Determining and gaining U.S. influence in Latin America

Rather than focusing old time notions of levels of economic and military aid or large inspiring policy declarations, analysts and policymakers should focus their attention where policy and its return (i.e. influence) is most impactful—communication, contact and exchange that improve the daily lives of Latin American and Caribbean citizens.

Read More »

How to engineer a Latin American miracle

The story of dashed hopes and sudden halts is a painful yet familiar one for all of us. As we lick our wounds and take stock of yet another lost opportunity, we ask ourselves yet again: can the continent ever escape the boom-bust cycles that have left our economies trapped in middle income status?

Read More »

Who’s down with TPP? Everyone should be

The TransPacific Partnership that is currently being negotiated will be neither an apocalypse nor a panacea. But what it will do is provide critical legal and institutional guarantees that will draw Asian investors to Latin America.

Read More »

Should the U.S. be worried about Chinese arms sales in the region?

China has increased the sale of sophisticated weapons systems to Latin America and the Caribbean, mostly–though not exclusively–to countries opposed to the United States. With it has come other forms of military cooperation between China and its new customers. Should the U.S. be worried? If so, what can it do about it?

Read More »

TPP, democracy and development

The negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership should force a serious discussion of the goals of U.S. bilateral development assistance in the region. As U.S. policy invests more to promote trade integration and link it to global geo-strategic goals, it’s time to think about how to recast development assistance to help countries participate and compete in these new trade agreements.

Read More »

Argentina and Nisman: Why we’re not surprised

When Alberto Nisman announced that he had evidence that President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Alfredo Timmerman had conducted secret negotiations with the Iranian government to absolve key Iranian officials in the AMIA bombing it wasn’t difficult to believe. Granted, the evidence wasn’t that strong, but the plan announced in 2013 to create a Truth Commission with Iran to investigate the bombing always seemed a little suspicious.

Read More »
Scroll to Top