EU-Cuba Relations Deteriorate Following Death of Hunger Striker

March 12, 2010

The European Union yesterday called on the Cuban Government to immediately release all political prisoners and urged EU institutions to give their “unconditional support to the launching of a peaceful process of political transition to multi-party democracy in Cuba.” The statement comes after the death last month of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, due to hunger strike.

The National Assembly of Cuba did not wait to respond to the resolution saying the EU was, “manipulating sentiments, distorting facts, deceiving people and obscuring reality." The Cuban declaration stressed that medical efforts were made to save Zapata’s life.

One reprecussion of the EU resolution is being felt in Spain, where its representative to the European Congress Willy Meyer commented that the scenario will complicate Spain’s efforts to improve the EU relations with Cuba and the end the European common position on Cuba.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

March 3, 2010

From 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.

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Leaders from Across Americas Reach out to Chile

In the days since an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile claimed roughly 800 lives and devastated infrastructure, leaders from across the Western Hemisphere have rallied to show their support for relief efforts. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton each traveled to Chile in the wake of the disaster to pledge assistance. Peruvian President Alan García, who has not traveled to Chile in a year due to a maritime-boundary dispute, also visited to pledge humanitarian aid, saying: “We need to strengthen our fraternity, our closeness, and in these moments of need, work toward a true union of peoples.” Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that he will donate half his salary to Chilean and Haitian earthquake relief efforts. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Peru are among the countries sending crucial supplies, such as satellite phones, field hospitals, medical equipment, and blankets.

Access an AS/COA Online resource guide to the Chilean earthquake, with links to maps, images, and additional sources of information.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

February 24, 2010

From 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.

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The New LatAm Group on the Bloc

Latin American leaders convened in Cancun, Mexico on February 22 and 23 for the 2010 Rio Group summit, where they agreed to form a new regional alternative that excludes the United States and Canada and that some posit could serve as an alternative to the Organization of American States. The specific details of the body will most likely be figured out at a 2011 summit in Caracas.

AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini discusses the newly created Latin American body on Worldfocus. “[The region’s] feeling its own diplomatic muscle and it wants to assert that,” says Sabatini.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

February 17, 2010

From 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.

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Haiti Reconstruction Costs Higher than Anticipated

A new Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study estimates that Haiti’s reconstruction could cost as much as $14 billion, far higher than earlier forecasts of $5 billion. The IDB study thus predicts Haiti’s earthquake will be costlier than the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Canada to Build Temporary HQs for Haitian Government

Following a visit to Haiti this week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that his country will construct temporary Haitian government headquarters in Port-au-Prince after last month’s earthquake destroyed the government’s buildings. The provisional headquarters will cost $11.5 million.

Young and Jobless in Latin America

A recent report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows that at least 600,000 young Latin Americans were unemployed in 2009, making them “hardest hit” by the global financial crisis, reports the Latin Americanist blog. The ILO report also showed that, of the 104 million youth in Latin America, only 34 percent attend school, only 33 percent work, and just 13 percent do both.

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Our Man, Cuba’s Pawn

February 4, 2010

This post is a follow-up to my Unleash the Googles entry from last week. But now I would like to specifically focus on the human rights implications of Alan Gross’ detention.

Why is the U.S. keeping so quiet… still? This has been a vexing question. There’s no grand geopolitical strategy behind our silence.

Alan Gross did not sign a privacy waiver. That simple. Out of respect for this request, the U.S. won’t say anything about Gross—either in his defense or in defense of our policies. This is true even though it’s in our best interests to clarify what Gross was doing and what equipment he was distributing.

For now, it’s all very murky, enhancing the cloak and dagger mystique around this 60-year-old guy from the suburbs of Washington DC. This makes the nature of his work seem all the more insidious.

We could be rebutting more aggressively the charges that the Obama administration is still Cuba’s arch enemy, working stealthily to topple its regime. Gross is being turned into the predictable tool for the Castros and the Chavistas to denounce the U.S., reminding me of how Fidel Castro sought to use Elián González as a pawn against the United States.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

January 20, 2010

From 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.

