A little-known UN Committee recently denied consultative status to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists, another example of the growing trend of authoritarian governments extending their intolerance for human rights and civil society to a global level.
Secretary General Luis Almagro has invoked the Democratic Charter of the OAS, calling for a meeting of the body’s Permanent Council to discuss the situation in Venezuela. How the hemispheric body responds will be a test of its role and future in a divided hemisphere.
Global Americans/LatinAmericaGoesGlobal.org is 1 year old! To celebrate this admittedly minor milestone, the editors picked over our contributions from the past 12 months and chose our favorites.
With the Venezuelan economy in a free fall, massive shortages and President Nicolás Maduro renewing a state of emergency and calling for military exercises, the question of political upheaval and state collapse in Venezuela is no longer a matter of if, but when. And when it does happen, Venezuela’s neighbors will have themselves to blame for letting it get this far and this bad.
Chile and Uruguay seem to be on a path to a bilateral free trade deal. With the former in the Pacific Alliance and the latter in the customs union Mercosur, are the two blocs converging, or is Mercosur fracturing?
A group of more than 20 leading scholars, convened by Global Americans, has outlined a series of nonpartisan proposals for the next administration to strengthen and leverage the U.S.’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Latin American and Caribbean states have been astoundingly cheap in supporting the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2013, Chile only contributed $80,000, and the same year Brazil and Venezuela gave nothing to the Commission.
A recent Spanish report by DeJusticia details the modern challenges of the inter-American system of human rights: political consensus; countries refusing to pay their obligations; and countries cutting their contributions when they receive decisions they don’t like.
The net effect of these new bodies has been to create parallel forums more favorable to the interests of autocrats. That may be OK for Venezuela and others, but why are Brazil and other countries going along? And where are the media?
The new majority in the National Assembly has failed in offering economic alternatives and in confronting Venezuela’s political crisis. Despite being a lousy opposition, though, they are still important.
