Latin America

Obama's South American Reality Check

Many people, including most of the presidents and leaders of South America, were hoping that President Obama would initiate a serious change in US-Latin American relations, after the low point reached during the Bush years. Change will certainly come - it is happening every week - but there are few if any signs that the initiative will come from the north.

Posted in foreign policy, Latin America

What Can Obama Do in Latin America?

What if Barack Obama had picked the Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel or Democracy Now! anchor Amy Goodman to advise him at the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this week? Unlikely, to say the least, but 75 years ago President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did something just like that, tapping a former Nation editor and fierce critic of U.S. militarism to advise his administration on Latin American policy. As a result -- consider this your curious, yet little known, fact of the day -- anti-imperialism saved the American empire.

Posted in foreign policy, Latin America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2009
2:10 PM

CONTACT: Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)

Phone: (202) 223-4975
Email: coha@coha.org

Summit of the Americas: Obama Goes to Trinidad

Obama’s Opportunity to Build a Coherent U.S.-Latin America Policy

WASHINGTON - April 13 -

President Obama travels to Trinidad on April 17 with a unique opportunity to redefine U.S.-Latin American relations

The time for taking stock is over, and the U.S.

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Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Links:
Home
Press Center

Posted in foreign policy, war on drugs, Latin America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2009
2:37 PM

CONTACT: Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)
Phone: (202) 223-4975
Email: coha@coha.org

The G20 and Latin America: A 'Rendezvous With Destiny' or a False Start?

- Argentina, Mexico and Brazil represent their region at what could be a momentous summit - Calling for accountability from the developed world

- Preparing the way for a new world order - Mexico’s Calderón calls for developing world to assume responsibilities

WASHINGTON - April 2 - Today, world leaders will convene in London for the highly anticipated G20 summit.

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Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Links:
Home
Press Center

Posted in G20, Latin America

El Salvador Votes Away Its Bad Past

Last Sunday's election in El Salvador, in which the leftist FMLN (Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation) won the presidency, didn't get a lot of attention in the international press. It's a relatively small country (7 million people on land the size of Massachusetts) and fairly poor (per capita income about half the regional average).
Posted in el salvador, Latin America

Leftist Victory in El Salvador Closes an Historic Cycle

The apparent victory of leftist candidate Maurico Funes in Sunday's presidential election in El Salvador finally closes out the Cold War in Central America and raises some serious questions about the long term goals of U.S. foreign policy.

Posted in foreign policy, el salvador, Latin America

Can Obama's Change Find El Salvador?

More than a quarter century ago, the U.S. government under Ronald Reagan drew a Cold War line in El Salvador and made the defeat of the leftist Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (the FMLN) a major foreign policy goal.
Over the next decade, El Salvador became synonymous with death squads and massacres, leaving some 75,000 dead, with the vast majority of the killings blamed on the security forces armed and supported by Washington. Finally in 1992, a U.N.-brokered truce ended the slaughter and left the FMLN on the outside of power looking in.

Posted in foreign policy, el salvador, Latin America

Could Obama Say a Few Words for Democracy in El Salvador?

We all know that President Obama has a lot on his plate. On the other hand, as candidate Obama reminded us, "words matter," especially the words spoken by the President of the United States, and with El Salvador facing a watershed Presidential election on March 15, President Obama could do a lot for the people of El Salvador and the future of U.S. relations with Latin America simply by saying something along the following lines between now and March 15:

Posted in el salvador, Latin America

Can the US and Bolivia Get Along?

With the Obama administration's policy toward Venezuela pretty much decided, and the embargo on Cuba considered untouchable because no one is willing to risk losing support among Cuban-Americans in the swing state of Florida, that leaves Bolivia as a left government in the region where the hostility of the Bush administration could be quickly reversed.

Posted in foreign policy, bolivia, Latin America

Venezuela, An Imaginary Threat

US-Latin American relations fell to record lows during the George Bush years, and there have been hopes - both north and south of the border - that President Barack Obama will bring a fresh approach. So far, however, most signals are pointing to continuity rather than change.

Posted in foreign policy, Latin America, venezuela