February 1, 2010: Obama and Latin America: New Beginnings, Old Frictions
By Michael Shifter
Source: Current History
Signs of frustration are unmistakable in Washington and in many Latin American capitals, despite Obama’s immense personal appeal and the continued promise of a more productive partnership.

January 29, 2010: La comezón del primer año
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: La República
La política de EE.UU. hacia America Latina sigue siendo esencialmente la misma. Acaso con una diferencia importante, que es la de abrir un mayor juego al multilateralismo y a que los propios países de la región tienen responsabilidades que asumir

January 29, 2010: New bipartisanship over Haiti is promising
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Des Moines Register
The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12 also provoked one of America's most remarkable political reunions in recent memory. Five days later, President Barack Obama stood on the White House lawn flanked by former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton who together pledged to help rebuild Haiti. Bush captured the spirit of the moment, telling reporters that, "Now's not the time to focus on politics. It's time to focus on helping people."

January 29, 2010: International community, Haitians must work together
By Peter D. Bell
Source: Des Moines Register
The worldwide outpouring of support for Haitians from governments and ordinary citizens has been extraordinary. Rescue teams saving people pinned under collapsed buildings and medical teams performing surgery without basic supplies have been spellbinding. But this heroic phase of the emergency response is drawing to a close.

January 28, 2010: New faces, new policies in region (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Politics is swirling everywhere. Such are the ways of democracies, especially when oppositions come alive and defeat or threaten incumbents.

January 28, 2010: In Profile: Brazil's New Ambassador to the U.S.
By Matthew Schewel
In Profile: Mauro Vieira: Brazil's New Ambassador to the United States

January 26, 2010: Un año crucial para Obama
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Por estos días, todos en Washington tienen algún consejo para el Presidente Obama. Habiendo completado un año de su presidencia y después de una sorprendente derrota de su Partido Demócrata en las elecciones de Massachusetts para el Senado, Obama se enfrenta a un año desafiante. Encuestas muestran que Obama goza de popularidad personal, pero sus políticas reciben calificaciones más inferiores.

January 26, 2010: A Crucial Year for Obama
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano

January 26, 2010: No "chavizar" la política exterior
By Genaro Arriagada
Source: La Tercera
Nada le convendría más a Chávez que, en el momento en que la atención internacional está puesta en Piñera, tener con él una confrontación en su estilo que no reconoce maneras. Sería lamentable para Chile entablar una pelea menor con un gobernante que no goza de prestigio alguno.

January 25, 2010: In Rebuilding Haiti, Improving Education Must Be a Priority
By Jeffrey Puryear
The severity of the earthquake's impact on the Haitian people is due in large part to the country's poverty and its weak government. Countries that are poor, and poorly educated, seldom have the human resources and institutions that can plan for emergencies and respond quickly and effectively when they occur.

January 20, 2010: A Disappointing First Year: Obama and Latin America
By Peter Hakim
Source: FOREIGN AFFAIRS LATINOAMÉRICA
Inter-American relations have taken a disappointing course for the Obama Administration. The US has suffered several political setbacks in the region since the Trinidad Summit and little progress has been made on most of the “legacy” issues that Obama inherited from Bush and other predecessors.

January 20, 2010: Un decepcionante primer año: Obama y Latinoamérica
By Peter Hakim
Source: FOREIGN AFFAIRS LATINOAMÉRICA
Barack Obama generó un cambio palpable en el ambiente de las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica durante la 5ª Cumbre de las Américas de 2009. Sin embargo, las relaciones interamericanas desde entonces han tomado un curso decepcionante. Estados Unidos ha pasado por varios contratiempos políticos en la región y se ha hecho poco progreso en la mayoría de los temas del “legado” que Obama heredó de George W. Bush y de otros predecesores.

January 18, 2010: Las repercusiones del terremoto sobre las remesas
By Manuel Orozco
Source: América Economía
De la misma manera que las rutas de comunicación para la entrega de víveres son esenciales, las rutas de pago garantizarán el equilibrio financiero y económico de Haití durante su recuperación.

January 16, 2010: Más allá de rótulos ideológicos en Latinoamérica
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo
Con las elecciones chilenas hoy, y la posible victoria de Sebastián Piñera, no sorprende que algunos medios internacionales y analistas se refieran a un potencial viraje de Latinoamérica hacia la derecha. Esto marcaría una inversión de lo que muchos llamaron "una movida a la izquierda" en la región hace tan solo unos años.

January 16, 2010: Beyond Ideological Labels in Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo
With next Sunday’s Chilean election, and conservative Sebastian Pinera the expected winner, it is not surprising that some international media and analysts are referring to a possible move to the “right” in Latin America. This would mark a reversal of what so many called a "shift to the left" in the region just a few years ago.

January 14, 2010: Haiti's faint signs of progress take a vicious blow
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: CNN
Haitians have long been accustomed to the metaphorical earthquakes that have rippled through their proud but troubled country, but now, a literal earthquake, measuring magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale, has laid waste to the largest population center, the teeming, vibrant and chaotic capital of Port-au-Prince.

January 14, 2010: The Ghosts of Port-au-Prince
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Foreign Policy
Given the torrent of maladies that Haiti has suffered in recent years, it is tempting to conclude that the country lies beyond the edge of hope. Even before a massive earthquake transformed much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince into rubble, Haitians were already bound together by the shared trauma of collective memory.

January 13, 2010: ¿Puede resolver España el problema de Cuba? (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Política Exterior Nº133 - Enero / Febero 2010
Ha llegado la hora de sustituir la Posición Común sobre Cuba por un planteamiento que se adapte mejor a los diversos intereses y ventajas de los países europeos. ¿En qué medida puede España promover la democratización de la isla y su integración internacional?

January 13, 2010: Can Spain Solve the Cuba Problem?
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Política Exterior Nº133 - Enero / Febero 2010
There will be no shortage of challenges facing Spain when the country assumes the presidency of the European Union on January 1, 2010. Indeed, the lingering aftershocks of the global financial crisis, the evolution of the EU’s political architecture, and a full spectrum of foreign policy challenges ranging from the reconstruction of Afghanistan to the rise of China will be awaiting the attention of Spanish officials. Thus, it is striking that Spain has signaled that it will pursue the recalibration of European foreign policy towards the island nation of Cuba as one of its top priorities during its six month presidency. Indeed, while other European countries have intermittently focused on Cuba during their presidencies, few have identified it as a high priority and fewer still have been willing to expend significant political capital on revamping the 1996 “Common Position” on Cuba in the direction of greater engagement.

January 13, 2010: Earthquake Exposes Haiti's Silent Crisis
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Sphere
The brutal earthquake that struck Haiti this week has unmasked the silent crisis of desperation and poverty that already enveloped the vast majority of the country's population.

January 7, 2010: El difícil año de Obama en América Latina
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
2009 no fue un buen año para las relaciones Estados Unidos-América Latina. La agenda de Obama para 2010 ante América Latina tampoco será fácil.

January 7, 2010: The Obama Administration: A Difficult Year in Latin America
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
2009 has not been a good year for U.S.-Latin America relations. Obama’s Latin American agenda will not be any easier in 2010.

January 5, 2010: VIDEO: The Financial Crisis and Latin America: A Conversation With Augusto de la Torre
By Chris Moore
Source: www.thedialogue.org
The Dialogue sat down with Augusto de la Torre, Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank, to take stock of the financial crisis which rocked the global economy in 2008 and 2009, and to consider what prospects for recovery lie ahead. The Dialogue's president, Peter Hakim, also comments.

January 5, 2010: La doctrina Chavezjad: Entre el mito y la especulación
By Michael Shifter
Source: Poder
Venezuela e Irán unen sus fuerzas y recursos para disminuir la influencia de Estados Unidos ¿Hasta dónde será posible conseguir ese objetivo? Existen muchas dudas sobre el verdadero alcance de esta polémica alianza. Michael Shifter, el nuevo presidente del Inter-American Dialogue en Washington, analiza esta relación.

January 5, 2010: The Chavezjad Doctrine: Between Myth and Speculation
By Michael Shifter
Source: Poder
Venezuela and Iran are using their power and resources in an attempt to reduce US influence across the globe, but will it be possible to achieve this goal? There are many doubts about the true scope of this controversial alliance. Michael Shifter, the new president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, discusses this relationship.

January 5, 2010: La visita que calentó a Brasil
By Michael Shifter
Source: Poder

January 5, 2010: Ahmadinejad's Visit Heats Up Brazil
By Michael Shifter
Source: Poder

January 4, 2010: Lula podría convertirse en el agente clave del cambio climático en 2010
By Paul Isbell
Source: Infolatam
De todos los acontecimientos dignos de mención que podrían desarrollarse en la escena energética de América Latina en 2010, el más interesante será la posible transformación de presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, en el agente clave en el mundo sobre el tema climático durante su último año de gobierno.

January 4, 2010: Lula could become key climate change broker in 2010
By Paul Isbell
Source: Infolatam
Of all the noteworthy developments that could unfold upon the Latin American energy scene in 2010, the most interesting will be the potential transformation of Brazil´s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, into the world´s key climate broker during his final year in office.

January 4, 2010: FDI in the Region Will Recover This Year After Sliding in 2009
By Alicia Bárcena
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was expected to fall considerably in 2009 as a consequence of the global economic crisis.

January 4, 2010: Dos retos paralelos de Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: AmericaEconomia
Ha llegado el momento de restablecer la gobernabilidad democrática y demostrar la disposición de defender la democracia en otras naciones del hemisferio.

January 4, 2010: The Twin Challenges of Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: AmericaEconomia
The time has come to disentangle the two objectives of international intervention in Honduras—(1) restoring normal, democratic governance to the country, and (2) demonstrating a readiness to defend democracy in other hemispheric ations—and pursue them on separate tracks.

January 3, 2010: Raúl's nightmare
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Cuba's problems can't be addressed under the leadership's passé reformism. Raúl Castro is neither Gorbachev nor Deng Xiaoping, both of whom thought outside the box while in power. He is stuck in the old mold of market socialism: a tinker here, a nudge there, even though Europe's 1989 should serve as warning. It's a dead end.

December 30, 2009: Após expectativa inicial, Obama termina o ano distante da America Latina
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: ANSA
Para Michael Shifter, do Diálogo Interamericano, o esfriamento na relação se deve em parte à defesa de pontos de vista diferentes em temas considerados cruciais, como o acordo firmado por EUA e Colômbia e a crise em Honduras.

