Carin Zissis

LatAm in Focus: Can Rodrigo Paz Unearth Bolivia's Lithium Potential? Texas A&M's Diego von Vacano traces a history of political and economic obstacles stifling the sector and outlines the path ahead for the new president.

New #LatAmFocus: Can Rodrigo Paz Unearth Bolivia’s Lithium Potential?

Texas A&M’s Diego von Vacano talks to ASCOA’s @carinzissis.bsky.social about the history of political and economic obstacles stifling the sector and outlines the path ahead for the new president.

🎧 Listen: ow.ly/e5y050Xr1uX

On June 26, Trump backed a remittance tax in the "big, beautiful bill," saying it will help fund the wall.

But the 3.5% tax could lead migrants, scared to share migration status, to find other ways to send money home, weakening financial transparency, CEMLA's René Maldonado told me in #LatAmFocus 🎙️

She Was Mexico’s First, Forgotten Congresswoman | Essay Aurora Jiménez’s Story Illuminates the Country’s Larger Struggle for Women’s Political Rights, Power, and Equity

😮Did you know that when Mexico's first congresswoman took office in 1958, women still weren't able vote in a national election?

🇲🇽 @carinzissis.bsky.social‬ reflects upon Aurora Jiménez de Palacios' legacy for @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social.

www.zocalopublicsquare.org/aurora-jimen...

Update: given Trump’s early departure from the G7, there will be no bilateral meeting between the 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 presidents. It would have been their first in-person meeting.

Viaja Sheinbaum con más frecuencia al extranjero que AMLO En menos de un año, la Presidenta CSP ha viajado a tres giras al extranjero, lo cual contrasta con los pocos viajes realizados por AMLO.

🇲🇽 President Sheinbaum headed to 🇨🇦 Mon for G7, where she's expected to hold a bilateral mtg with 🇺🇸 Trump Tues PM.

This is her 3rd trip abroad since she became president in Oct:
🇧🇷the G20 in Brazil, Nov 2024
🇭🇳the CELAC summit, Honduras in Apr 2025
🇨🇦G7 in Canada now
www.reforma.com/viaja-sheinb...

Come join us in DC for this conversation on June 12. All you have to do is register at: www.as-coa.org/amazon

🚨🚨🚨 In the last two hours, the Trump admin:

- Banned all immigrant visas from 19 countries, including Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela
- Banned all student and researcher visas to Harvard
- Colluded with Texas to kick 20,000 undocumented college students off of in-state tuition.

Six Facts to Understand Mexico's 2025 Judicial Elections From candidate totals to voter turnout, learn about the country’s unprecedented election.

On June 1, Mexico held unprecedented direct elections for judges and magistrates.

From candidate totals to voter turnout, AS/COA’s @carinzissis.bsky.social explains the voting day in six facts and figures: ow.ly/8Nfr50W2Yf8

She Was Mexico’s First, Forgotten Congresswoman | Essay Aurora Jiménez’s Story Illuminates the Country’s Larger Struggle for Women’s Political Rights, Power, and Equity

On the anniversary of Mexico's election of President Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman to hold the position, @carinzissis.bsky.social reflects on the history—and paradox—of women's political power in the country. zps.la/4juaSlE

En fin, the fellowship may be over, but my work on this topic is not. There are other stories to tell and I have every intention of doing so. 📚 🌹 💕 🇲🇽

6/In the case of this particular essay, mil gracias to Karina Vildosola for sharing stories of her grandmother and to Mia Armstrong for her exceptional editing skills.

Also, claro, to Aurora for the inspiration.

5/Despite the upheaval, the fellowship was an enormous honor. While there are too many people to thank, I'm grateful to Wilson's kind staff & fellows, everyone who gave me their time, @ascoa.bsky.social for paving the way for my sabbatical, and my family for having my back during deadlines.

4/Fittingly, this essay exploring buried history is the last one I wrote as a Wilson Fellow. An executive order reduced Wilson, a congressionally-chartered policy center dedicated to scholarship, to its statutory minimum this spring. The Center has essentially shut down activity.

3/ I grew interested in Jiménez's story while a fellow at
@wilsoncenter.org where I researched 🇲🇽 women's high rates of political representation amid ongoing economic gaps & violence. During my fellowship, I conducted about 50 in-depth interviews and published 9 related articles.