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Aftershock Hits Ravaged Haiti

A 6.1-magnitude aftershock hit Haiti early Wednesday morning even as the country reels from last week’s ruinous earthquake. At least one person suffered injuries immediately after the aftershock. No deaths or damages were immediately reported. Even in the midst of chaos, officials around the world are considering what efforts can be implemented to aid Haiti’s long-term recovery. In a blog post on NationalJournal.com, COA’s Eric Farnsworth writes: “A long term project will require long term attention, and political will that goes beyond the provision of emergency relief efforts.” Foreign Policy features five views on how to help Haiti rebuild using emergency aid and development.

Piñera Victory Ends Concertación Rule

Business tycoon Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s runoff elections on January 17, marking the first win for a conservative presidential candidate since the country’s return to democracy. According to an article in The Washington Post, Chile will most likely continue to follow free-market policies that rendered the country prosperous since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. COA’s Christopher Sabatini, quoted in the article, said Latin Americans “are making the choice to support market economies and rational leaders.”

Read an AS/COA analysis of recent and upcoming Latin American elections.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

January 13, 2010

From 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.

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Haiti Rocked by Destructive Earthquake

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, resulting in widespread chaos and substantial casualties. “Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed,” said Haiti’s President René Préval in an interview with The Miami Herald, who described the catastrophe as “unimaginable.” The United Nations and other agencies have warned that the rampant devastation is hampering efforts and The International Red Cross says as many as three million people have been affected and tens of thousands may have been killed by the earthquake, the epicenter of which lies just outside the Haitian capital. Images and reports of the destruction have been widely distributed via Internet and social media. Get updates via Twitter at #Haiti.

AS/COA has compiled a resource page with information about how to support relief efforts and get more information.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

January 6, 2010

From 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.

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Fernández Pushes for New Central Bank Head

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has sought to replace Central Bank Governor Martín Redrado after he turned down a presidential order to use $6.6 billion in reserves to pay off debt. Former Central Bank head Mario Blejer was named as a potential replacement. However, Redrado rejected the notion that he will resign and said that, according to the Bank’s charter, the decision to dismiss him lies with the Argentine Congress.

Buenos Aires Mayor Announces Presidential Bid

Mayor of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri announced intentions of a 2011 presidential bid this week. A member of the conservative Propuesta Republicana (PRO) party, Macri hopes to face Néstor Kirchner in a second round and insists the former president “could never win” a one-on-one election.

Looking Back on Washington’s 2009 LatAm Policy

Writing for the State Department’s Dipnote blog, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela reflects on U.S. engagement in the Americas during the first year of the Obama administration. After recounting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Mexico in March and the launch of the Inter-American Social Protection Network, Valenzuela concludes “2009 has been an exciting year in terms of our relationships—both bilaterally and multilaterally.”

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

December 16, 2009

From 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.

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Immigration Reform Debate Revived with New House Bill

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced, with the backing of nearly two-dozen lawmakers, a new comprehensive immigration reform bill on December 15. The proposed legislation represents the first immigration bill submitted since 2007 reform attempts fell apart. “We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our president,” said Gutierrez in a press release. “The time for waiting is over.”

In a new AQ blog post, AS/COA Director of Policy Jason Marczak reports on the new bill and looks ahead to an anticipated Senate version expected early in the new year. “[W]hile [Gutierrez’s] legislation is unlikely to be the bill that ultimately passes, it puts pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to step up their efforts at finding a workable solution to one of the United States’ most challenging domestic issues,” writes Marczak.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

December 2, 2009

From 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.

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Lobo Wins Controversial Honduran Election

The National Party’s Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo came out the clear winner in Sunday’s controversial presidential election, pulling in over 55 percent of the vote to mark a double-digit victory over his leading contender, the Liberal Party’s Elvin Santos. Reporting from Tegucigalpa, AQ blogger Daniel Altschuler writes about speculation over voter turnout figures. The Honduran electoral tribunal placed the figure at 61 percent while observer group Hagamos Democracia announced counts closer to 48 percent. Read the National Democratic Institute’s assessment of the electoral process.