December 29, 2009: Misunderstanding the Problem
By Michael Shifter
Source: The New Republic
Michael Shifter responds to Jorge Castañeda’s article in The New Republic ("Adios, Monroe Doctrine," December 28, 2009).

December 28, 2009: VIDEO: A Conversation With Peter Hakim
By Chris Moore
Source: www.thedialogue.org
As 2009 comes to a close, the Dialogue sat down with Peter Hakim to review the significant events of the year and forecast challenges that might lay ahead. This is the interview with Peter Hakim in its entirety.

December 28, 2009: VIDEO: Year In Review: 2009
By Chris Moore
Source: www.thedialogue.org
As 2009 comes to a close, the Dialogue sat down with staff, including Peter Hakim, Michael Shifter, Dan Erikson, Jeff Puryear, and visiting fellow Aurea Molto, to review the significant events of the year and forecast challenges that might lay ahead.

December 26, 2009: Obama y América Latina: un año
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
For the Obama administration, the promising Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago was followed by some unexpected distractions that sidetracked US policy towards the region.

December 26, 2009: Obama and Latin America: Year One
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
For the Obama administration, the promising Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago was followed by some unexpected distractions that sidetracked US policy towards the region.

December 26, 2009: Não vai haver convergência Brasil-EUA
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Folha
Discordâncias como as sobre Irã e Honduras são comuns, mas é preciso saber superá-las, diz novo presidente do Diálogo Interamericano. Washington e Brasília devem saber lidar com diferenças de opinião e se concentrar na cooperação, afirma Michael Shifter.

December 24, 2009: What Issues Will Drive U.S.-Latin American Relations Next Year?
By Peter Hakim
Source: Latin America Advisor
According to a Gallup Poll conducted last summer, Latin Americans' perceptions of U.S. leadership improved dramatically this year as President Barack Obama took office. Despite general public goodwill, however, the Obama administration has faced sharp criticism over the handling of the coup in Honduras and a military agreement between the United States and Colombia that alienated some countries in South America. What issues will drive U.S.-Latin American relations in the coming year? Where should the Obama administration focus its efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean?

December 24, 2009: What Issues Will Drive U.S.-Latin American Relations Next Year?
By Arturo Valenzuela, Peter Hakim, Andrés Rozental and Roger Noriega
According to a Gallup Poll conducted last summer, Latin Americans' perceptions of U.S. leadership improved dramatically this year as President Barack Obama took office. Despite general public goodwill, however, the Obama administration has faced sharp criticism over the handling of the coup in Honduras and a military agreement between the United States and Colombia that alienated some countries in South America. What issues will drive U.S.-Latin American relations in the coming year?

December 23, 2009: Un golpe mortal a la democracia
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Nicaragua se acerca al precipicio. En 2006, Daniel Ortega se vistió de oveja para llevar a cabo su campaña, pero sacó su lobo interior una vez que llegó el poder. Se sumó al ALBA, la alianza de autócratas fundada por Venezuela, viajó a Irán, Cuba, Libia, y trató al entonces embajador de Estados Unidos como a un punching bag. La maquinaria sandinista de clientelismo, corrupción y tácticas represivas resucitó con toda su fuerza.

December 23, 2009: Latin America's Economic Growth Will Rebound in 2010
By Shelly Shetty
Latin America has withstood the stress test of the global economic and financial crisis relatively well. The region entered the period of the global financial crisis in relatively good health with record-high international reserves, manageable external account imbalances, modest government debt burdens and comparatively healthy financial systems that were not exposed to "toxic" assets or highly dependent on external funding.

December 17, 2009: Dealing democracy a death blow
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Miami Herald
Nicaragua is nearing the brink. In 2006 Daniel Ortega campaigned in sheep's clothing but freed his inner wolf once inaugurated. He joined ALBA, Venezuela's alliance of autocrats, traveled to Iran, Cuba, Libya and Algeria and used then-U.S. Ambassador Paul Trivelli as a punching bag. The Sandinista machinery of clientelism, corruption and strong-arm tactics is back in full force.

December 16, 2009: Obama: De Candidato a Presidente
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele
El caso de Obama ha demostrado una vez más que no es lo mismo ser candidato que presidente en ejercicio. Sin embargo, Michael Shifter plantea que, a modo de balance de su primer año como Presidente, corresponde un análisis matizado que comprenda logros innegables pero también dificultades y expectativas no satisfechas.

December 16, 2009: Obama: From Candidate to President
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele
The case of Obama has demonstrated once more that being a candidate is not the same as actually being the president. Michael Shifter proposes an analysis of Obama's first year in office, looking at the new president's successes but also his difficulties and unfulfilled expectations.

December 16, 2009: China in the Caribbean: The New Big Brother (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: China Brief, Vol. 9, Issue: 25
At first glance, China and the Caribbean would appear to have few interests in common. China, with a population of over 1.3 billion, has undertaken an impressive economic expansion that has earned it renewed recognition as a global power. The sovereign states of the English-speaking Caribbean consist of small, micro-states with sluggish levels of economic growth. While China has been both a primary driver and beneficiary of world economic growth, the Caribbean has, for the most part, been a reactor to it. It is this difference that makes China an alluring, yet potentially dangerous economic partner.

December 15, 2009: ¿ESTÁ RESUELTA LA SEGUNDA VUELTA?
By Genaro Arriagada
Source: CIPER (Chile)
Frente a la encrucijada inédita que plantea la segunda vuelta de esta quinta elección presidencial desde la recuperación de la democracia, el cientista político Genaro Arriagada, también Senior Fellow en el Diálogo Interamericano, analiza los resultados del domingo pasado y hace una radiografía de los desafíos que ellos plantean para ambos candidatos.

December 14, 2009: Honduras é só um da série de ruídos entre governos Lula e Obama
By Peter Hakim
Source: Agência Estado (Brasil)
Apesar das divergências que se acumularam nos últimos meses, os analistas consultados pela Agência Estado não acreditam em um clima de tensão bilateral, nem em qualquer possibilidade de rupturas à vista. Interview by Gabriel Bueno da Costa

December 11, 2009: Former Head of Brazil's Oil Regulator Criticizes Pre-Salt Reforms
By Matthew Schewel
The Brazilian government's plan to overhaul oil development rules for the country's vast offshore reserves is largely unnecessary and could end up making the country's state oil company less efficient, the former head of Brazil's oil regulatory agency said Tuesday.

December 10, 2009: Healing time for Honduras
By Michael C. Lisman
Source: guardian.co.uk
After a miserable year, Honduras needs a period of stability to allow its economy and public services to operate.

December 10, 2009: El futuro de Centro América: Entre la incertidumbre, el caos o el porvenir
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Confidencial (Nicaragua)
Aunque la crisis actual que impera en Centro América refleja preocupación sobre su capacidad de resolver sus retos presentes, la realidad que se acerca en el futuro refleja también retos de incertidumbre y debilidad que requieren atención.

December 9, 2009: Argentina: A New Chapter in a Long-Running Debt Saga
By Claudio Loser
While readers may think I deal too often with Argentina, the truth is that the country keeps creeping into the international financial news.

December 8, 2009: O peso pesado e seu contrapeso.
By Peter Hakim
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
Em vez de continuarem como concorrentes, Brasil e EUA têm mais a ganhar se encontrarem formas de cooperar na América Latina.

December 8, 2009: Brazil: Latin America’s Heavyweight and the U.S.’s Counterweight.
By Peter Hakim
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
In the coming period, the U.S. may well defer more and more to Brazilian leadership in Latin America—and Brazil’s influence is almost sure to increase across the region. But rather than remaining as competitors or counterweights to each other, both Brazil and the U.S. have more to gain by finding ways to cooperate.

December 3, 2009: That other Cuban community
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Along the Jersey side on the Hudson River, New York City stands vibrant if now forever scarred. Between 1892 and 1954, 12 million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island, where a must-see museum renders tribute to their hopes and the country that blessed them.

December 1, 2009: O desafio das drogas
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo
Fernando Henrique Cardoso's articles are published on the first of every month and appear in O Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo), Zero Hora (Porto Alegre) and O Globo (Rio de Janeiro).

December 1, 2009: La influencia de Chávez es limitada
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Vanguardia
Ecuador's Vanguardia magazine talks to Michael Shifter about Venezuela and Brazil's foreign policy.

November 30, 2009: EEUU presionará al nuevo presidente para lograr un acuerdo
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera
In a brief interview with Chilean newspaper La Tercera, Michael Shifter discusses the aftermath of the elections in Honduras.

November 29, 2009: Brasil deveria deixar princípios de lado e apoiar eleição em Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: R7 Noticias
Para Peter Hakim, o Brasil de Lula joga por Zelaya e não pensa em sua imagem. (Interviewed by R7 Noticias).

November 29, 2009: ¿Lucha por el poder o por la democracia?
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Confidencial (Nicaragua)
La élite política opositora a Daniel Ortega ha postulado que hay tres condiciones para contener el expansionismo antidemocrático: reducir el abuso de recursos financieros que el régimen utiliza arbitrariamente, fortalecer una unidad pro-democrática en Nicaragua y separar a Arnoldo Alemán de su matrimonio con Ortega. Esta posición política, aunque atractiva para la élite,contiene los elementos de la derrota contra un régimen que posee ingredientes del incesto político nicaragüense.

November 29, 2009: Outro Castro, Mesma Cuba
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: O Estado de Sao Paulo
Um dos maiores mistérios envolvendo Raúl Castro quando assumiu o poder em Cuba, em fevereiro de 2008, era se ele seguiria a política de supressão das liberdades civis e políticas na ilha defendida por seu irmão Fidel. Nas últimas semanas, o já péssimo histórico de Cuba no campo dos direitos humanos piorou com a avalanche de noticias negativas sobre o espancamento de blogueiros e prisioneiros políticos, ameaçando destruir qualquer esperança de uma normalização das relações entre Cuba e Estados Unidos. Claro que esse pode ser exatamente o resultado que os irmãos Castro pretendem, mas não há dúvida de que a atual situação no país está cada vez mais volátil.

November 25, 2009: Brasil deve equilibrar estratégia
By Peter Hakim
Source: O Globo
Peter Hakim, presidente do Inter-American Dialogue, acha que o preço que o Brasil paga por emergir como líder mundial de peso é equilibrar suas declarações diante dos fatos diplomáticos mais significativos, o que, segundo ele, o Itamaraty e o Planalto ainda não conseguiram fazer.

