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Featured Q&A

Cuba's government in early July said it would release 52 political prisoners into exile. What is Cuba's motivation for releasing the prisoners now, and how will the move affect Havana's relations with the United States and other countries? The Dialogue’s daily Latin America Advisor published a Q&A (pdf) about the releases with comments from Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), Kirby Jones, Amb. Paul Hare and Jorge Sanguinetty.

Press Center 

[Releasing Cuban prisoners] does not signify political liberalization – no one is claiming that – but it is a positive step in which everyone wins.

 
Michael Shifter
The Guardian (U.K.)
July 25, 2010
More Dialogue quotes...

Congress Lauds Peter Hakim

Peter Hakim was formally honored by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Connie Mack (R-FL) for his contribution to Latin America policy, while testifying yesterday before the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee.

Education Policy Blog
From PREAL, the Dialogue's education program.


Corporate Circle
Over 100 businesses work with the Dialogue to help inform the hemispheric policy agenda. Executives participate actively in our events and pose questions to experts in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor, a daly brief published for Corporate Circle members. Learn more



Associates
Dialogue Associates are assured an invitation to our policy exchanges and receive new publications and articles. Learn more


 

michelle bachelet, Former President of Chile, becomes co-chair
of the inter-american dialogue board of directors

Former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet joined the Inter-American Dialogue’s Board of Directors to serve as its Latin American Co-Chair.

“President Bachelet is widely acknowledged to be one of Latin America’s most accomplished and popular heads of state,” said Ambassador Carla A. Hills, the US Co-Chair of the Inter-American Dialogue and former US trade representative. “She will bring to the Dialogue both credibility and fresh thinking. I very much look forward to working with her in pursuit of a common agenda,” Hills said.

Bachelet, who served as president from 2006 to 2010, achieved important advances during her tenure in women’s equity, child health and education, and successfully maintained Chile's status as one of the best-managed economies in the Western Hemisphere. 

A socialist and the first woman president of Chile, Bachelet is a pediatric physician and has studied military strategy. She was imprisoned by the Pinochet regime in 1975, held in a torture center with her mother, and both went into exile in Europe until 1979. See press release. 

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Publications And Events

"Santos, ¿una apuesta distinta con Chávez?" by Michael Shifter, El Colombiano, July 29, 2010. (English)

"Nuevamente la región se encuentra en un momento de alta tensión" Interview with Michael Shifter in El Comercio (Ecuador), July 29, 2010.

"Changes in US Politics: For Good and For Ill" by Michael Shifter, ideele (Peru), July 2010. (Spanish)

"Chávez está en problemas" Interview with Michael Shifter in El Deber (Bolivia), July 26, 2010.

EVENT: A Conversation with Fernando Cordero, President of the National Assembly of Ecuador. July 16, 2010. (Audio)

EVENT: The Age of Productivity: Transforming Economies from the Bottom Up.  July 15, 2010. (Audio and Report)

Film Casts Glowing Light on Hugo Chavez: "South of the Border" Movie Review Interview with Michael Shifter for Voice of America, July 13, 2010.

What Next for Lula? by Peter Hakim, O Estado de S. Paulo, July 11, 2010. (Portuguese)

EVENT: Latin America's Economic Future: Can the Region Become an Engine for Economic Growth?  July 6, 2010. (Audio)

"Santos y Washington: ¿Una época diferente?" by Michael Shifter, El Colombiano, July 6, 2010. (English)

Community and US Policy in the Americas by Peter Hakim, América Economía, June 2010. (Spanish)

O Brasil em ascençao: os desafios e as escolhas de uma potência global emergente by Peter Hakim in Política Externa, Jun/Jul/Aug 2010. (English) 

Hay un retroceso democrático claro en Nicaragua Interview with Michael Shifter in Confidencial (Nicaragua), June 30, 2010.

El estado de la democracia en Nicaragua Video interview with Michael Shifter for Esta Semana (Nicaragua), June 28, 2010.

Qué piensan en Washington de los países de América Latina Interview with Michael Shifter in Infobae América, June 25, 2010.

"A Decade of Plan Colombia: Time for a New Approach," by Michael Shifter, Política Exterior, July/August 2010.

EVENT: Remittances Scorecard for Latin America and the Caribbean. June 18, 2010. (Audio and Report).

"Colombia: Dos décadas de la Constitución de 1991, Avances de la representación y retos de la gobernabilidad," report on the Colombian Dialogue on Democracy, June 18, 2010.

"Expertos destacan manejo de la crisis en la región y proyectan los riesgos que vienen, una entrevista con Peter Hakim," by Carolina Gutiérrez in El Mercurio, June 16, 2010.

       More Dialogue publications...

CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

"Obama Administration Policy in Latin America: Year II," Peter Hakim.  Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. March 10, 2010.

"The Crisis in Honduras," Michael Shifter. Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. July 10, 2009. (Video)

Michael shifter speaks at "poder" magazine breakfast series in miami 

Click here to see the video

Chávez severs diplomatic relations with Colombia  

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Thursday severed diplomatic relations with Colombia over Bogotá's allegations that Colombian rebels are taking refuge in Venezuela, the Associated Press reported. Dialogue president Michael Shifter commented on the rise in tensions in The Christian Science Monitor. For more information read the Friday, July 23 edition (pdf) of the Latin America Advisor.  

Linowitz Forum: IMMIGRATION REFORM, DRUG POLICY, SECURITY TOP 2010 meeting AGENDA 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shared drug problem, international and domestic ramifications of the US immigration debate and the prospects of reconstruction efforts in Haiti led the agenda of topics addressed at the Inter-American Dialogue’s eighth biennial Sol Linowitz Forum on June 25 to 27 in Washington, DC. The Forum brings the Dialogue’s 100 members together with outside analysts and officials for an extended discussion of the key issues in hemispheric affairs. Select guest speakers at this year’s Forum included IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, President Obama’s National Security Council special advisor for the Western Hemisphere, Dan Restrepo, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Treasury Nancy Lee. For more information visit the Forum webpage, view the agenda or read the event summary.

cuba to free 52 prisoners

The Cuban government will release 52 political prisoners into exile over the next four months. The decision, Cuba’s first mass-release of prisoners since 1998, has been widely praised, with some reservation. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "It's something that is overdue but nevertheless very welcome." The move is in part the result of ongoing lobbying by the island's Roman Catholic Church, while Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos also played a critical role in negotiations. For the first time in four years, Fidel Castro made a public appearance (pictured) following the announcement. Dialogue president Michael Shifter told the Associated Press that the deal was "clearly positive…for the Cubans and positive for any steps the U.S. wants to take.” Shifter was also quoted by the Inter-Press Agency and the Wall Street Journal.  Dialogue member Jorge Dominguez of Harvard University was interviewed on PBS NewsHour.