@jpolga
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Political Scientist at US Naval Academy, Latin America, long-suffering Minnesota sports fan \\ Usual disclaimers
Washington, DC
Joined September 2010
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John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Grave error que el #Ecuador insista en judicializar la política. El gobierno de #Noboa está hundiendo al país en otra era de autoritarismo. Los costos para la reputación internacional del país son enormes, y si ganan los Demócratas mayoría en #EEUU puede costar la cooperación.
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Ecuador more & more resembles Venezuela or Nicaragua.
If the state has any solid evidence linking its detained political opponents to organized crime, it should produce it fast.
Otherwise this is clearly just political persecution in service of building a political hegemony.
🚨 #ÚltimaHora | La Policía de la Zona 4 confirmó la detención de la excandidata presidencial, Luisa González, en Manabí.
Más detalles en Ecuavisa.com 📲
#NoticiaEnDesarrollo
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Me siento orgullosísima de haber sido Editora Invitada para este número de @ForeignAffairsL
Incluye mi análisis y predicciones sobre la elección de Secretaria General de @ONU_es y destacados análisis sobre el papel de las mujeres y la política exterior y de seguridad en #AmLat
#NuevaFAL Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica te presenta su nueva edición, “Política exterior feminista en Latinoamérica”, disponible ya en su versión digital para suscriptores.
📖 Explora los debates y las perspectivas que marcan la agenda internacional. ¡Suscríbete ahora!
bit.ly/4AU0xJs
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
🇺🇸🇻🇪@TheWyomingStar explores the economic and political state of Venezuela ten months after Operation Absolute Resolve with @aroliveros, @ArriojaJoseE, @imdat_oner, @RandyPestana, @jpolga, @philgunson, Dr. Adriana Boersner-Herrera, Prof. Alfredo Toro Carnevali, and Dr. Daniel Hellinger.
wyomingstarnews.org/2026/10/…
#USA #Venezuela #politics #economy #analytics
ALT A female militiaman holding a Venezuelan flag in Caracas, January 23, 2026 (Javier Campos/NurPhoto via Reuters)
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Repeatedly failing the brown M&Ms test is their passion. – at Centerville, GA
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Let's call Delcy Rodríguez what she is: a latter-day female version of Fulgencio Batista, both dictator and puppet rolled into one
my column for @opinion on the normalization attempts of Venezuela's dictator-puppet-regent into a legitimate leader bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Ni de vaina, Estados Unidos va a soltar a Venezuela. Ni de vaina
Saudi Arabia is running out of options to export its vast oil reserves as attacks force its main pipeline shut while Iran and its allies cement their chokehold on the kingdom's two main maritime routes, analysts say. u.afp.com/SjXX
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela released a comprehensive report today on the country's repressive system.
The report focuses on pro-regime civilian armed groups and the mechanisms of social control, including digital surveillance.
ohchr.org/en/press-releases/…
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
What Future for Venezuela after the U.S. Oil Carve-up? crisisgroup.org/qna/latin-am… via @crisisgroup
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
Going to nominate the @DataColada team who have been sued for following the data and attacked by a prominent hedge fund manager
Wow…Roland Fryer and @BillAckman have created a $1 million prize for academic truth-telling, the Carob Trust Prize for Academic Courage.
“The prize awards $1 million each to as many as five social scientists a year who have demonstrated intellectual independence, published findings that were attacked rather than answered, and been validated by the evidence—despite the professional cost. The selection criteria are designed to distinguish courage from contrarianism: Nominees must show a sustained commitment to following logic and evidence regardless of pressure, a willingness to ask questions others avoid, and work that has shifted academic debate, public discourse or policy—often despite being misread, mischaracterized or vilified at the time of publication.”
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
A wonderful moment at #APSA2026 in Boston presenting my new book, Why Elections Need Parties: Managing Free and Fair Elections in Latin America and Africa, published by Cambridge University Press.
I’m deeply grateful to Rachel Beatty Riedl, Nicholas Kerr, Arturo Sánchez Gutiérrez , and Luis Carlos Ugalde for such an engaging and generous discussion—and to everyone who joined us.
The book asks a deceptively simple question: how can electoral institutions become genuinely autonomous and capable of delivering free and fair elections? Drawing on evidence from Latin America and Africa, I argue that political parties can sometimes be part of the solution rather than simply a threat to electoral integrity.
More about the book, including links to Cambridge and Amazon:
alejandrotrelles.com
#APSA2026 #CambridgeUniversityPress #Elections #Democracy #ElectoralIntegrity #ComparativePolitics #LatinAmerica #Africa
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
A punto del salir del horno mi libro Políticas Exteriores de América Latina en el Siglo XXI. link.springer.com/book/97830…
Beyond being built in at-risk areas, building contracts for the Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela were outsourced to companies from Belarus, China, Iran, and Russia, as well as pre-Lava Jato Odebrecht.
Little surprise that building quality was poor!
(Data from my dissertation)
Two decades ago, scientists working for Venezuela’s government pinpointed the danger zone for the next big earthquake.
But officials, trying to meet pledges to house displaced flood victims, raced to build public housing there anyway. wapo.st/45M0KAb
John Polga-Hecimovich retweeted
🔎 Read “Ecuadorian Military Culture,” where @jpolga of the @NavalStates explores how Ecuador’s history has shaped a military that sees itself as both a professional force & a guardian of the state. 🇪🇨
Full analysis: gordoninstitute.fiu.edu/rese…
#FIU #JGI #Ecuador #NationalSecurity
Of course they named an 83-year-old self-promoting dollarization zealot (and contributing columnist to Fortune).
I wonder what brilliant measures he's going to suggest.
Venezuela’s National Assembly named professor @steve_hanke Special Adviser on Economic, Monetary, and Energy Affairs, tasking him with curing hyperinflation now running at a 400% annual clip — the worst in the world.bit.ly/4xVPpK0
Latin American news is dominated by tragedy: violence, criminality, corruption, etc., etc.
Well, here's a policy success story from Armenia, Colombia, which learned from its 1999 earthquake and made changes which kept it safe in 2026.
washingtonpost.com/world/202…