November 24, 2009: Playing with fire
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Michael Shifter discusses the latest series of provocations between Colombia and Venezuela and suggests possible roles for the United States and regional organizations in resolving the conflict.

November 24, 2009: Jugando con fuego
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Las tensiones y desconfianzas entre Colombia y Venezuela rara vez han sido más grandes, haciendo remotas las perspectivas para restaurar una funcional relación bilateral.

November 24, 2009: Peru's Garcia Belaunde: Chile Spy Case a Bilateral, Not Regional, Issue
By Matthew Schewel
The Peruvian government does not plan to use Friday's meeting of the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, as a forum to address a recent spy scandal that has elevated tensions with neighboring Chile, Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde said Monday

November 21, 2009: El Hombre de Obama
By Peter Hakim
Source: América Economía
Arturo Valenzuela está asumiendo el cargo más alto de política exterior hacia América Latina, en un momento difícil para las relaciones de EE.UU. en el hemisferio. Aunque su conocimiento de América Latina es inigualable, se enfrenta a una agenda difícil.

November 21, 2009: Obama's Man in Latin America
By Peter Hakim
Source: América Economía
Arturo Valenzuela is taking over the top Latin American policy job at a rough time for U.S. relations in the hemisphere. While President Obama retains the respect and good will of most governments in the region, the Administration’s hemispheric policies have disappointed many in Latin America and in Washington. His unmatched knowledge of Latin America and ample government experience, notwithstanding, Valenzuela faces a tough agenda.

November 18, 2009: Reforma politica va a ser beneficiosa para la democracia argentina
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Patagónico
El presidente del think tank (grupo de pensamiento) Diálogo Interamericano, Peter Hakim, sostuvo que la reforma política que hoy está siendo debatida en la cámara Baja, "va a ser beneficiosa para la democracia argentina" y sugirió que sería "mejor si los legisladores pudieran encontrar la manera de no perder esta oportunidad de reflexionar, de discutir y debatir el sistema político y hacer cambios".

November 13, 2009: Is the Region Coming Out of the Crisis, and If So, How Well?
By Claudio Loser
A year ago, we were struggling with the impact of the worst global financial crisis in recent memory, at least in mine. This year, the world will have registered its first decline in output since the middle of last century.

November 13, 2009: Peru Gov't and Indigenous Group Still Disagree on Bagua Clash
By Matthew Schewel
More than five months after a deadly clash between police and indigenous protesters in the Peruvian Amazon killed at least 34 people, leading the government to roll back efforts to open up the region for oil and gas development and other extractive industries, a Peruvian indigenous leader said native communities are still searching for answers.

November 11, 2009: Fiddling while Tegucigalpa burns
By Michael Lisman
Source: guardian.co.uk
Of the many lessons to be learned from the Honduran political crisis, perhaps the most important one for would-be deal brokers is that if you get involved, prepare to stay involved.

November 10, 2009: Calm Down, Chávez
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Policy
Michael Shifter looks at the root causes of the current conflict between Colombia and Venezuela.

November 6, 2009: Cambió el alma de América Latina
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Viente años después de la caída del Muro de Berlín, Michael Shifter examina relaciones entre los Estados Unidos y América Latina en el periodo post Guerra Fría.

November 6, 2009: It Changed the Soul of Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Michael Shifter examines relations between the United States and Latin America in the post Cold War period.

November 6, 2009: How Has the Honduran Crisis Affected the U.S. Role in the Region?
By Peter Hakim
Source: Latin America Advisor
Whether or not it resolves the Honduran crisis, last week's agreement between deposed President Manuel Zelaya and de facto leader Roberto Micheletti was a victory for moderation and reason in a situation heretofore notably lacking these characteristics.

November 5, 2009: Anything can still happen
By Michael Shifter
Source: The Miami Herald
Anyone familiar with the Honduras crisis can be forgiven for being skeptical about the viability of last week's agreement to end the four-month deadlock between opposing political forces in that shaken Central American nation.

November 5, 2009: Dead End?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
The Obama administration may be going down a dead end. In an Oct. 13 meeting with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Obama said: ``Tell Raúl that if he doesn't take steps, I won't be able to go further.'' A few days later the Spanish foreign minister met with Raúl Castro. We don't know if he delivered the message.

November 4, 2009: Canada Major Contributor on Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: Embassy Magazine (Canada)
Canada has been one of the few countries that has been consistently and thoughtfully engaged in seeking a pragmatic solution to the crisis, which for the past several months, has denied Hondurans their democratic rights and been devastating to the economy of one of Latin America’s poorest nations.

November 4, 2009: VIDEO: Congress to Re-examine Drug Policy at Home and Abroad
By Chris Moore
Source: www.thedialogue.org
The Inter-American Dialogue produced a video on a recent hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere entitled, "Assessing U.S. Drug Policy in the Americas." Features one-on-one interviews with Subcommittee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY), former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Michael Shifter.

November 2, 2009: VIDEO: Michael Shifter Discusses Recent Developments in Honduras
By Chris Moore
Source: www.thedialogue.org
Dialogue staff sat down with Michael Shifter, Vice President for Policy, to discuss recent developments in the Honduran crisis.

October 27, 2009: How Poor and Unequal is Latin America and the Caribbean? (PDF)
By Jeffrey Puryear and Mariellen Malloy Jewers
The brief draws on a rich array of sources to identify a set of basic facts about of poverty and inequality in Latin America. It describes the region’s extraordinary concentration of income at the top of the income scale, and its absence at the bottom—setting Latin America apart from every other region of the developing world. The brief concludes that, despite modest recent progress, Latin America remains far from finding an effective strategy for reducing poverty and inequality. It is the first in a series of policy briefs that will target key issues on the region’s social agenda.

October 27, 2009: Pobreza y Desigualdad en América Latina (PDF)
By Jeffrey Puryear and Mariellen Malloy Jewers
La síntesis está sustentada en una amplia gama de información para aclarar lo que sabemos sobre la pobreza y la desigualdad en América Latina. Esta síntesis describe la extraordinaria concentración de ingreso en el sector de la población con mayor renta y su ausencia en el sector de la población más pobre – a diferencia de las demás regiones en desarrollo. La síntesis concluye que, a pesar del modesto progreso visto recientemente, América Latina no parece haber desarrollado una estrategia sólida para reducir la pobreza y la desigualdad. Ésta es la primera dentro de una serie de síntesis de política social enfocada en temas claves para la agenda social de la región.

October 26, 2009: Sin pausa pero sin prisa
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Estados Unidos y Cuba están dando pequeños pasos para el acercamiento. Desde que el presidente Obama llamó a un "nuevo comienzo", su gobierno ha permitido el envío de remesas y viajes ilimitados por razones familiares, ha reanudado las conversaciones migratorias, ha propuesto que se establezca el servicio de correo directo y se manifestó a favor del concierto de Juanes. En los últimos diez meses, el Departamento de Estado ha otorgado 5.500 visas más a cubanos para que visiten Estados Unidos que las que concedió durante el mismo período del año anterior.

October 23, 2009: Lecciones para Obama
By Peter Hakim
Source: América Economía
Honduras es una prueba crítica para la política exterior de Barack Obama en América Latina. Desafortunadamente, puede ser que repruebe. La postura del gobierno de enfatizar la cooperación multilateral y alinear las agendas de EE.UU. con las de los países de la región, ha sido bien recibida y podría llevar a una relación a largo plazo más productiva. Pero para que eso ocurra debe ser manejada en mejor forma que en el caso de Honduras .

October 23, 2009: Honduras and Multilateralism: Lessons for the Obama Administration
By Peter Hakim
Source: América Economía
Honduras is a critical test for President Obama’s Latin America policy. Unfortunately, he may end up with a failing grade. The Administration’s approach—emphasizing multilateral cooperation and seeking to align U.S. and Latin American agendas—has been welcomed by most Latin Americans, and could lead to a more productive long-term relationship with the region. But the policy needs to be more effectively managed than it has been Honduras.

October 22, 2009: Can we honor the fallen of both sides?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On Sunday, The Miami Herald's ombudsman, Edward Schumacher-Matos, wrote about me. His thoughtful column gave due consideration to my personal story and the spy charges levied against me -- not by the U.S. government but by a small clique on the blogosphere. What saddens me is that the column had to be written.

October 21, 2009: The Argentine Economy in the New Political and International Environment (PDF)
By Miguel Kiguel
Source: econviews
Powerpoint presented by Miguel Kiguel at a Dialogue event, "Argentina's Economy and its Prospect for Recovery and Sustained Growth," moderated by Edgardo Sternberg, on October 21, 2009.

October 18, 2009: "El chavismo es insostenible y genera su propia destrucción"
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Universal
Shifter cree que la política de multilaterqalismo a aplicar hacia América latina por parte del presidente Obama tiene a Brasil como un actor de primera fila.

October 18, 2009: "El reto es manejar las diferencias sin agresiones"
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Últimas Noticias
Durante su estado en Caracas, Michael Shifter fue entrevistado por el diario Últimas Noticias sobre temas diversos, incluyendo la política exterior de Barack Obama, relaciones con Venezuela, la política antidroga, y la existencia de pensamiento imperial en los Estados Unidos.

October 16, 2009: House Subcommittee Advances Legislation For Review of Drug Policy
By Matthew Schewel
A group of US lawmakers is calling for a re-examination of America's decades-old "war on drugs," which since 1980 has cost taxpayers at least $14 billion through anti-narcotics efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean

October 14, 2009: Michael Shifter no ve amenaza
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Nacional
El vicepresidente del Diálogo Interamericano cree que Washington busca ser pragmático en su relación con Caracas.

October 14, 2009: Cuba's Brave New World (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson and Paul Wander
Source: The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs
Cuba is enjoying a wave of international engagement that was virtually inconceivable even a decade ago. In the last year, heads of state from more than twenty Latin American and Caribbean countries have visited Cuba, and many do so frequently. Indeed, a casual observer of Cuba's international relations could be forgiven for thinking that global perception and acceptance of the Cuban revolution are at an all time high. This diplomatic sea change is all the more striking given the fact that the Castro regime continues to resolutely resist the kind of democratic opening and economic reforms that much of the world has long encouraged.

October 11, 2009: Obama y Honduras
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo
Michael Shifter looks at the political forces in the United States that are impacting the outcome of the continuing crisis in Honduras.