Leaders from 22 countries joined at the Ibero-American summit this weekend in Estoril, Portugal, where divisions ran high over whether to recognize the results of last Sunday’s election in Honduras. All countries present condemned the June 28 ouster of Manuel Zelaya, but the United States, Peru, Costa Rica, and Panama announced they would recognize the elections. Critics opposing the election object to it being carried out by the interim government even as deposed leader Manuel Zelaya’s political fate remains uncertain.

The Honduran Congress is slated to vote on Zelaya’s reinstatement today, December 2. The ousted leader’s term would run through the end of January. Last week, the Supreme Court advised against his return to power.

Access an AS/COA timeline of the Honduran Congress.

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African-Americans Denounce Cuba on Race

December 2, 2009

Sixty prominent African-Americans signed a four-page declaration to the Cuban government, calling on Havana to confront racism and demanding that President Raúl Castro end “the unwarranted and brutal harassment of black citizens in Cuba who are defending their civil rights.” The "Statement of Conscience by African-Americans" also petitioned for the immediate release of Darsi Ferrer, a well-known Afro-Cuban physician and civil-rights activist, who has been in jail since July while under investigation for the illegal possession of two sacks of cement.

Signatories to the declaration include Princeton professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee Davis, and former congresswoman Carrie Meek. Afro-Cuban author Enrique Patterson called the declaration “historic.”

Alberto González, spokesman for Cuba's diplomatic mission in Washington, called the accusations against the Cuban government “absurd” and accused the declaration of being “part of a campaign of subversion against Cuba.”

Afro-Cubans make up at least 62 percent of the 11.4 million people in the country, but are not adequately represented in Cuba’s science, academic and leadership ranks. Victoria Ruiz-Labrit of the Cuba-based Citizens' Committee for Racial Integration estimates that 70 percent of Afro-Cubans are unemployed and a briefing statement included with the declaration noted that Afro-Cubans make up approximately 85 percent of the country’s prison population.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

November 18, 2009

From 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.

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Cuban Blogger Yoani Sanchez Detained and Beaten

November 9, 2009

Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez says she was detained and beaten Friday, as she and fellow bloggers were walking to an anti-violence protest. She and Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo were forced into a car in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, where she says three men who refused to identify themselves beat them and then left them in another neighborhood. A third blogger, Claudia Cadelo, was also briefly detained, but did not report injuries.

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

November 4, 2009

From 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.

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Deal Reached on Honduran Political Stalemate but Zelaya's Return Uncertain

After four months of a political impasse, negotiators for deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti reached a deal that, if approved by the country’s Congress, would allow for a power-sharing government. A delegation from Washington, including U.S. Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, was involved in this last round of negotiations that prompted the accord. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza announced that, given the deal,  a general assembly would be convened on November 16 to lift sanctions against Honduras. Ex-Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, a member of a verification committee tasked with overseeing that the deal’s measures are met, said a Cabinet of National Unity will be formed on November 5 in advance of the November 29 elections.

Whether Zelaya will regain his office remains uncertain. As The Wall Street Journal reports, a committee of 14 Honduran lawmakers voted against calling a requisite special session to decide on whether the deposed leader would be reinstated. With no deadline to make a decision and elections nearing, Zelaya may not regain his post.

Writing for ForeignPolicy.com’s The Argument, AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini and AQ blogger Daniel Altschuler warn that, even with the breakthrough, some will continue to push “ideologically driven revisionism” in their coverage of the Honduran coup. “Allowing a government that came to power through unconstitutional means to ride out an interim period to the next election and then transfer power would set a perilous precedent,” they write. “The deal struck last week offers a responsible, democratic exit from the four-month political crisis in Honduras.”

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Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

October 28, 2009

From 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.

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Mujica to Face “Pink” Alliance

During the first round of Uruguay’s presidential elections on Sunday, the Broad Front coalition’s José Mujica lost the majority needed to avoid a November runoff against the National Party’s Luis Alberto Lacalle. Mujica won a large majority at the polls, pulling in 48 percent—20 points above Lacalle. However, Mujica signaled concern about the “Pink” alliance made up of the National and Colorado Parties. While the Broad Front maintains a majority in Congress, it could lose its majority control in the lower house.

Read a new Americas Quarterly web exclusive on the Uruguayan elections by Adolfo Garcé of the Institute of Political Science at the University of the Republic in Montevideo.

