It was a cringingly awkward moment. After their press conference, Cuban President Raul Castro clumsily grabbed Obama’s arm and attempted to lift it into the classic raised fist of revolutionary struggle. Embedded in the viral image is the difference between what each leader needed to get and convey from the historic visit.
Obama’s opening to Cuba could be one of his policy’s most convincing successes. But there’s a problem. In the time since his executive actions permitted greater U.S. personal and commercial contact with the socialist island, the autocratic Cuban regime has failed to meaningfully improve its human rights record.
With few concrete human rights improvements since he announced his embargo changes over a year ago, President Obama’s decision to travel to Cuba could be a surrender of U.S. principles or a master stroke of democratic diplomacy. It all depends how he plays it.
Experts and pundits have decided that education is the magic bullet to cure most of Latin America’s ills. Problem is: it’s a long term bet, with no known solutions and too many people working on the edges.
The first step to fixing Brazil’s crisis will have to involve recognizing that the rot goes much deeper than it might seem. Brazil’s troubles began with the downturn in the global commodity markets, but the roots of the malaise trace much farther.
Sen. Marco Rubio has blocked an important diplomatic nomination over a dispute involving Cuba, putting a petty grudge over U.S. national interest.
If the absence of protests or conflict on an election day is an indicator of success, then the success of the Union of South American Nations’ (UNASUR’s) election “accompaniment” of Venezuela’s December 6th legislative elections was smashing.
Latin America, economic crisis, corruption, and, now, political upheaval, have brought an end to the foreign policy adventurism of two nations that once seemed poised to lead a new era: Brazil and Venezuela.
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio da Silva dreamed of a new world order. Their successors watched it fall to pieces.
In the past three weeks Latin American leaders have spoken out expressing their concerns over electoral conditions in Venezuela. While welcome, these individual voices don’t equal a larger institutional voice that can threaten sanctions if things should go awry in Venezuela.
