The Americas Archive

Delegations from India and Brazil toured South Africa’s defense industry in November to explore possibilities for defense cooperation among the three IBSA countries. In an email interview, Daniel Flemes, a researcher in the Institute of Latin American Studies at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, discussed IBSA defense cooperation. WPR: What is the recent history of defense cooperation within IBSA in terms of defense industry collaboration and military-to-military cooperation? Daniel Flemes: As yet, most of IBSA’s ambitious agenda for defense cooperation has not been put into action. Increasing military personnel exchanges and joint exercises have been the most […]

When Venezuelans went to the polls for regional elections last weekend, they knew the future of the country, as they’ve come to know it, was hanging on a fraying thread. President Hugo Chávez, the man with the outsize personality who has dominated Venezuelan politics since before the turn of the 21st century, had just had his fourth cancer surgery, and the outlook for a full recovery looked rather grim. Chávez was not on the ballot, but his condition was the overarching concern for millions of voters. By his own dramatic, emotional admission, Chávez may not be able to return to […]

For 14 years, President Hugo Chávez has been a powerful unifying force in Venezuela, galvanizing his diverse supporters behind his lead, and uniting his opponents in their aversion to his policies and persona. Now, with the presidential inauguration still weeks away and Chávez apparently gravely ill, these centrifugal forces will be much harder to hold together, and many observers have predicted political instability, debilitating infighting within both camps and even violence. Nevertheless, three dynamics could help to prevent Venezuela from spinning out of control. First, Chávez began last week to prepare for a possible transition by warning Venezuelans of the […]

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently issued a partial veto for a bill that would distribute a greater share of oil revenues to Brazilian states that are not oil producers. In an email interview, Fernando Antonio Slaibe Postali, a professor of economics at the University of São Paulo, discussed Brazil’s oil revenue distribution policy. WPR: What is at stake in the efforts to craft revenue-sharing legislation in Brazil? Fernando Antonio Slaibe Postali: When the current rules where designed, in the mid-1990s, the revenues involved were small, because oil prices were low and the Brazilian exchange rate was fixed. (Oil royalties are […]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez flew to Cuba on Monday for his fourth cancer surgery after announcing over the weekend that he had designated his vice president, Nicolas Maduro, as his desired political successor. The announcement marked the first time Chávez, who has publicly battled the disease for more than a year, has suggested that his health could keep him from continuing in office. “Venezuela will never be the same again,” Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas and editor of Americas Quarterly, told Trend Lines. “There is no going back. The Chávez […]

Meeting with Enrique Peña Nieto in Ottawa shortly before the new Mexican president’s inauguration, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to work to reverse a sensitive visa requirement for Mexicans visiting Canada. In an email interview, Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, discussed Canada-Mexico relations.* WPR: What was the trajectory of Mexico-Canada relations under Mexican President Felipe Calderon? Duncan Wood: At the beginning of 2006 relations were at a relative high point. Canada had identified Mexico as a strategic partner; the Canada-Mexico Partnership had just been founded; and the language, at […]

Latin America prides itself on being a peaceful region — and with good reason. There has not been a military conflict between states for many years, and peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government may finally end the hemisphere’s only ongoing internal armed conflict. No other area of the developing world can boast such a record. It is surprising, then, that border disputes continually bedevil the region. Many of these tensions remain unresolved, and when they surface, as in the example of the Nov. 19 ruling by the International Court of Justice on […]

Newly inaugurated Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto promised during his campaign to triple Mexico’s GDP growth rate to 5-6 percent annually. In order to even approach that lofty goal, Peña Nieto must confront the country’s bloated monopolies that discourage competition and raise the cost of goods and services for Mexicans. Complicating this already monumental task is Mexico’s entrenched culture of monopolies, which will be harder to defeat than the actual monopolies themselves. When it comes to Mexican monopolies, the big offenders are well-known: Telmex, the telecommunications conglomerate owned by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim; Televisa, the largest multimedia company […]