Colombia, Venezuela Exchange Barbs over Espionage Accusations

Caracas announced the arrest this week of two officers from the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), Colombia’s intelligence agency. Bogota denied the allegations. Colombia’s ambassador in Venezuela, María Luisa Chiappe countered that Colombia is more concerned with identifying those responsible for the recent abduction and murder of ten amateur Colombian soccer players in a Venezuelan border town.

Tensions between Colombia and Venezuela have been heightened over a bilateral U.S.-Colombian agreement to give Washington access to seven of its military bases. Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva announced that the deal could be signed as early as Friday this week. He added that the deal was not a recent development, but an extension of US-Colombian cooperation against drug trafficking.

Read an AS/COA analysis of the military deal.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

October 21, 2009

From 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.

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Honduran Talks Stall over Decision on Zelaya’s Future

Negotiations aimed at resolving the ongoing Honduran political impasse came to a standstill again this week. The main point of contention continues to be whether deposed leader Manuel Zelaya should be allowed to return to office. “Last week, Honduras’s World Cup qualification left the country glowing with optimism. Now, irrepressible hope and joy have again given way to a grimmer reality: political negotiations have hit a wall,” blogs Tegucigalpa-based Daniel Altschuler for Americas Quarterly, who writes about the proposals being passed back and forth between Zelaya and the interim government.

Read an AS/COA analysis on the halting steps made in the Honduran negotiations.

Protest and Media Restrictions Eased in Honduras

The Honduran interim government officially eased restrictions on protests and the opposition media earlier this week. A decree was passed after a pro-Zelaya protest in September to suspend five articles of the Honduran constitution, authorizing the closing of any media outlet deemed to disturb the peace. De facto leader Roberto Micheletti took action to repeal the decree earlier this month, but the measure did not take effect until yesterday. Coincidentally, the decree was lifted the day after the United Nations sent an OAS delegation to Honduras to begin a three-week human rights investigation.

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Yoani Sanchez Denied Permission to Attend Tonight's Maria Moors Cabot Prize Ceremony at Columbia

October 14, 2009

Tonight Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism will host the 71st annual Maria Moors Cabot Prize for outstanding reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean. New York Times veteran Anthony DePalma, O Globo columnist Merval Pereira and Christopher Hawley, Latin America correspondent for USA Today and The Arizona Republic will be present to collect their awards, which include a $5,000 honorarium. However Cuban blogger and dissident Yoani Sánchez, who was awarded a special mention from the awards committee won’t be there. Sánchez confirmed on Monday that Cuban authorities denied her request to travel to New York to accept the prize. 

The Generación Y author has won international accolades for the blog she founded in 2007. In 2008 she won Spain’s prestigious Ortega y Gasset prize for digital journalism; later that year Time distinguished her as one of the year’s 100 most influential people. Her blog is translated into 15 languages and receives over 1 million visitors per month.

She is the first blogger to receive recognition from the Cabot Prize Board, which describes her writing as "...a pitch-perfect mix of personal observation and tough analysis which conveys better than anybody else what daily life ― with all its frustrations and hopes ― is like for Cubans living their lives on the island today.”

Ms. Sánchez describes her frustration at not being allowed to leave Cuba to accept the award more eloquently than anyone else could:

“All these difficulties to get permission to leave evoke for me the words of …Carlos Aldana. In an interview in 1991 for the Spanish magazine Cambio 16, the former number three in power in Cuba said: 'This year Cubans will be able to travel abroad freely.' Only it didn’t specify if we were going to do it on the wings of our imaginations and if it would be in a year containing twelve months or nearly two decades.”

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

October 7, 2009

From 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.

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OAS Sends Mission to Honduras

It’s been over two weeks since deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya snuck back into his country and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy. Three months after his removal from power and with the clock ticking down to the November 29 presidential elections, a stalemate drags on between Zelaya and the de facto government headed by Roberto Micheletti. The Organization of American States (OAS) will give talks another try starting October 7, when a delegation arrives in Honduras. The OAS mission includes high-level officials from Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Canada, Jamaica, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, and Spain. OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza leads the delegation. The mission also includes Thomas Shannon, who continues to serve as U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs while awaiting his stalled confirmation to become U.S. ambassador to Brazil.

