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.
Undocumented LGBT immigrants are doubly discriminated against in the United States, often facing job insecurity, low wages, and lack of access to healthcare. Immigration procedures and processes for asylum also remain unfair and unclear.
Conspiracy theories are a standard way for populists to distract citizens and stoke up their base. But the governments in Argentina, Ecuador and—particularly—Venezuela have turned it into a real art form.
Given Latin America’s woefully inadequate infrastructure, China’s plans to invest in roads and rails is a welcome opportunity. The question becomes, though, under what conditions for bidding and procurement and the protections for community land rights.
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?
Even if you don’t agree with the Venezuelan opposition’s call for “la salida” of President Maduro, leaders like Leopoldo Lopez, now in prison almost 15 months, still have the right to demand the resignation of a president–a right Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff rightly supported in her country. Here’s his parents’ story.
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.
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?
The so-called “surge” of unaccompanied children from Central America has not ended. Not only has the U.S. policy response been insufficient, the language describing the phenomenon has been offensive and unhelpful.
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.
