The 2017 edition of Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean presents a set of basic statistics that characterize the economic, sociodemographic and environmental situation of the region in relation to a particular period. This information is part of the set of statistics available at CEPALSTAT, the database portal and statistical publications of ECLAC.

"This anthology--bringing together political scientists, anthropologists, historians, sociologists, economists, and journalists--provides a serious and sophisticated theoretical and historical analysis of the state of the Latin American Left. The central thematic issues are addressed, followed by a number of case studies written by the most astute radical Left observers of the contemporary setting"--

After contracting in 2009, GDP expanded by 5.9% in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2010, albeit with the region's hallmark differences in performance from one country to another. The expansion in output was driven by strong domestic demand in the forms of both consumption and investment, and by buoyant external demand. On the domestic demand side, private consumption (up 5.9%) was sustained by an upturn in employment and wages, brightening economic expectations, an expansion in lending to the private sector and, in some countries, an upswing in remittances from emigrant workers. Public consumption rose at a more modest rate of 3.9% and investment jumped by 14.5%, with strong growth in the machinery and equipment segments in particular. On the external demand side, exports of goods and services were especially buoyant -rising by over 10%- in the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) countries, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua. Meanwhile, imports of goods and services increased by more than 10% at constant prices on the back of robust domestic demand within the region, which rose 7.5%.

Sensational headlines have publicized the drug trafficking, brutal violence, and other organized crime elements associated with Central America's mara gangs, but there have been few clear-eyed analyses of the history, hierarchies, and future of the mara phenomenon. The first book to look specifically at the Central American gang problem by drawing on the perspectives of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds, Maras: Gang Violence and Security in Central America provides much-needed insight. These essays trace the development of the gangs, from Mara Salvatrucha to the 18th Street Gang, in Los Angeles and their spread to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua as the result of members' deportation to Central America; there, they account for high homicide rates and threaten the democratic stability of the region. With expertise in areas ranging from political science to law enforcement and human rights, the contributors also explore the spread of mara violence in the United States. Their findings comprise a complete documentation that spans sexualized violence, case studies of individual gangs, economic factors, varied responses to gang violence, the use of intelligence gathering, the limits of state power, and the role of policy makers. Raising crucial questions for a wide readership, these essays are sure to spark productive international dialogues.

In this comprehensive comparative study, Jorge Duany explores how migrants to the United States from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico maintain multiple ties to their countries of origin. Chronicling these diasporas from the end of World War II to the present, Duany argues that each sending country's relationship to the United States shapes the transnational experience for each migrant group, from legal status and migratory patterns to work activities and the connections migrants retain with their home countries. Blending extensive ethnographic, archival, and survey research, Duany proposes that contemporary migration challenges the traditional concept of the nation-state. Increasing numbers of immigrants and their descendants lead what Duany calls "bifocal" lives, bridging two or more states, markets, languages, and cultures throughout their lives. Even as nations attempt to draw their boundaries more clearly, the ceaseless movement of transnational migrants, Duany argues, requires the rethinking of conventional equations between birthplace and residence, identity and citizenship, borders and boundaries.

Latin America experienced an unprecedented wave of left-leaning governments between 1998 and 2010. This volume examines the causes of this leftward turn and the consequences it carries for the region in the twenty-first century. The Resurgence of the Latin American Left asks three central questions: Why have left-wing parties and candidates flourished in Latin America? How have these leftist parties governed, particularly in terms of social and economic policy? What effects has the rise of the Left had on democracy and development in the region? The book addresses these questions through two sections. The first looks at several major themes regarding the contemporary Latin American Left, including whether Latin American public opinion actually shifted leftward in the 2000s, why the Left won in some countries but not in others, and how the left turn has affected market economies, social welfare, popular participation in politics, and citizenship rights. The second section examines social and economic policy and regime trajectories in eight cases: those of leftist governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela, as well as that of a historically populist party that governed on the right in Peru. Featuring a new typology of Left parties in Latin America, an original framework for identifying and categorizing variation among these governments, and contributions from prominent and influential scholars of Latin American politics, this historical-institutional approach to understanding the region’s left turn—and variation within it—is the most comprehensive explanation to date on the topic.