Read AS/COA analysis on the Honduran crisis, including coverage of related rifts in Washington.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

September 30, 2009

From 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.

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Signs of a Solution to the Long Honduran Impasse?

It’s been three months since the overthrow of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and two months remain until the presidential election. This week’s episode of the Honduran telenovela saw de facto leader Roberto Micheletti issue a decree silencing the opposition media and suspending civil liberties. He also gave Brazil a 10-day deadline to take a position on Zelaya’s status in Brazil’s Tegucigalpa embassy, where the overthrown leader took refuge last week. But, as AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini blogs for Americas Quarterly, Micheletti seems to have “overplayed his hand.” Honduras’ Congress voiced opposition to the coup and Honduras’ top military commander predicted a resolution within a few days. The Los Angeles Times reports on a meeting held at U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens’ residence Sunday at which even coup backers' support for the de facto government appeared to waver.

Read an AS/COA analysis about the external players working to forge a solution.

Honduran Presidential Candidate Urges Elections

In an interview with PODER360.com, Honduras’ National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa says that elections can help the country move beyond the current polarizing political climate. The candidate says that those who question the legitimacy of the elections should recognize the legal process in place to move elections forward.

Hispanic Immigrants: Younger, Healthier, Uninsured

A new study from the Pew Hispanic Center finds stark differences in coverage of undocumented Hispanic immigrants and the general U.S. population. Sixty percent of Hispanics without citizenship or permanent residency lack health insurance and almost half do not have a regular place to go when sick. Most say they do not have a regular healthcare provider because they do not need one, which may relate to the fact that the Hispanic immigrant population is younger and healthier in comparison the overall national population.

Latin America Could Light Path for World Recovery

The World Bank’s top economist for Latin America Augusto de la Torre warned that the global financial crisis could mean that as many as 10 million people in the region could plunge into poverty. However, de la Torre told attendees of the Americas Conference in Miami that many countries in the region “are coming out of this crisis without systemic damage and as more attractive destinations for investment.” He described the Latin American recession as “less pronounced” and attributed economic successes to open markets, sound macroeconomic policies, and a resilient banking system.

Access additional materials from the Americas Conference, where speakers included former U.S. President Bill Clinton discussing international policy related to Haiti and Costa Rican President Óscar Arias offered his perspective on the Honduran Crisis.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

September 23, 2009

From 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.

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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.”

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

September 9, 2009

From 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.

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Calderón Undertakes Housecleaning

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón announced that his government plans to close down the secretariats of tourism, agrarian reform, and public service in an austerity measure that could save hundreds of millions of dollars. The three agencies will be absorbed into others. The move followed a cabinet reshuffling that involved replacing the attorney general, the head of state oil firm Pemex, and the secretary of agriculture. An Associated Press report suggests Calderón’s decision to replace Attorney General Medina-Mora with Arturo Chávez represents a choice to go with a stronger approach toward fighting drug cartels. However, women’s rights groups have protested the choice, saying Chávez did little while attorney general in the border state of Chihuahua to resolve the disappearances of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez. Chávez must gain confirmation from the Mexican Senate.

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U.S. Department of the Treasury Issues New Regulations on Cuba

September 3, 2009

The Office of Foreign Assets Control at the United States Department of the Treasury released new regulations on Thursday related to U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba. The new regulations are designed to reflect the directives contained in a memo released by the White House in April.

According the department’s website, today’s amendments change the Cuba sanctions regime in three major areas: family visits, family remittances, and telecommunications. News reports indicate that the changes have virtually eliminated restrictions on Cuban-Americans’ travel to Cuba to visit “close relatives” and to send money to family members on the island. Regarding telecommunications, the regulations appear to permit a variety of new activities ranging from the construction of a fiber-optic cable between the U.S. and Cuba to roaming agreements between U.S. mobile communications providers and their Cuban counterparts.

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Juanes Defends Decision to Play a Peace Concert in Havana

August 11, 2009

Colombian rock star Juanes is defending his decision to play a “Peace Without Borders” concert in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución. The concert, which is currently scheduled for September 20, has drawn criticism from some elements of the Cuban-American community in South Florida who contend that “apolitical concerts do not exist.”