2/ For years after Jiménez held office, the number of women in Mexico’s Congress grew by a trickle before their recent leap to parity. And, for much of that time, her story—and its connection to women's political rights in Mexico—went untold.

She Was Mexico’s First, Forgotten Congresswoman | Essay Aurora Jiménez’s Story Illuminates the Country’s Larger Struggle for Women’s Political Rights, Power, and Equity

Aurora Jiménez became Mexico's first congresswoman in 1954 due to a special election and before 🇲🇽 women even got to participate in a national vote. For
@zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social, I cover her unlikely rise to power 70 yrs before MX's first presidenta. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/aurora-jimen...

The Mexican President Who’s Facing Off with Trump Can Claudia Sheinbaum manage the demands from D.C.—and her own country’s fragile democracy?

“To speak of a country with more than a hundred and twenty-seven thousand disappeared people is to question democracy itself,” María de Vecchi Gerli, who leads the Truth and Memory Program at the human-rights group Article 19.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Long Shadow of Mexico’s War Over Catholicism A century ago, the Cristero war pitted Catholics against the state—and left a lasting impact on the country’s left, still visible today.

"As we approach the Cristero Rebellion’s centennial in 2026, we will likely see more attempts to equate Morena with the socialism and anti-clericalism of the 1920s and ’30s...to mobilize Catholics in opposition." www.americasquarterly.org/article/the-...

Mexico’s Reliance on U.S. Natural Gas Could Be Its Achilles’ Heel Mexico’s imports of U.S. natural gas are surging, kindling fears that the Trump administration could weaponize this trade.

Mexico’s imports of U.S. natural gas are surging, kindling fears that the Trump administration could weaponize this trade. - vía @nytimes.com

Take me with you 😆

Still my favorite soundtrack ever

A film that takes place where you’re from

I was a British tourist trying to leave America. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre Graphic artist Rebecca Burke was on the trip of a lifetime. But as she tried to leave the US she was stopped, interrogated and branded an illegal alien by ICE. Now back home, she tells others thinking...

‘Her advice to anyone planning to travel to the US is simply not to go. “First, because of the danger of what could happen to you. And, secondly, do you really want to give your money to this country right now?” @jennykleeman.bsky.social

BREAKNG: A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from ending "temporary protected status" for 350,000 Venezuelan nationals — which was slated to expire next week.

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

Thank you, @judah-grunstein.bsky.social, always a pleasure to work with you and WPR.

In Mexico, the Push for a National Care System Is Gaining Momentum A national care system would go a long way toward addressing Mexico’s workforce gender gap, but building it will take time and resources.

Can Mexico build a national care system covering care for children, people with disabilities, the elderly—and the caretakers themselves?

This is a great piece by @carinzissis.bsky.social on a regional movement to revalue "care," one that could be yet another LatAm model the US can learn from.

In Mexico, the Push for a National Care System Is Gaining Momentum A national care system would go a long way toward addressing Mexico’s workforce gender gap, but building it will take time and resources.

A national care system would go a long way toward addressing Mexico’s workforce gender gap, but building it will take time and resources. Can Mexico get there?

@carinzissis.bsky.social writes:

In Mexico, the Push for a National Care System Is Gaining Momentum A national care system would go a long way toward addressing Mexico’s workforce gender gap, but building it will take time and resources.

🇲🇽 At the heart of unpaid care work in Mexico lies a paradox: The labor sustains the economy, even as it creates barriers to women joining the workforce.

I cover Mexico's gender workforce gap and push for a national care system in @wpr.bsky.social: www.worldpoliticsreview.com/mexico-care-...

When will she hold office hours next? I’d love to meet her in person so I can ask her for a report about something on our street. She has been promising to send a report or update about it since the beginning of February.

How Latin American Women Shaped Human Rights

📢 The Role of Latin American Women in Advancing Human Rights 🌎✊

In this article in the @latamprog.bsky.social,
@wilsoncenter.org Fellow @carinzissis.bsky.social explores the historical contributions of #LatinAmerican women to the #humanrights movement​

📖
www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/ho...