quaint, if not "tragic." The newer history of history in this part of the world now brims with surprises. And yet it is also something of a hall of mirrors, a haunted house of whispering voices, and its historians invite us to linger in its labyrinthine corridors. This is not to say that the kind of writing under review here (by no means an exhaustive sample of recent work...

There is no aggregate shortage of water in Latin America. The Amazon’s output into the Atlantic Ocean is about 150,000 cubic metres per second and a whole host of smaller rivers—the Magdalena, Orinoco, San Francisco, Uruguay, and Usumacinta rivers, to name but a few—all carry more than 1,000m3/sec of water into the ocean at their outlets. In contrast, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and São Paulo, the three largest cities in Latin America, consume around 50 to 80m3/second, clearly a very small amount when compared to total available regional water resources (Anton 1993: 163). However, Mexico City is situated in an extremely water-scarce area, and other cities such as São Paulo, Brasilia, Guatemala City, Quito, and Bogota are located far from plentiful sources of water. Elsewhere, though, large cities and abundant water sources are in close proximity, yet large parts of their population still suffer from a lack of clean, cheap, and convenient water, a situation of scarcity in the midst of abundance. This chapter will examine the problems faced by the urban poor in Latin America in accessing potable water, and will examine the problems associated with its delivery. Although it contains some very arid areas such as the Atacama Desert, Latin America is a humid region. Until recently, water was regarded as an abundant resource, and justifiably so: Latin America’s annual precipitation is 60% above the world average and the average annual run-off of 370,000m3 is 30% of the world total (Biswas 1979: 16). A glance at water consumption levels in Latin American cities indicates no aggregate shortage of water. Table 3.1 suggests that average daily water consumption in Latin America’s big cities is comparable with that of cities in the developed world, and significantly higher than is the case in African and some Asian cities. Given that the very minimum amount of water deemed necessary to sustain life has been estimated at 5 litres per capita per day (LCD) (World Bank 1976), and that under most circumstances 30/40 LCD is deemed sufficient for a reasonable level of personal and community health (Kirke and Arthur 1987: 125), even the city with the lowest consumption level would appear to have a plentiful supply of water.

This new column provides an overview of mental health reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. Progress has been particularly visible in countries that have implemented policies with strong political support (Brazil, Chile, and Belize, among others). However, lessons may be learned from the collective experience of a region that has faced multiple obstacles to reform. Available resources are still insufficient and inequitably distributed, reform implementation is not complete in most countries, and high levels of unmet need exist. Countries face new challenges related to growing psychosocial problems affecting children and adolescents and increasing violence, which require new responses from mental health services.

Reviewed by: Holocaust Consciousness and Cold War Violence in Latin America by Estelle Tarica Cara Levey Tarica, Estelle. Holocaust Consciousness and Cold War Violence in Latin America. State U of New York P, 2022, pp. 300. ISBN: 9781438487946. This ambitious study fills a significant gap in the literature on both the Cold War era in Latin America and Holocaust Studies. Drawing on examples from Argentina, [End Page 163] Mexico and Guatemala, Tarica argues that there is framing, rearticulation and iteration of Holocaust Memory across Latin America, responding to some of the passing, and occasionally lazy, comparisons that frequent contrasting contexts of extreme violence. Indeed, in Latin America, recourse to the Holocaust as a paradigmatic case of extreme violence, became evident, as authoritarian violence escalated during the latter half of the twentieth century. Central to the book's focus, and outlined in the introductory chapter, is the identification of Holocaust consciousness in Latin America. This allows the author to frame Holocaust memory in Argentina, Mexico and Guatemala not as simply transposition, but as an authentic and distinct regional iteration that involves construction and agency. This is a welcome shift away from viewing Latin America as passive recipient of Anglophone or European-dominated work on memory, in showcasing multiple intersections between the Holocaust, recent authoritarianism, dictatorship, civil war and longer historical trajectories of revolutionary movements and anti-colonialism. Although Tarica incorporates contrasting vehicles of memory such as periodicals, literary works etc, into her framework, testimony often takes centre stage. This is, in part, because of its significance in the aftermath of the Holocaust. However, the genre of testimonio has its own distinct history in Latin America, that dovetails with the denial of state violence in the Cold War era. Although the focus of Tarica's volume is overwhelmingly literary, the prominence of the testimonial permits engagement with wider debates about perpetration, criminal responsibility, and, significantly, victimhood. It is the latter that is the most problematic when discussing Holocaust consciousness in Latin America. Tarica rightly anticipates this, pointing out that if we view the victims of state violence in Latin America as passive, we risk depoliticising what was, for many, a political struggle against authority. Such sensitive analysis allows us to reflect on what European and Anglophone scholars of Holocaust Memory may learn from Latin America as part of a truly multidirectional deepening of memory. The five substantive chapters give space to voices from three contrasting contexts, that are not explored in isolation, but in relation to one another and against a backdrop of transnationalism. They are not deemed representative of the entire region, but there are enough differences between the various case studies, to make the author's aim of identifying and tracing a Holocaust consciousness as a counterpoint to European and North American-dominated narratives. Argentina, the focus of Chapters 1 and 2, is an obvious starting point because of the long-standing debates about Holocaust discourse. This is, in part, because of its significant Jewish population, but also its simultaneous status as site of refuge for Holocaust perpetrators. Tarica deepens our understanding of Holocaust consciousness during the 1976-83 dictatorship, the focus of Chapter 1, demonstrating its presence among Jewish and non-Jewish Argentine communities. In Chapter 2, she moves beyond the temporal parameters of dictatorship to explore the post-1995 memory 'boom,' a period in which the Holocaust has loomed more frequently in debates over the recent past. In particular, we see how discussions in Argentine periodicals have drawn on the Holocaust to critique dominant memory narratives. The intensity of these debates reveals that Holocaust consciousness and how it is used [End Page 164] remains contentious, entangled with political narratives. Recontextualisation does not equal depoliticisation. Chapter 3 does not move away entirely from the Southern Cone, but explores the connections between Argentina, Mexico and the Holocaust through the Argentine exile community in Mexico City. Here, exiles used the Holocaust example to press the urgency of violations, not only in their homeland, but in 1970s Mexico. Testimony, in the work of writers such as José Emilio Pacheco and Tununa Mercado, as well as in interviews conducted by the latter with Holocaust survivors, is thus reconsidered as a means to denounce...