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Massachusetts Senate Election has Implications for Latin America
January 20, 2010
by Eric FarnsworthYesterday’s election in Massachusetts to fill Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat had little to do with Latin America, but the implications of Scott Brown’s victory over Martha Coakley will nonetheless resonate across the region. That’s because the victory of the Republican candidate breaks the Democrats’ super majority of 60 votes in the Senate, and will likely require renewed negotiation and accommodation in order to pass the massive health care bill that has been the top priority of the White House and Congressional leaders since early 2009. Further delay on health care means that other agenda items will have to wait even longer for the political attention required to address them, and the mood on Capitol Hill could well become still more partisan and sour.
That’s doubly true for controversial legislation, particularly as we move further into 2010, which is a midterm election year. Since President Obama was inaugurated one year ago today, three out of the four special elections have been won by Republicans (the Massachusetts Senate seat and the Governorships of Virginia and
Tags: Barack Obama, Free Trade, Health care, Immigration, Scott Brown
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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas
September 23, 2009
by AS-COA OnlineFrom the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.
Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.
Zelaya Sneaks Back into Honduras, Catapaults Brazil into Center of Crisis
Three months after the military forced him out of Honduras, deposed President Manuel Zelaya reentered the country and gained sanctuary in the Brazilian embassy on September 21. Since then—and at the time of this report—the country remains in a tense standoff. The interim government of Roberto Micheletti closed airports, declared a curfew, and cut water supplies and electricity to the embassy. Police forces broke up protests with tear gas, with some canisters falling inside the embassy’s compound.
Such moves did little to please Brasilia, where the House approved a motion repudiating Honduras’ blockade of the embassy. While Brazil said it did not play a role in bringing Zelaya back into Honduras, officials allowed him to take shelter and reiterated support for his reinstatement. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in New York for the UN General Assembly, urged an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the crisis and requested to be present at the meeting.
In a Christian Science Monitor article exploring Brazil’s role in the center of the crisis, COA’s Eric Farnsworth explains why Zelaya chose that country to turn to. “Seeking asylum with Brazil shows that [Zelaya] thinks Brazil is the neutral voice in the crisis, not the U.S., Costa Rica, [or] Venezuela. He's essentially throwing in his lot with the party he thinks has the best chance to get him restored to power,” said Farnsworth, “It's a tangible representation of a power shift in the region.”
Tags: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, energy, Guatemala, Health care, Honduras, Immigration, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela
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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas
September 16, 2009
by AS-COA OnlineFrom the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.
Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.
Clinton, Vázquez Worry over LatAm Arms Race
Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington September 15 where, during a press conference, they expressed concern about the possibility of a Latin American arms buildup. Clinton referred in particular to Venezuela’s announcement that it would purchase $2.2 billion worth of arms from Moscow, saying: “[W]e urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases, clear about its purposes. They should be putting in place procedures and practices to ensure that the weapons that they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organizations, like drug trafficking gangs and other criminal cartels.” Vázquez added that, in a region marked by social inequality, resources should be devoted to poverty alleviation rather than weapons.
Read an AS/COA analysis of the South American arms spending, focusing in particular on recent arms deals forged by Venezuela and Brazil.
Tags: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Health care, Hillary Clinton, Honduras, Immigration, Mexico, U.S. policy to Latin America, Uruguay, Venezuela
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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas
August 19, 2009
by AS-COA OnlineFrom the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.
Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.
Washington and Bogota Agree on Defense Pact
On August 14, the United States and Colombia finalized a defense agreement that will allow the U.S. military to operate out of Colombian bases to coordinate counternarcotics operations. The agreement comes in the wake of the closure of a U.S. base in Manta, Ecuador. In a U.S. Defense Department news briefing, U.S. General James Cartwright said the goal of the pact is “to be able to provide to the Colombians what they need in order to continue to prosecute their efforts against the internal threats that they have.” The accord awaits signature by the U.S. and Colombian governments.
Still, the bilateral pact stirred up hemispheric tensions in recent weeks, particularly between Colombia and its neighbor Venezuela, as Liz Harper writes in the Americas Quarterly blog. On Tuesday, after meeting with Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to squelch concerns about “what the agreement does and does not do,” saying it involves bilateral cooperation rather than the creation of U.S. bases in Colombia.
Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Health care, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Ricardo Lagos, Venezuela
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Daily Focus: Nicaragua’s Supernatural Epidemic
May 4, 2009
by AQ OnlineGlobal health experts are focused on
In 2009 alone there have been 46 recorded instances, each time afflicting a teenage Miskito girl. It is not, however, a new phenomenon. Reports from the 1970s catalogue the illness and note that symptoms include behavior commonly associated with supernatural possession. The BBC, in a recent article on the phenomenon, reported that grisi siknis “turns people into witches and they go crazy."
Tags: Daily Update, Health care, Nicaragua
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Daily Focus: Mexico’s Economy Shrinks in the First Quarter as Swine Flu Threatens Bigger Economic Hit
May 1, 2009
by AQ OnlineLate yesterday, Mexico’s Finance Ministry reported that the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 7% in the first quarter due to plummeting exports. The most recent figures raise fears that the economy could shrink by more than the 3.8% to 4.8% that the Central Bank had previously forecast for 2009.
Making matters worse, the swine flu epidemic has prompted the federal government to suspend all non-essential services and urge businesses to close from May 1 to May 5 to reduce the spread of the virus.
Mexico’s revenues from tourism, which represent 8% of GDP, are also likely to fall precipitously as a result of the epidemic. Earlier this week, Cruise lines announced that they would cease all port calls in Mexico. And today, Continental Airlines announced that it is cutting flights to Mexico starting Monday. Despite this grim news, the peso appreciated against the dollar in late trading yesterday on news of a $3 billion loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to help Mexico combat the disease.
Tags: Daily Update, Economy, Health care, Mexico
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Daily Focus: Swine Flu South of (the Mexican) Border
April 28, 2009
by AQ OnlineWorld headlines are being dominated by the spread of swine flu from Mexico and the United States to Canada, Europe and now the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. But what about Mexico’s neighbors to the south?
Today, Costa Rica claimed the inauspicious title of being the first Central American country to confirm a case of swine flu, and Guatemala (which shares a border with Mexico) has detected three possible infections. On high alert, Central American health ministers are meeting today in Managua with the goal of agreeing to shared measures to combat the spread of the disease. Already, Central American countries are taking precautionary measures. Panama and Costa Rica have taken steps to detect sick passengers at airports. Honduras has not only asked the international community to send doses of Tamiflu, but has also requested that Mexico stop deporting undocumented Hondurans. Nicaragua has prohibited the importation of pigs and pig products from Mexico. But given its close proximity to Mexico, Guatemala may face the greatest immediate challenge in the region.
Tags: Costa Rica, Daily Update, Guatemala, Health care, Mexico, Panama
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Fine-Tuning Health Care for Hispanic Immigrants
March 27, 2009
by Evianna CruzFor Hispanic immigrants living in the United States, the obstacles to receiving adequate health care are many: lack of health insurance and language and cultural barriers in addition to immigration status are among the most important.
One example of the cultural differences is the home remedies that many immigrant groups use to treat health complications. In some communities of Colombia, it is common to use garlic to treat hypertension. In some parts of Mexico, it is a common practice to use cactus, aloe vera juice and bitter gourd to treat diabetes. Patients sometimes choose to self-medicate and self-diagnose rather than seek professional medical attention, which can lead to health complications in the future and frequent, last-minute visits to the emergency room.
Tags: Health care, Immigration, US
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