The Americas Archive

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – A government probe of political dissidents and journalists has caused violent clashes in Nicaragua and concern abroad as the country heads into municipal elections Nov. 9. A statement by U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood criticized Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s verbal attacks against opponents, as well as police raids against two non-governmental organizations in what Ortega’s critics say is a wide-reaching “witch hunt” against the opposition. The European Union, a group of former presidents of the Americas led by Jimmy Carter, Human Rights Watch and the Paris-based Reporters without Borders all released statements in recent weeks expressing […]

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Venezuela’s strengthening military and diplomatic ties with Russia have led to alarmist headlines announcing the return of a Cold War standoff, and raising questions about the impact of Hugo Chávez’s arms shopping spree on the regional balance of power. But even with the latest arms purchases, Venezuela does not top the list of the region’s biggest military powers. Since 2005, Venezuela has spent over $4 billion on Russian hardware, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets and dozens of combat helicopters. The purchase of over 100 T72 tanks to replace older French models is in the pipeline, say Venezuelan […]

National Journal has a detailed analysis of the Senate voting records of Obama and McCain on defense issues. Some of the findings may surprise you.

The interesting aspect to this Josh Paltrow piece in the WaPo isn’t the “dog bites man” angle of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers discovering that the Peace Corps is actually an instrument of American foreign policy (in this case, in Bolivia). What struck me was the citizen diplomacy angle of some of the volunteers who were withdrawn from the country by the Peace Corps choosing to go back independently to continue their projects. Individuals really can make a difference, both within the official context of the Peace Corps or outside of it. Sometimes I think we lose sight of the fact […]

The U.S.S. Kearsarge amphibious assault ship set sail from Norfolk, Va., in August, on a mission to provide free medical care to six Latin American countries. But five days into her four-month cruise, on Aug. 11, Kearsarge made an important detour, swinging within helicopter range of Miami to receive visitors. The roughly 20 people who clambered aboard from the hulking Marine Corps choppers represented a mix of U.S. military brass, civilian aid workers, local Miami elected officials and Spanish-language media. “Our multinational team is dedicated to recommit and fortify our relationships in South America,” Capt. Frank Ponds, ranking U.S. officer […]

LIMA, Peru — Earlier this month, lawmakers in the United States passed a bill that would renew trade preferences to four countries in South America. The Andean Trade Preferences Act was signed in 1991 and eliminated tariffs on a host of exports from Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru in an effort to bolster economic development in the region and offer alternatives to drug trafficking. The latest renewal was set to expire at the end of this year. U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill, despite having requested last month that Bolivia’s beneficiary status be suspended, citing […]

Mexico’s drug violence reached a peak on Sept. 15, the eve of Independence Day, when a grenade attack on civilians bloodied a historic plaza in Morelia, capital of Michoacan state. But the very ferocity of the attack has managed to unite Mexican society against organized crime to an unprecedented degree. Coming on top of the roughly 3,800 murders attributed to drug violence just this year, the attack, which killed eight people and injured over 100, triggered a public outcry and a rare moment of national consensus. In its aftermath, even left-leaning opposition leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President Felipe Calderón’s […]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s four principle agricultural organizations declared a six day strike on Friday, Oct. 3. Facing the worst drought in a century and fearful of the potential for contagion from the American financial crisis, agricultural producers are demanding relief from the government, principally in the form of a reduction in export taxes. The longstanding dispute between the countryside and Buenos Aires has its roots in structural changes in the Argentinean export economy that have emerged over the past decade, with Argentinean farmers devoting increasing amounts of land to soy crops destined for the Chinese and European markets, […]

Joel Kotkin at Newgeography has a thoughtful foreign policy prescription: Think globally, act locally: When looking for our closest allies, we may well need to look away from current entanglements in unfortunate, far away places and towards a stronger relationship with countries — notably Canada — with whom we share so much. Kotkin points out that a “. . .strongly integrated North American Energy Community, including Mexico, could insulate Americans from unreliable suppliers in the Middle East, Russia and South America. For Canadians, it would cement a stable, long-term relationship with a steady customer and perhaps guarantee a floor on […]

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Email messages linking the Colombian Marxist guerilla insurgency (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC) to politicians, union activists and left-wing parties overseas have revealed a network of supporters spanning several continents, and have kept tensions high between Colombia and some of its neighbors. “The FARC have been less isolated than originally believed, and have wide-ranging political contacts throughout Latin America and elsewhere,” Michael Shifter, an analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Dialogue, wrote by email. While Shifter called the relationships “isolated,” he said “the support network did give the FARC a sense that they were seen as legitimate […]