Juanes has responded to the criticisms through traditional media channels as well as by his account on the website Twitter, asking “Why are the promotion of unity between peoples and the dismantling of borders bothersome?” Juanes’ spokesman, Fernán Martínez, has also weighed in saying, “this is an event of peace, of harmony, of relations. It's a white concert for the civil society of Cuba."

Concert organizers are currently waiting for the Cuban government to grant permission to use the plaza, which could accommodate more than 100 thousand fans. Up to 12 other musicians would accompany Juanes’ performance—potentially even from the United States. Last week, Juanes reported that he had met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about granting U.S. bands permission to play. The September 20 date is significant, as it coincides with the United Nations International Peace Day.

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Cuban Blogger Yoani Sanchez Wins Prestigious Journalism Award

July 30, 2009

Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism announced on Monday that Yoani Sanchez, author of Cuba’s most prominent independent blog, Generación Y, will be awarded a Maria Moors Cabot Prize and special citation for outstanding reporting. For the past 71 years The Cabot journalism prize—the oldest international award in journalism—has been conferred to journalists “who have covered the Western Hemisphere and, through their reporting and editorial work, have furthered inter-American understanding.” Past winners include Peruvian journalist and author, Mario Vargas Llosa and Mauricio Funes, the President of El Salvador.

The school of journalism’s official press release calls Sanchez’s blog “a pitch-perfect mix of personal observation and tough analysis, which conveys better than anybody else what daily life—with all its frustrations and hopes—is like for Cubans living their lives on the island today.” They also announced a special citation to Sanchez “for her courage, talent and great achievement” of putting the rest of the world in touch with Cuba.

In her response from Cuba, Ms. Sanchez said the most important thing about the honor was that it gives her prestige and a degree of “protection” from possible repressive actions by the Cuban government. She also indicated she would “use the prestige and protection that the Cabot Prize brings with it to continue to grow the Cuban blogosphere” and to support other future projects.

It is very unlikely that Ms. Sanchez, who has been labeled a “professional dissident” by the Cuban regime, will be permitted to travel to New York to receive her prize at the award ceremony in October. Instead, she says she travel in a virtual manner, as she does every day through her blog.

Read more about Yoani Sanchez and her consortium of bloggers in “Dispatches from the Field: Is Cuba Really Changing?” in the latest issue of Americas Quarterly.

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Cuban Economist Recommends Open Market Strategies

July 29, 2009

Yesterday, during his weekly show on state-run television, renowned Cuban economic analyst Ariel Terrero recommended that the Cuban government place the management of certain sectors of the economy in “hands” other than the state’s. Although Terrero avoided using the word “privatization,” he explained that the Cuban government cannot successfully run the entire economy on its own and sectors like the food industry and certain types of small commerce can potentially be more productive if “new for

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

July 22, 2009

From 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.

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Second Round of Talks Falls Short in Resolving Honduran Crisis

This latest round of mediated talks between representatives of Honduran interim leader Roberto Micheleti and deposed President Manuel Zelaya ended with little solution. Costa Rican President and negotiations mediator Óscar Arias’s proposed a seven-point plan to peacefully reinstate Zelaya, but the Micheleti delegation firmly rejected it. The New York Times’ Ginger Thompson reported Wednesday that a new round of talks would be postponed after Honduras’ current Foreign Minister Carlos López Contreras failed to convince the de facto government to accept terms that would allow Zelaya’s return to power.  Rumors of another attempt by Zelaya to return to Honduras repeatedly crop up; CNN Expansión reported Wednesday morning that Zelaya himself is planning his return in upcoming days.

In an AQ blog post, AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini takes a look at the negotiations, Arias’ plan, and the increasingly isolated situation Honduras finds itself in as countries and multilateral institutions cut large swathes of aid. On Monday, the European Union followed suit, suspending $92 million in financial aid to Honduras, reports the European Voice.

Access AS/COA’s resource guide to the Honduran crisis.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

July 15, 2009

From 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.