October 11, 2009: Obama and Honduras
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo
Michael Shifter looks at the political forces in the United States that are impacting the outcome of the continuing crisis in Honduras.

October 8, 2009: U.S. and Cuba inching toward each other
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
The United States and Cuba are taking baby steps toward each other. Since President Obama called for a ``new beginning,'' his administration has allowed unlimited family travel and remittances, resumed migration talks, proposed direct-mail service and given its blessing to the concert by Colombian pop star Juanes. In the past 10 months, the State Department issued 5,500 more visas for Cubans to visit the United States than in the same period before October 2008.

October 7, 2009: Recomponer las relaciones España-EE UU
By Paul Isbell
Source: El País (Spain)
El próximo 13 de octubre, el presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, se reunirá en la Casa Blanca con el presidente Barack Obama para celebrar la primera reunión oficial entre ambos líderes. El objetivo del encuentro será el relanzamiento de las relaciones entre España y Estados Unidos, tensas desde que Zapatero anunciara la retirada de las tropas españolas de Irak en 2004.

October 4, 2009: Mão dupla no Estreito da Flórida (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Após décadas de hostilidade e desconfiança, os Estado Unidos e Cuba estão começando a trocar mensagens conciliatórias de que já é hora de desenvolver uma relação mais pragmática e baseada em interesses.

September 28, 2009: Managing disarray: The search for a new consensus (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Which Way Latin America?: Hemispheric Politics Meets Globalization
In this book, some of the world’s leading Latin Americanists explore the ways in which the region has re-engaged globalization. Michael Shifter contributed this chapter, entitled "Managing disarray: The search for a new consensus," in which he discusses inter-American relations both past and present.

September 24, 2009: Colombia Hopes to Win US Hearts in Free Trade Debate
By Matthew Schewel
With a Colombia-US free trade agreement stalled in both houses of the US Congress over concerns about human rights and judicial reform in the South American country, the Colombian government is taking its case directly to the American public, mounting a large-scale public relations campaign that made a stop earlier this month in downtown Washington.

September 23, 2009: Manuel Zelaya hurts his own cause
By Michael Lisman
Source: guardian.co.uk
By refusing to compromise, Manuel Zelaya is undermining international efforts to resolve the crisis in Honduras.

September 22, 2009: Lección sobre fragilidad democrática
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Han transcurrido casi tres meses desde el golpe en Honduras. El plan Arias —diseñado por el presidente de Costa Rica, Oscar Arias— exige el regreso al gobierno del mandatario depuesto, Manuel Zelaya, aunque con poderes reducidos, así como una amnistía para los involucrados en los acontecimientos previos y posteriores al 28 de junio. Tanto hondureños como observadores extranjeros esgrimen poderosos argumentos legales para justificar la "sucesión presidencial" o la permanencia de Zelaya como el "legítimo presidente".

September 21, 2009: US-CUBA: Five Decades of an Admittedly Failed Policy
By Charles Davis
Source: Inter Press Service
In his review of Dan Erikson's "The Cuba Wars," Charles Davis of IPS explains how U.S. citizens of Cuban descent are once again free to travel to Cuba and send an unlimited amount of money to their relatives on the island, but for the most part U.S. policy toward the communist nation hasn't changed under President Barack Obama.

September 18, 2009: Huella Yanqui
By Peter Hakim
Source: Caretas
Sostiene que las bases militares en Colombia no son gran cosa y critica al gobierno de Obama por no hablar con transparencia sobre este tema.

September 17, 2009: Mirando al futuro en Honduras, Encontrar una salida en el laberinto
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Confidencial (Nicaragua)
El proceso político hondureño después del golpe ha entrado en otra etapa que afectará su futuro en el largo plazo ya no solamente en relación con una solución a la situación política actual. Las opciones de resolución son limitadas y la disposición de negociar también está estancada entre el ego de los líderes políticos y la falta de dirección y presión internacional.

September 16, 2009: How Well is Obama Handling Latin American Issues?
By Peter Hakim
The Obama administration is on the right track in Latin America. With the notable exception of trade matters, the administration's policy statements and decisions have mostly been welcomed in Latin America, and the president himself is well regarded by the region's leaders and ordinary citizens

September 15, 2009: Closing Address at XIII Annual CAF Conference
By Secretary General José Miguel Insulza
The closing address by Secretary General of the Organization of American States José Miguel Insulza at the XIII Annual Andean Development Corporation (CAF) Conference on Trade in the Americas, jointly sponsored by CAF, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Organization of American States.

September 15, 2009: The Least Among Us
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Foreign Policy
Last Wednesday night, when South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" when U.S. President Barack Obama said that his health-care plan would not extend to undocumented immigrants, he revived a controversial political issue that, though always simmering in the background, has recently been overshadowed by debates over the state of the economy and Obama's response to the recession. One hopes that the president will use this ugly incident as one of his famous "teachable moments," for if any group has suffered disproportionately during this economic crisis, it's the millions of migrants who do tend to American laws, serve American food, and care for American children. And governments in their home countries and the United States must do more to protect them.

September 15, 2009: Europe’s Cuba Problem: The Limits of Constructive Engagement
By Daniel P. Erikson
In recent years, the European Union and the United States have attempted to paper over their deep policy and political differences regarding Cuba with the assertion that both Washington and Brussels share the same policy goal—a democratic transition in Cuba—and therefore the only disagreement is over whether that objective is best achieved through the engagement favored by Europe or the isolation promoted by the United States.

September 14, 2009: Political Ramifications of the Economic Crisis (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Américas Magazine
The longer and deeper the economic crisis, the greater the prospects of drastic, far-reaching political changes in Latin America and elsewhere. Unsettled, erratic politics are the inevitable consequences of plummeting economies, rising joblessness, declining middle class incomes, expanding poverty and destitution, and multiple cutbacks in public services--all of which are now forecast for the region. As in the past, government authorities will become targets of public anger and recrimination, and politics will likely become more polarized and combative.

September 14, 2009: Ramificaciones Políticas de la Crisis Económica (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Américas Magazine
Cuanto mas prolongada y profunda sea la crisis económica, mayores serán las perspectivas de cambios políticos drásticos y profundos en América Latina y el resto del mundo. La aplicación de políticas erráticas e indecisas es la consecuencia inevitable de la caída de las economías, el creciente desempleo, la disminución de los ingresos de la clase media, el aumento de la pobreza y los cortes en los servicios públicos, efectos que ahora se pronostican en la región. Como en el pasado, las autoridades se convertirán en el blanco de las críticas y recriminaciones del público, y las políticas probablemente resulten más polarizadas y combativas.

September 14, 2009: Mesa: US-Bolivia Relations Depend on New Partner to Fight Drugs
By Matthew Schewel
Repairing the fractured relationship between the United States and Bolivia will likely hinge on finding a new partner to supplant US anti-drug efforts in the South American nation, former Bolivian President Carlos Mesa said last week.

September 14, 2009: Bênção e maldição de Kennedy (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Hoje, Obama tenta enfrentar uma ampla gama de problemas de importância crítica nos EUA, entre eles a economia cambaleante, as reformas no sistema de saúde e as guerras estrangeiras no Afeganistão e Iraque. Conforme o brilho da mística de Kennedy começa a mostrar seus limites, esperamos que a presidência de Obama se mostre mais duradoura e bem-sucedida para que ele seja capaz de criar a própria magia.

September 11, 2009: VIDEO: Keynote Speech at CAF Conference
By Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana
U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar made the following remarks at the XIII Annual Andean Development Corporation (CAF) Conference on Trade in the Americas, jointly sponsored by CAF, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Organization of American States.

September 10, 2009: Immigrant parishes flourish in Miami
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Miami is an immigrant city. Heartland Americans often come here full of excitement. “So near and yet so foreign,'' said a 1940s promotion by the Cuban Tourist Commission to attract American tourists. Not a bad motto for today's Miami.

September 10, 2009: Keynote Speech to the XIII Annual Andean Development Corporation Conference on Trade in the Americas
By Senator Richard Lugar
Source: CAF Conference
Keynote speech by Senator Richard Lugar delivered during the opening session on the second day of the XIII Annual CAF Conference in Washington DC. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza introduced the Senator.

September 8, 2009: Another Chance for U.S. Policy in the Americas (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: U.S. Naval War College
The election of Barack Obama was enthusiastically welcomed throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The choice of an African American leader committed to universal values revealed the vitality of U.S. democracy to many in the region who had become skeptical. By their spirited reaction to the new president, Latin Americans have made clear that they want a better relationship with the United States, but they also want Washington to approach the region differently.

September 6, 2009: The war on drugs has failed. Now we need a more humane strategy
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: The Observer (UK)
Latin America remains the world's largest exporter of cocaine and marijuana. Now, we need a new, global approach to this problem.

September 4, 2009: El sueño pre-sal de Lula
By Paul Isbell
Source: Infolatam
Ha pasado más de un año desde que el gobierno brasileño empezó a considerar la posibilidad de cambiar la legislación que regula la actividad del sector de los hidrocarburos en Brasil, algo que ha provocado el escepticismo de la industria internacional del petróleo. Varios factores han contribuido a que el gobierno de Lula estudiase establecer un nuevo marco regulatorio para el petróleo y el gas que aprovechase mejor los recursos naturales del país y contribuyera verdaderamente al desarrollo del país, a veces llamado "la eterna promesa futura".

September 3, 2009: América Latina: Visión Política de la Región y el Papel de los Estados Unidos
By Michael Shifter
Source: ANALDEX Congreso Nacional de Exportadores
Michael Shifter dio este discurso ante el Congreso Nacional de Exportadores, organizado por la Asociación Nacional de Comercio Exterior (ANALDEX) de Colombia, en Bogotá, 3 de septiembre de 2009.

September 1, 2009: A dificil paz
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo
Fernando Henrique Cardoso's articles are published on the first of every month and appear in O Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo), Zero Hora (Porto Alegre) and O Globo (Rio de Janeiro).

August 29, 2009: A Missed Opportunity to Discuss Pressing Issues
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano

August 29, 2009: Se desaprovechó una oportunidad para debatir temas de fondo
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Michael Shifter analyzes the aftermath-- and the missed opportunities-- of the UNASUR conference in Argentina.

August 28, 2009: Will Brazil's New Natural Gas Law Stimulate Investment? (PDF)
By Energy Advisor Staff
Earlier this year, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a new natural gas law that aims to better regulate the industry, stimulate domestic production and spur investment in natural gas infrastructure. What will be the biggest changes in the new regulatory regime and is the law likely to have its intended effect?