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Mediated Talks on Honduras to Resume; Zelaya Calls for Insurrection

Talks between the deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the interim government ended in Costa Rica with little progress on July 10. Since then, Costa Rican President Óscar Arias announced talks would resume later this week and Zelaya said that, should he not gain reinstatement this weekend, he would consider the dialogue a failure. He also called on Hondurans to engage in an insurrection.

The Christian Science Monitor interviewed COA's Eric Farnsworth, who described the call for an uprising as "a colossal mistake." Moreover, in a debate on a National Jounal Experts blog, Farnsworth writes: “The real story is not the overthrow of Zelaya in Honduras…[but] where the hemisphere itself has been as nation after nation has elected leaders who then use the institutions of democracy to attempt to perpetuate themselves in power.”

The Wall Street Journal puts the Honduran crisis in context in a multimedia look at the history of caudillos. Considering both sides of the coup, the main article states: “In the eyes of the international community Roberto Micheletti took charge through an old-fashioned coup,” but “In Mr. Micheletti’s take on the events, it was his government who avoided another, slow-motion coup by Mr. Zelaya himself.”

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New State Department Team Ready to Roll, as Republicans Challenge Obama Policy

July 9, 2009

Arturo Valenzuela, Tom Shannon, Carlos Pascual, and  Kenneth Merten all went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week for their “job interviews” for Latin America policy (aka, confirmation hearing).

As I’ve written here before, Valenzuela is up for assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Shannon, ambassador to Brazil; Pascual, ambassador to Mexico; and Merten, ambassador to Haiti.

The senators and nominees primarily focused on alternative energy, the Merida initiative, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and, of course, Honduras.  It’s important to note that a frequent topic of the day—the presence and nefarious influence of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and al-Qaeda in the hemisphere—didn’t get so much time. Perhaps that comes up only when administration officials are stumping Congress for more funding on Latin America initiatives.

The headline out of this hearing, however, is not about the accomplishments, or policies, of these sharp and savvy diplomats. It was an opportunity for certain Republicans to raise legitimate complaints about the Obama administration’s policies on Honduras and Cuba. At the same time, it was hardly contentious—fortunate for those going through the confirmation process! 

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

June 17, 2009

From 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.

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Peru's PM to Resign, Push for End of Decrees that Sparked Amazon Conflict

Peruvian Prime Minister of Peru Yehude Simon announced that the government will ask congress to eliminate decrees 1090 and 1064, which are among the laws at the core of the violent clashes between protesters and police on June 5. Those clashes claimed dozens of lives. Simon also said that he would resign from office as soon after the stand-off with indigenous people in Peru’s Amazon was resolved. The government also granted permission for indigenous leader Alberto Pizango to leave the country after he was granted political asylum by the Nicaraguan government.

An Americas Quarterly web exclusive goes into detail about the set of controversial decrees and how they fueled popular discontent that led to the clashes. Furthermore, AQ offers ongoing coverage of the conflict in a dedicated “Issues In-Depth” section.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

June 10, 2009

From 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.

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Political Fallout in Peru after Bloody Clash

Indigenous protesters and police forces clashed in Peru’s northern Amazon region over the weekend in a violent clash that claimed dozens of lives on both sides. The unrest followed months of demonstrations against a set of decrees that protesters said violated their ancestral claims on land and resources in the region. The Minister for Women and Social Development Carmen Vildoso resigned as a result of the controversy over the government’s handling of the clashes. Indigenous leader and head of the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle Alberto Pizango was granted political asylum by the Nicaraguan government on June 8, after the government accused him of inciting violence against the police on June 5.

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La OAS: Hasta La Irrelevancia Siempre!

June 9, 2009

Last Wednesday, to much fanfare, the Organization of American States' (OAS) annual meeting of the hemisphere's foreign ministers issued a resolution calling for a dialogue to readmit Cuba to the region's premier diplomatic body. Despite all the atmospherics, the statement sealed the OAS's irrelevance and the most promising chapter in the regional organization's history.

Both sides in last week's theater are claiming victory. On the pro-Cuba side, the governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua wasted no time in sending their foreign ministers to declare the resolution that overturned the 1962 rationale for Cuba's suspension—as a Marxist-Leninist government—as a blow to the U.S.'s embargo policy. In a parallel media blitz, U.S. officials rushed to say that the consensus agreement did not readmit Cuba into the OAS, but only called for dialogue in line with "practices, proposals and policies of the OAS."

The latter is supposedly a reference to the human rights and democracy requirements for membership, set out in a number of OAS documents including the 2001 Inter-American Demoratic Charter—heralded at one time as the greatest achievement of the OAS. Now, unfortunately, it's relegated to an oblique reference. Despite the U.S.'s efforts to put the best face on this, the reality is that the final document failed to include explicit mention of the issues detailed in the charter, such as respect for human rights and democracy—topics that the U.S. had insisted be included.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

June 3, 2009

From 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.

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OAS on Overturning 1962 Rule Suspending Cuba

Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Relations Fander Falconí told journalists Wednesday that the ministers at the OAS General Assembly have agreed to overturn a 1962 decision that expelled Cuba from the organization. Falconi said that Cuba’s suspension will be lifted as a result of a new proposal that eliminates conditions for Cuba to rejoin. This came after the first day of the assembly ended with no consensus about allowing Cuba to rejoin the organization. U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton insisted that Cuba must show clear steps towards addressing human rights and political freedom before the island can be allowed to rejoin.

Despite the United States opposing proposals to allow the readmission of Cuba without the country meeting certain democratic standards, signs of a U.S.-Cuba thaw continue. On May 30, the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington Jorge Bolaños officially accepted on behalf of Havana the U.S. proposal to resume high-level talks on legal immigration. Talks will also cover bilateral cooperation on drug trafficking, terrorism, disaster readiness, and resuming regular mail services.

Financial Times takes a look at how some members of the U.S. Senate hope to block easing of restrictions in U.S.-Cuba relations. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) suggested at COA’s Washington Conference that the United States should reexamine its funding for the OAS if the agency allows Cuba to rejoin.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

May 27, 2009

From 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.

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White House Chooses First Hispanic for SCOTUS

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced his choice for a Supreme Court justice to replace David Souter, picking the first Hispanic judge in history to be selected for the highest court in the United States. Sotomayor, whose credentials include three decades in the field of law and 16 years as a federal appeals judge, is from the South Bronx and of Puerto Rican descent. Pundits suggest that her ethnic background could serve as an obstacle for Republicans fighting her confirmation. Read AS/COA analysis about the nomination.

The Houston Chronicle’s Immigration Chronicles blog points out that several media outlets made the mistake of saying Sotomayor was born to immigrant parents. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917.

AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini joined PBS’ Worldfocus to talk about the historic nature of Sotomayor’s appointment, as well as how Latin America is receiving her nomination.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

May 20, 2009

From 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.

Colombian Defense Minister Resigns; Uribe Reelection Referendum Approved

Juan Manuel Santos will step down May 23 from his defense minister post to run for president in the 2010 elections. But Santos would declare his candidacy only if President Álvaro Uribe decides against running for his second reelection. If Uribe decides to go for it, Santos said that he’d be a loyal supporter of his campaign.

The Colombian senate brought Uribe a step closer to reelection Tuesday when it approved a path for voters to decide whether the constitution can be changed to allow the popular president to run again.

The Washington Post reports that “should Santos run and win, the Obama administration would have as a partner a U.S.-educated politician well versed in Washington ways.” The article also notes that Santos remains a firm supporter of Uribe’s democratic security policies and would likely continue them.

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Daily Focus: US Agricultural Exports to Cuba

May 6, 2009

Farm state senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), along with at least 13 other senators, are expected to announce legislation this week that would lift restrictions imposed by the Bush administration requiring all shipments of U.S. agricultural goods to Cuba to be paid for before they were left port. If lifted, the change would increase U.S. agricultural exports to the island.  The move mirrors agriculture industry sentiment, and seeks to build on the opening created when President Obama eased travel, remittance and telecommunications restrictions.

Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced similar legislation in previous years. In 2007, he sponsored the Promoting American Agricultural and Medical Exports to Cuba Act, which would have prohibited restrictions on payments from Cuban financial institutions and directed the Agriculture Department to promote exports to the island. According to Parr Rosson of Texas A&M University, agricultural sales to Cuba could reach $1 billion per year if restrictions were lifted.

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