August 28, 2009: Outrage over U.S. policy in Latin America
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Russia Today
Russia Today's Dina Gusovsky speaks to Michael Shifter live in the studio about the implications of the base deal between the U.S. and Colombia

August 28, 2009: US-Colombia Military Deal: Latin American presidents holding emergency meeting
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: BBC World News
Michael Shifter appeared on BBC World News in advance of the emergency UNASUR summit to discuss what could be expected and analyze the politics at play.

August 27, 2009: Expectations for the UNASUR Summit
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo

August 27, 2009: The Meaning of Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: Revista América Economía
Across the political spectrum, the Honduran crisis is viewed as a critical test for the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. It has also become a measuring rod for the hemisphere’s commitment to democracy and a challenge to the Obama administration’s efforts to pursue a more cooperative, multilateral policy in Latin America.

August 27, 2009: Las paradojas de un golpe (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Revista América Economía
La crisis en Honduras es vista como una prueba para la OEA y la Carta Democrática Interamericana. También se ha convertido en una medida del compromiso hemisférico con la democracia y un desafío para el gobierno de Barack Obama de lograr una política más cooperativa y multilateral en América Latina.

August 27, 2009: Let people decide future, sooner not later
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
It's been two months since the coup in Honduras. The Arias plan -- issued by the Costa Rican president -- calls for Manuel Zelaya's return with diminished powers and an amnesty for all parties in the events before June 28 and since then. Hondurans and foreigners brandish powerful legal arguments to justify the ``presidential succession'' or Zelaya as the ``legitimate president.''

August 27, 2009: Expectativas de la cumbre
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo
In this Op/Ed for El Tiempo, Michael Shifter examines the regional dynamics in the dispute over the base-sharing deal between Colombia and the United States.

August 25, 2009: Guatemala, violencia política e impunidad
By Michael Shifter
Source: Política Exterior
This review of Francisco Goldman's new book El arte del asesinato político. ¿Quién mató al obispo? looks at political violence and justice in Guatemala throughout the past decades.

August 24, 2009: Data Paints Troublesome Picture for Latin American Growth
By Claudio Loser
Source: Latin America Advisor
The lesson, unfortunately, is that the region has done its homework on macro-management, as the current crisis shows. However, if Latin America wants to prosper, we need to make much more intense efforts to solve our secular problems, and break away from our "middle-income trap."

August 24, 2009: Obama's Honduras Problem
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs
After the June ousting of President José Manuel Zelaya, Honduras has become a test of the Obama administration's posture toward the whole of Latin America.

August 19, 2009: Liderazgo Político y Gobernabilidad Democrática en América Latina y Colombia
By Michael Shifter
Source: “Los Desafíos de la Democracia en América Latina”
Michael Shifter dio este discurso ante el Foro Internacional “Los Desafíos de la Democracia en América Latina,” organizado por la Corporación Escuela Galán en Bogotá, 19 de agosto de 2009.

August 14, 2009: Ecuador Envoy Calls for Greater Efficiency in Country's Oil Sector
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Energy Advisor
Ecuador's ambassador to the United States called for boosting the efficiency of the country's oil sector and touted Ecuador's potential to supply large Asian markets, even as private investors continue to raise concerns about the country's investment climate.

August 12, 2009: Envoy Says US Military Plan May Embolden Colombian Forces
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Latin America Advisor
A greater US military presence in Colombia would likely increase chances the South American nation would launch a "pre-emptive" attack on a neighboring country, creating a "rupture of the whole inter-American system," Ecuador's ambassador said in an interview with the Advisor.

August 9, 2009: E.U. debió tener la delicadeza de hablar con Lula sobre las bases
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Opina que fue una falta de cortesía, no solo de Colombia, sino de E.U., no informar a los vecinos antes, lo que ha capitalizado a su favor Hugo Chávez.

August 4, 2009: Is Brazil's Lula Taking the Right Approach With Iran?
By Peter Hakim and Donna Hrinak
Brazil has been increasing trade ties with Iran, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recognized Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the victor in Iran's disputed presidential elections. Is the Lula administration taking the right tack on Iran?

August 3, 2009: Honduras and the OAS
By Peter Hakim
Source: Revista América Economía
After more than a than a month, the political crisis in Honduras is unresolved, and may be getting worse. The two sides have become increasingly entrenched and polarized in their positions.

August 3, 2009: El golpe hondureño a la OEA
By Peter Hakim
Source: Revista América Economía

August 2, 2009: A Cuba pós-Fidel (PDF)
By Flávia Carbonari
Source: Valor
A transição cubana mostra que as bases do regime castrista vão além de seu personagem principal e que as mudanças não poderão ser guiadas pelos EUA.

August 2, 2009: Os limites da tolerância
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso's articles are published on the first of every month and appear in O Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo), Zero Hora (Porto Alegre) and O Globo (Rio de Janeiro).

July 30, 2009: End coup stalemate
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
I don't know what else to call it. If a president is awakened by soldiers pointing their weapons in his face, what is it if not a coup? Still, Manuel Zelaya's removal on June 28 can't be treated as if it were a return to the 1970s when brutal coups established military governments, banned political parties and perpetrated massive human-rights violations.

July 28, 2009: ¿Se Arma Una Bomba Regional? (PDF)
By La Vanguardia
Source: Vanguardia
¿Una bomba se fabrica en América Latina? Según este artículo, hay señales inequívocas de que algunos conflictos entre países en la región se avivan.

July 22, 2009: How Well is the OAS Handling the Coup in Honduras? (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Latin America Advisor
The OAS is the only institution with the mandate and legitimacy to respond to constitutional violations in the hemisphere. The Inter- American Democratic Charter is clear on this point, as are previous OAS resolutions on the collective defense of democracy. To act without agreement of national authorities, however, the OAS needs the consensus of it members. In Honduras, the OAS appropriately sought to carry out a unanimous decision of its members—to condemn the coup against President Zelaya, regard him as the legitimate president, and restore him to office. It was expected, erroneously, that the coup could be swiftly reversed.

July 22, 2009: How Well is the OAS Handling the Coup in Honduras?
By Latin America Advisor Staff
The Organization of American States has taken center stage in the international community’s response to the coup in Honduras. Has the OAS acted appropriately to date? What are its strengths and weaknesses in responding to situations like the one in Honduras, and what needs to change at the OAS to make it better? Where else in the region could similar situations to the Honduras coup emerge? Is the OAS the best mechanism for maintaining the peace and stability necessary for economic growth in the region's most fragile democracies?

July 22, 2009: Brazil's Rousseff Makes Push for Biofuels, Trade in Washington Visit
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Latin America Advisor
Despite lingering uncertainties in the commercial relationship between the US and Brazil—including a US tariff on Brazilian ethanol imports and slow movement on bilateral tax and investment treaties—the two largest economies in the Americas are initiating a strategic partnership, top officials from both governments said Tuesday.

July 22, 2009: The Myths and Costs of the Cuban Revolution
By Eusebio Mujal-León
Source: Americas Quarterly
The Cuba Wars thoroughly and perceptively analyzes the events of the past 20 years, examining both the evolution of U.S. policy toward Cuba and the implementation of the regime’s “survival” strategy.

July 21, 2009: Planning for the Worst in Honduras
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Policy
Dark clouds are gathering over negotiations on Honduras' future, and the balancing act is about to get harder. The Obama administration must now show its commitment to democracy, work with Latin American neighbors, and simultaneously push for a pragmatic solution that muffles any impending instability.

July 20, 2009: A Powerful Grip
By Michael Shifter
Source: America
Brian A. Nelson’s The Silence and the Scorpion is a refreshingly impartial and objective account of the coup of April 11, 2002, in which Hugo Chávez's government was deposed. Nelson uses this seminal event as an instructive vehicle to capture the rancor and mistrust among Venezuelans.

July 19, 2009: A Good Start
By Peter Hakim
Source: La Nacion
During his first six months in office, President Obama—who brought limited international experience to the White House—has done an admirable job of clarifying the directions he wants to take US foreign policy and setting out the guiding framework for his management of world affairs. Progress toward those goals is still very modest, however. Obama has introduced only minor changes to the bulk of the Bush Administration’s policies. Three critical obstacles stand in the way of his global agenda.

July 19, 2009: La verdadera prueba está aún por venir
By Peter Hakim
Source: La Nacion
Durante sus primeros seis meses de gobierno, el presidente Obama -quien llegó a la Casa Blanca con escasa experiencia internacional- ha tenido éxito en la encomiable tarea de clarificar la dirección hacia la que pretende encauzar la política exterior de los Estados Unidos y de establecer el marco de trabajo que sirva como directriz de su manejo de los asuntos internacionales. Sin embargo, los avances son todavía muy modestos.

July 14, 2009: Honduras highlights OAS limitations
By Michael Shifter and Dan Joyce
Source: Oxford Analytica
President Manuel Zelaya's forcible ouster prompted strong regional and international censure. Displaying the characteristics of a classic military coup, the expulsion particularly touched a nerve in those Latin American countries that have suffered from military rule in the past. The evolving circumstances pose a critical test for the Obama administration and the OAS.

July 14, 2009: Restoring Democratic Rule in Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
No one—or at least no one outside of Honduras—seemed to think it would be very hard to reverse that country’s recent military coup that sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile. Every Western Hemisphere government (and governments worldwide) swiftly condemned the coup, and called for Zelaya’s immediate return to power. How could Honduras, one of Latin America’s smallest and poorest countries, resist? The US, which joined the anti-coup consensus, was supposed to be particularly influential with the Honduran military and the new, de facto government.

July 14, 2009: Recuperar la democracia en Honduras
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
(Especial para Infolatam).- "...Por último, no cabe duda de que revertir un golpe de Estado y restituir a un gobernante elegido democráticamente es un objetivo importante y de principio. Pero no puede ser el único objetivo. Debe ser equilibrado contra otros objetivos tales como evitar el derramamiento de sangre y la moderación de las tensiones políticas y la polarización que pueden socavar las perspectivas de más largo plazo para la democracia y la paz social".

July 13, 2009: Opposition To Or Engagement With Latin American Leftists?
By Michael Shifter
Source: National Journal Online
The Obama administration’s response to the Honduras crisis not only reflected a principled stand, but also helped neutralize Chavez’s role and influence in pursuing a solution.

July 12, 2009: La crisis que se avecina en Centro América
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Confidencial (Nicaragua)
Si la democracia fue como una ola que reventó en Centro América a mediados de los 80s, dejó más de unas cuantas burbujas de autoritarismo detrás. A como lo confirman recientes temblores, las transiciones de dictadura a democracia en la región quedaron interrumpidas o incompletas. Ahora, un golpe en Honduras, el fraude electoral en Nicaragua y los asesinatos en Guatemala son sólo unas cuantas señales de los problemas que se avecinan.

July 8, 2009: LOS PITIYANQUIS
By Teodoro Petkoff
Source: Tal Cual
Lo que nos faltaba por ver en este continente bananero es a Hugo Chávez y a Manuel Zelaya pidiendo, casi rogando, la intervención del imperio en Honduras. Por una vez en su larga carrera de desafueros contra su "patio trasero", el imperio se comporta con discreción y prudencia, se desmarca del único golpe militar latinoamericano que no ha machineado y hete aquí que el "antiimperialista" Chacumbele exige que el imperio meta sus patotas en Honduras.

July 7, 2009: Flawed Credit Ratings In Latin America
By Claudio Loser
Source: Forbes
Rating agencies' practices have been subject to scrutiny and open criticism since the onset of the financial crisis. The agencies have lost credibility in reaction to their poor performance in assessing financial markets risks throughout the current crisis, their poor timing, particularly ahead of a crisis, and a lack of transparency in assessing emerging market risk in the past.

July 7, 2009: Miedo a la mayoría silenciosa
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
El pasado 24 de junio, cinco disidentes cubanos recibieron el Premio a la Democracia que la Fundación Nacional para la Democracia (NED) otorga cada año. José Daniel Ferrer, Iván Hernández y Librado Linares están purgando largas condenas en prisión por su oposición pacífica. Sentenciado a 17 años de cárcel, Jorge Luis García, conocido como Antúnez, fue liberado en 2007. Él y su esposa, Iris Tamara Pérez, también galardonada, se hallan actualmente bajo un virtual arresto domiciliario.

July 7, 2009: Zelaya's point of no return
By Michael Lisman
Source: guardian.co.uk
As Honduras enters its second week of political crisis, the international community is beginning to take a second look at the murky circumstances under which the Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was removed from office and exiled from the country on June 28.

July 6, 2009: Central America's Coming Crisis, Honduras is just the beginning
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Foreign Policy
If democracy hit Central America like a wave in the mid-1980s, it was one that left more than a few bubbles of authoritarianism behind. As recent turmoil confirms, the region's transitions from dictatorship to democracy were interrupted or left incomplete. Now, a coup in Honduras, electoral fraud in Nicaragua, and assassinations in Guatemala are just a few signs of trouble ahead.

July 5, 2009: O Pós-Real
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Por mais que o governo atual tenha se omitido em rememorar os quinze anos do Real e que o temor da inflação esteja distante do cotidiano das pessoas, muita gente escreveu nas páginas econômicas dos jornais sobre o significado do controle da inflação desde os “longínquos” tempos de 1994. Não cabe, portanto, voltar ao tema.

July 5, 2009: Alta Voz
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Comercio (Peru)
Hay mucha hipocresía y doble juego de los políticos que se aprovechan de la situación en Honduras.

July 3, 2009: Golpe por Golpe
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: La República (Peru)
Las alianzas del presente y el futuro de América Latina con EEUU deberían tener que ver no con la obsecuencia del discurso.

July 2, 2009: Regime fears silent majority
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On June 24, five Cuban dissidents received the annual Democracy Award given by the National Endowment for Democracy. José Daniel Ferrer, Iván Hernández and Librado Linares are serving long prison terms for their peaceful opposition. Imprisoned for 17 years, Jorge Luis García, known as Antúnez, was released in 2007. He and wife Iris Tamara Pérez, a fellow awardee, are under virtual house arrest.

July 1, 2009: The Coup in Honduras: Can the Obama Administration’s Promising Start in the Americas be Sustained?
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Source: Reforma (Mexico)
The military coup against President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras provides an early test of the Obama administration’s commitment to its new approach in the Americas, committed to multilateralism and cooperation with Latin American partners.

June 30, 2009: La Política Exterior del Presidente de los Estados Unidos de América
By Michael Shifter
Source: Primera Reunión de Embajadores del Perú Acreditados en el Exterior
Michael Shifter dio este discurso en Lima, Perú el 30 de junio 2009.

June 28, 2009: Problemas na vizinhança
By Sergio Fausto
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo
A intervenção do Evo Morales na rebelião na Amazônia peruana motivada pelo tratado de libre comércio com os Estados Unidos, foi ao mesmo tempo polêmica, e uma demonstração do seus intereses de ser simultaneamente chefe de Estado e líder de um movimento étnico-social transfronteiriço. A crescente concentração de poder do Morales poderá representar um problema para a região et um grande teste para a liderança regional do Brasil.

June 26, 2009: Tiempos difíciles
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Rara vez la política es aburrida. Los países de Centroamérica —Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua— están inmersos en cambios significativos. Es cierto que no todos necesariamente para bien, pero son cambios.

June 26, 2009: Ecuador's Correa Confronts Teachers With Job Evaluations
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Acting decidedly right-of-center, Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa has embarked on a major confrontation with the National Union of Educators (UNE), the country's largest teacher's union, over the first-ever round of teacher evaluations. The assessments are part of a package of reforms that Ecuador's Ministry of Education announced earlier this year. Teachers who do well on their evaluations will get a salary bonus during each of the next four years. However, those who do poorly two years in a row (and after additional training) will lose their jobs.

June 25, 2009: The Economy's Effects on the Ballot Box in Argentina, Mexico
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Argentina and Mexico will have congressional elections over the next several days. Both countries have been hit by the international economic crisis, and have serious political and social ills that do not bode well for the incumbent parties—the rightist PAN in Mexico, and the populist-leftist Kirchner wing of the Peronist movement in Argentina.

June 19, 2009: ¿Nueva política de Estado?
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: La República (Peru)
Es hora de que desde el nivel oficial se asuma en serio que la gobernabilidad no consiste en "diktats" que emanan del poder.

June 18, 2009: La relación E.U.-Colombia en vísperas del viaje de Uribe a Washington
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Silla Vacía
En vísperas del viaje de Uribe a Washington, Adam Isacson y Michael Shifter discuten sobre la relación E.U.-Colombia.

June 18, 2009: Nations are in for a bumpy ride
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Politics is hardly ever boring. Central American countries -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- are experiencing significant changes. Granted, these aren't necessarily for the better -- but still.

June 18, 2009: Para especialista, cresce a percepção sobre a importância da Educação na América Latina
By Interview with Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Você Sabia by Todos Pela Educação

June 18, 2009: To Specialist, Perceived Importance of Education is Increasing in Latin America
By Interview with Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Você Sabia by Todos Pela Educação

June 11, 2009: Un reto para Raúl
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Cuba no está de vuelta. El 3 de junio, la Asamblea General de la OEA revocó la resolución de 1962 que había excluido a La Habana de sus filas. Estableció, también, una vía para su reintegración: el régimen deberá tomar la iniciativa y establecer un diálogo que se realizaría según "las prácticas, los propósitos y los principios" de la OEA.

June 11, 2009: Latin America Policy during Obama's First 100 Days
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: U.S. State Department
Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue participated in a State Department teleconference on US policy towards Latin America during President Obama's first 100 days in office.

June 10, 2009: Should the United States Curb the Use of Caribbean Tax Havens? (PDF)
By Financial Services Advisor
The Obama administration said last month that it plans to raise $210 billion in revenues over the next 10 years by curbing corporate and individual use of so-called "offshore tax havens," and has lent its support to several bills in the US Congress aimed at stopping tax shelter abuses. Caribbean countries have rejected such efforts, arguing that they unfairly target small economies heavily dependent on financial services and tourism. Is the recent emphasis on limiting the use of offshore financial centers correctly placed?

June 8, 2009: A.L. y EE.UU. “ganaron” en la OEA
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Confidencial (Nicaragua)
Washington y La Habana continuarán buscando una relación bilateral más abierta. Hay una creciente preocupación en EE.UU. por la situación política de Nicaragua. Decisión sobre Cuenta del Milenio este miércoles: un dilema difícil para Obama.

June 6, 2009: En Sintonía
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Cambios profundos en política de E.U.

June 6, 2009: In Tune: Profound Changes in US Politics
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
If any more proof were needed, Barack Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a New York federal appeals court judge of Puerto Rican descent, as a justice on the United States Supreme Court confirms how American attitudes toward partisanship and race have fundamentally changed in recent years.

June 5, 2009: Raúl won't face OAS challenge
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Cuba isn't back. On Wednesday, the OAS General Assembly repealed the 1962 resolution that had excluded the Cuban government from its ranks. It also established a path for reintegration: Havana needs to take the initiative and open a dialogue that would be conducted according to OAS "practices, purposes and principles.''

June 5, 2009: Liquidando un fantasma
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: La República (Peru)
En la resolución sobre Cuba hay muchos actores importantes, pero dos que son fundamentales: Insulza y los EEUU.

June 3, 2009: Nicaragua After the Electoral Fraud: The Future Outlook (PDF)
By Carlos F. Chamorro
Remarks on politics in Nicaragua given at Inter-American Dialogue event on June 3, 2009.

June 3, 2009: Nicaragua después del fraude electoral: perspectivas futuras (PDF)
By Carlos F. Chamorro
Ponencia presentada ante el Dialogo Interamericano, 3 de Junio 2009.

June 3, 2009: Muchos sectores de E.U. 'querrán alejarse de la OEA': Michael Shifter
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
El Tiempo entrevistó en Washington a Shifter para conocer sus impresiones sobre la derogación de la resolución que expulsaba de la OEA a la isla.

June 2, 2009: Cuba and the OAS
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
There is a tension between two worthy, but apparently competing goals—stronger multilateralism and stronger defense of democracy. Shouldn’t the overwhelming majority of countries be able to override US objections to bring Cuba back into the OAS? Or should democratic values trump multilateral decision making, requiring that the OAS remain a community of democracies?

June 2, 2009: Cuba y la OEA
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
Por el momento, lo mejor para los estados miembros de la OEA no sólo sería retrasar cualquier decisión sobre el regreso de Cuba, sino también llegar a un acuerdo sobre una hoja de ruta para examinar la situación de Cuba en la próxima Asamblea General en 2010.

June 1, 2009: Mudança Climática: decisão já!
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo
A profundidade da crise financeira global foi tão grande que tem sido quase imperativo concentrar as atenções em suas conseqüências. Mas há crises mais sérias e de conseqüências mais duradouras. Tudo somado, a economia brasileira está se saindo melhor em comparação não só com os países ricos, mas também com os emergentes. O mesmo não se pode dizer sobre a crise prenunciada pelo aquecimento global: ainda são muito tímidas as medidas tomadas para contê-lo, seja no exterior, seja no Brasil.

June 1, 2009: How Much Danger Does Mexico Face in This Turbulent Time?
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens recently announced that gross domestic product will decline by more than 5 percent in 2009. Only a few weeks ago, in a recent paper on the subject, I suggested that GDP might decline by up to 3 percent. The worsening performance of the Mexican economy is a matter of concern even as the International Monetary Fund is providing the most significant support package granted in recent times and rating agencies have not yet modified Mexico's rating.

June 1, 2009: Review of "The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution"
By Russell Crandall and Marshall Worsham
Source: Survival, vol. 51, no. 3
Erikson's conclusion that change in Cuba will come slowly is hardly new. When no democratic wave had swept the island after Raul Castro's first 100 days in office, it became clear that the new regime was more of the same, perhaps in part because Fidel Castro was still in the picture. What The Cuba Wars does contribute is a level of detail and even-handed critical analysis that is much needed in Washington's Cuba-policy circles. Erikson's frequent appeals to the 'human side' of US-Cuban relations, even if they betray a less authoritative, journalistic urge in Erikson's writing, help create a stimulating and refreshing narrative. This, combined with Erikson's elegant prose and meticulous investigation, should make The Cuba Wars a go-to book for policymakers and analysts dealing with a relationship that has been, and will likely continue to be, exasperatingly turbulent.

May 29, 2009: Mover piezas más allá de Fidel
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
¿Ha vuelto el Comandante a tomar las riendas? Sí, se podría decir. Sin embargo, ésa es la respuesta más simple y obvia, y la política cubana no es ni lo uno ni lo otro.

May 27, 2009: Caribbean Diplomats Blast US Plan to Crack Down on Tax Havens
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Financial Services Advisor
New regulatory measures proposed by US President Barack Obama and currently being debated in the US Congress would make Caribbean offshore financial centers "collateral damage" in the battle for stricter regulation of the world financial system, diplomats from several Caribbean countries said Wednesday.

May 27, 2009: China's Strategy toward Central America: The Costa Rican Nexus
By Daniel Erikson
Source: Jamestown Foundation China Brief, Vol. 9, Iss. 11
Latin America is half a world away from the decades-long conflict simmering in the Taiwan Strait, but the diplomatic tussle between Taiwan and China remains a red-hot issue in the Caribbean and Central America. Beijing rigorously promotes its “One China” policy, which means that non-recognition of the Taiwanese government is a prerequisite for conducting formal diplomatic relations with the PRC—in effect forcing other governments to choose between Beijing and Taipei. Although each of the Latin American countries involved in this geopolitical chess match have little individual clout, together they make up the most significant group of states caught in the cross-Strait tug-of-war, representing 12 of the 23 countries that recognize Taiwan.

May 24, 2009: Venezuela e Cuba: simbiose com dias contados?
By Sergio Fausto
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo

May 21, 2009: Moving beyond Fidel
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Is the Comandante back in the saddle? Yes, most say. Yet, that's also the easiest and simplest answer when Cuban politics is neither. Fidel Castro has never been first among equals. His photograph always appeared larger than anyone else's in the Cuban Communist Party's politburo. In the mid-1990s, Castro halted modest economic openings and later launched a recentralization. Though many in the leadership likely disagreed, acquiescence was their only choice.

May 15, 2009: Atajar el antagonismo perpetuo
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
"Es como si te invitaran a cenar, llegaras, y los que te invitaron están medio borrachos y tirándose botellas unos a otros". Esta fue la descripción que Bill Clinton diera a The Economist sobre las relaciones entre EE UU y Cuba, al inicio de su segundo mandato presidencial.

May 13, 2009: Report: Remittances to Latin America Will Fall 7 Percent This Year
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Financial Services Advisor
Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean will fall by 7 percent this year, totaling $64 billion, as the global economic downturn curtails the demand for labor in developed markets, according to a study released May 8 by the Inter-American Dialogue. While a single-digit drop might seem relatively small as some countries face declining exports of up to 25 percent, it's something that policy makers cannot afford to ignore, Manuel Orozco, author of the report, told reporters in a press briefing.

May 8, 2009: Alo, ¿Cuba?
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: La República (Peru)
El gobierno cubano, por su parte, ha expresado que está dispuesto a hablar sobre el tema de la democracia.

May 7, 2009: Tackling 'perpetual antagonism'
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
"It's like we invited you over for dinner, you walked in and the people that invited you were half drunk and throwing bottles at each other.'' That's Bill Clinton's description of the U.S.-Cuba relationship to The Economist early in his second term.

May 5, 2009: Latin America's Other Outbreak: The Political Fallout of Argentina's Dengue Fever Epidemic
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Policy Online
Mexico's swine flu outbreak has captured the world's attention over the past two weeks. But Latin America's other, less-noticed epidemic is not only more severe, but may have more serious consequences for the government struggling to control it.

May 4, 2009: President Obama and Latin America: Next Steps
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Source: The Miami Herald
Among the important accomplishments by President Barack Obama in his first one hundred days has been a major step forward in U.S. relations with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean.

May 3, 2009: Um novo enredo
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Globo (Rio de Janeiro)
De vez em quando, a História prega uma peça a seus principais protagonistas. Mas também às vezes, alguns desses são capazes de reescrever o enredo para sair da entalada. Até agora, tem sido o caso de Barack Obama. No começo de sua corrida para a Casa Branca poucos apostavam nele. Vitorioso, ele entrou em cena como um César negro, cheio de ânimo e de promessas. Mas o cenário e o script não poderiam ter sido piores: recebeu a herança de Bush, , com suas guerras, arrogâncias e déficits fiscais e, ainda por cima, elegeu-se em meio à voragem de uma crise financeira global.

May 1, 2009: Siete pasos para mejorar las relaciones Estados Unidos - Colombia (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Revista Perspectiva (Colombia)
Cualesquier políticas y programas que involucren a Colombia se deben llevar a cabo con gran respeto y sensibilidad, en consulta estrecha y en concierto con actores nacionales claves.

May 1, 2009: De Kennedy a Obama
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País (Spain)
Estados Unidos busca un nuevo comienzo con Cuba", dijo Barack Obama en la reciente Cumbre de las Américas. "Sé que hay una jornada larga que recorrer para superar décadas de desconfianza", añadió.

April 29, 2009: Behind the Embargo
By Michelle Collins
Source: Embassy
In The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution, author Daniel P. Erikson delves into the long and twisted political relationship between the United States and Cuba, both past and present. Through personal travels and interviews, Mr. Erikson explores the factors that continue to hinder peace, 50 years since the Cuban Revolution, and how the U.S. might react when its 82-year-old leader, Fidel Castro, dies.

April 27, 2009: Atmospherics Dominate Cordial Summit
By Michael Shifter and Dan Joyce
Source: Oxford Analytica
US President Barack Obama was the undisputed centre of attention at his first meeting with hemispheric leaders, and it is clear that he enjoys a significant reserve of goodwill. This obscured differences during the Summit and created an opportunity for cooperation impossible under the previous US administration.

April 26, 2009: Beyond the Trinidad Summit
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Source: Jornal do Brasil
President Barack Obama accomplished his immediate objectives at the Summit of the Americas. To build on the momentum of the Trinidad Summit, the Administration should follow up expeditiously on the main approaches that resonated in Port of Spain.

April 23, 2009: How Much of the G-20's Gift Will Go to Latin America?
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Not much has been written about the amounts of money Latin America and the Caribbean can expect to get. The answer to this is both positive and negative. The region's prospects for financing seem good, but the money will be available over several years, and will not fully offset the loss of private flows. The region could have the potential to obtain $180 billion in loans, or about 5 percent of the region's GDP.

April 23, 2009: Obama and Chávez: Energy Partners?
By Daniel P. Erikson and Paul J. Wander
Source: Journal of Energy Security
The US and Venezuela are likely to remain embroiled in an unfriendly but effective partnership based on strong northward trade flows of oil and other resources and southward flows of hard currency in the short term. While both sides have complained that the other is not the ideal trading partner, pragmatism trumped political rhetoric during the Bush administration, and Obama is unlikely to be much different in this regard. Still, competition for Latin America’s energy supplies will undoubtedly intensify at a time when many nations are seeking to exercise greater control over their oil and gas reserves. US policymakers need to be vigilant and proactive. The long-term outlook for US energy security will improve if they can fashion a compelling response to the new dynamic created by America’s falling economic power and Latin America’s resurgent nationalism. As with all previous US and Venezuelan administrations before them, Obama and Chavez are fated to be energy partners.

April 22, 2009: Peter Hakim's Guest Entry on Cuba
By Peter Hakim
Source: National Journal
Washington’s 50-year-old policy of isolating and sanctioning Cuba has never accomplished much. Today, it is an anachronism that serves mainly to isolate the United States from the rest of the hemisphere.

April 21, 2009: Después de la Cumbre
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
En estas cinco semanas, la Administración de Obama ha adoptado algunas medidas en relación con casi todos y cada uno de los temas del programa. Los pasos actuales no han sido especialmente dramáticos, de hecho, la mayoría de ellos son muy modestos. Pero, además de varias cuestiones relacionadas con el comercio, todos llevan la política de EE.UU. en la dirección correcta y han sido bien recibidos en toda América Latina (aunque con algunas críticas al ritmo y el alcance de los cambios). He aquí un resumen de lo que ha ocurrido.

April 20, 2009: After the Summit
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
In the intervening five weeks, the Obama Administration has taken some action on nearly every one of the agenda items recommended in the Dialogue's 2009 policy report. The actual steps have not been particularly dramatic; in fact, most of them are very modest. But, aside from several crucial trade-related issues, they all move U.S. policy in the right direction and have been welcomed across Latin America (although with some criticism of the pace and scope of change). Here is a summary of what has happened.

April 20, 2009: Al son del calipso
By Teodoro Petkoff
Source: Tal Cual (Venezuela)
Por primera vez una reunión entre América Latina-Caribe y Estados Unidos no presenta tensiones relevantes ni termina en pura retórica sin consecuencias. Desde este punto de vista, la Cumbre de Trinidad debe mucho al modo como el gobierno de Obama la encaró y la preparó.

April 20, 2009: Después de la Cumbre
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
En estas cinco semanas, la Administración de Obama ha adoptado algunas medidas en relación con casi todos y cada uno de los temas del programa. Los pasos actuales no han sido especialmente dramáticos, de hecho, la mayoría de ellos son muy modestos. Pero, además de varias cuestiones relacionadas con el comercio, todos llevan la política de EE.UU. en la dirección correcta y han sido bien recibidos en toda América Latina (aunque con algunas críticas al ritmo y el alcance de los cambios). He aquí un resumen de lo que ha ocurrido.

April 18, 2009: Michael Shifter on the Summit of the Americas (Video)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: C-SPAN's Washington Journal
Michael Shifter discussed the Summit of the Americas and answered questions from callers on C-SPAN's Washington Journal program.

April 17, 2009: 'Obama está dispuesto a hablar con sus adversarios'
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Habrá un cambio con respecto a la administración de Bush. Obama es un presidente pragmático dispuesto a hablar con sus adversarios y a buscar maneras de cooperar. Pero no se puede esperar muchas políticas concretas muy drásticas, eso no sería realista.

April 17, 2009: Washington-La Habana: la hora de la verdad
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
"Al gobierno cubano también le esperan tareas difíciles. Entablar una comunicación discreta con la Administración de Obama implica un toma y daca ineludible. Dada la nueva política sobre las remesas, ¿por qué no eliminar las cuotas impuestas a las remesas en dólares que perjudican a los cubanos que las reciben?"

April 16, 2009: Colombia's Alvaro Uribe -- Return of the South American Strongman?
By Michael Shifter
Source: Los Angeles Times
The Colombian president threatens to tarnish his nation's democratic traditions by jockeying for a third term.

April 14, 2009: ¿Qué destino le depara a la alianza?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la red
Los caminos de Cuba y Venezuela se han cruzado muchas veces. A principios de la década de los sesenta, La Habana respaldó a grupos armados contra gobiernos venezolanos democráticamente electos.

April 13, 2009: AL agora diz o que pensa
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo
Especialista em relações internacionais Peter Hakim crê que era Obama vai permitir a construção de agenda conjunta entre AL e EUA.

April 12, 2009: Victor Hugo Cárdenas
By Sergio Fausto
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Um archigo sobre o situação do ex-vice presidente da Bolívia, Victor Hugo Cárdenas.

April 9, 2009: What awaits the Cuba-Venezuela alliance?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Cuba and Venezuela have often crossed paths. In the early 1960s, Havana abetted armed groups against democratically elected Venezuelan governments. Meddling in Venezuela's affairs, in part, determined Cuba's 1962 suspension from the Organization of American States. Caracas and Havana stood at irreconcilable odds afterward.

April 8, 2009: The Promise of Port of Spain
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
In light of Washington’s continued distraction with other issues and the refreshing temperament of the new US president, new opportunities are emerging. Unlike in the past, little stands in the way of open and honest discussions on even the most sensitive issues in the Americas.

April 8, 2009: Promesa de Puerto España
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
A la luz de las continuas distracciones de Washington con otros asuntos, y al temperamento refrescante del nuevo presidente, aparecen nuevas oportunidades. A diferencia del pasado, hay pocos obstáculos en el camino hacia una discusión abierta y honesta sobre los temas más sensibles del continente.

April 7, 2009: How to Judge the 2009 Summit (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: First Magazine
The Fifth Summit of the Americas, which will gather the Western Hemisphere’s 34 democratically elected leaders in Port of Spain on 17th April, is unlikely to be an exception. Its four predecessor meetings, starting in Miami in 1994, had two memorable achievements. One was the launching in Santiago, Chile in 1997 of negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), an ambitious effort to integrate the hemisphere’s economies. The second was the agreement in Quebec City, Canada in 2001 to draft the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which was signed later that year in Lima.

April 5, 2009: Luz, afinal?
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso
A reunião do G-20 em Londres está sendo saudada com alívio. Finalmente os líderes mundiais começam a acertar o passo.

April 3, 2009: Política, viajes y remesas
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Un cambio en la política de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba se aproxima. Cuánto demorará —si el presidente Barack Obama simplemente sigue la política del gobierno de Bill Clinton o decide romper el molde— aún no está claro.

April 2, 2009: Havana Holiday? Senate proposal to lift travel ban on Cuba
By Jon Scott
Source: Fox News

April 1, 2009: Las batallas de Obama (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Ideele (Peru)
El comienzo de Obama no ha sido cualquier cosa. Todas las expectativas se han quedado cortas. Por algo el autor dice que ya está claro que habemus líder en Estados Unidos. La crisis es un mal punto de partida pero a la vez puede ser la oportunidad para el cambio prometido.

April 1, 2009: The Battles of Obama
By Michael Shifter
The economic crisis led to a poor start for the Obama administration, but it may turn out to be an opportunity to transform the country.

April 1, 2009: Hometown Associations: Transnationalism, Philanthropy, and Development (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Eugenia García-Zanello
Source: Brown Journal of World Affairs
Transnational migration and globalization have transformed the relationship between individuals and their surrounding communities, particularly between migrants, their homelands, and their host countries. In the context of this new transnationalism, new players have emerged, expanding the scope of international interaction. One such player is the hometown association (HTA) formed by immigrants seeking to support their places of origin, maintain relationships with local communities, and retain a sense of community as they adjust to life in their new home countries.

April 1, 2009: President Obama and the OAS (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Américas
What is unfortunately seldom asked is how Obama will deal with the inter-American system and, specifically, the Organization of American States. The fact is that it is hard to separate the specific policy challenges facing the United States in Latin America from those facing the hemisphere’s institutional architecture.

April 1, 2009: El Presidente Obama y la OEA (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Américas
Desafortunadamente pocas veces se plantea la forma en que Obama enfrentará el sistema interamericano, y específicamente la Organización de los Estados Americanos. Resulta difícil separar los desafíos específicos de política de los Estados Unidos de los que enfrenta la arquitectura institucional del hemisferio.

March 31, 2009: Cuba travel ban may be lifted
By Jim Acosta
Source: CNN
Daniel P. Erikson interviewed on CNN on the prospects for change in travel restrictions to Cuba.

March 30, 2009: "Obama será sensible al efecto de la crisis en Latinoamérica"
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El País (Uruguay)
En las reuniones con presidentes del continente que se realizarán en Trinidad y Tobago no se pueden esperar, por ahora, cambios radicales, según explica Michael Shifter, analista de prestigio, catedrático, periodista y consultor del Congreso. A su juicio Obama no divide el mundo en amigos y adversarios, no podrá avanzar en la posible reforma migratoria, aún busca entender los desafíos hemisféricos y oirá los planteos sobre Cuba. Por ahora el comercio no tendrá prioridad, pero dará especial atención a los efectos de la crisis.

March 28, 2009: El narco en la agenda bilateral
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal
México atrajo la atención de la administración Obama, aunque no de la manera en que a muchas personas les habría gustado. En las próximas semanas, el presidente Obama y tres miembros de su gabinete —Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder y Janet Napolitano— visitarán el Distrito Federal. Todos ellos tienen como objetivo primordial decidir qué hacer respecto del implacable aumento de la violencia y la delincuencia en nuestro vecino del sur y al tráfico masivo de drogas y armas que la promueven.

March 28, 2009: Violent Mexico
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal
In the next few weeks, President Obama and three US cabinet secretaries—Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, and Janet Napolitano—will be paying visits Mexico City. All of them have the central purpose of figuring out what to do about the relentless surge of crime and violence now confronting our Southern neighbor, and the massive drug and arms trafficking that fuels it. The focus is correct. Besides the devastating impact on Mexico, this exceptionally brutal crime wave threatens the US in myriad ways. But, when they sit down with their Mexican counterparts, the US leaders must be clear about what it will take to restore law and order to Mexico.

March 26, 2009: Policy improving but could be better
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Change is coming in U.S. Cuba policy. How much -- whether the president will simply go back to the Clinton administration's or, instead, step outside the box -- is not yet clear. The recent Omnibus Appropriations Act inches along in the right direction but falls well short of what candidate Barack Obama promised last year: "I will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island." Still, the act gives the administration breathing room to carry out a much-needed review of Cuba policy.

March 23, 2009: "Muchos cubanos quiren vivir en el pasado o en el futuro, no en el presente"
By Isabel Ferrer
Source: El Pais (Spain)
Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea tienen un objetivo común: normalizar sus relaciones con Cuba, pero tratan de alcanzarlo a ritmos diferentes. Según el politólogo estadounidense Daniel P. Erikson, miembro del centro independiente de pensamiento Inter-American Dialogue, Washington preferiría que el régimen de Raúl Castro se viniera abajo dando paso a una rápida transición democrática. La Europa comunitaria, mientras, busca un cambio gradual y respetuoso con las libertades democráticas. Para ambas potencias, el papel del exilio cubano a la hora de diseñar el futuro del país resultará inevitable, aunque, de nuevo, ponen énfasis distintos.

March 20, 2009: Daniel P. Erikson "Es el momento decisivo"
By Pablo Gámez-Cersosimo
Source: Radio Nederland
Cuba es la uva que todos quieren degustar. El ajetreo en América Latina de acercarse a La Habana evidencia un importante cambio de postura en el continente respecto del régimen de los Castro, en momentos en que Washington proyecta cambios estructurales de su política hacia la Isla.

March 19, 2009: Obama recibe a Lula en la Casa Blanca
By Paul Isbell
Source: Infolatam
Los frutos del encuentro Obama-Lula son simbólicos de una relación renovada y una mayor disposición por ambas partes, aunque el contexto desastroso global limita las posibilidades reales de lograr a corto plazo grandes ventajas para Brasil. El inicio de un nuevo dialogo entre los dos países y nuevas vías de colaboración en el terreno de la energía no es nada despreciable, aunque algunos esperaban más.

March 17, 2009: Book Review of "The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution"
By Anita Snow
Source: Associated Press
This book should be required reading for officials reviewing Cuba policy for President Obama's new administration. Erikson, a Cuba specialist with the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington, has written the most thorough, insightful and fair-handed account available about the relationship between the two countries over the past decade.

March 16, 2009: Panel on the Obama Administration and Latin America (Video)
By Michael Shifter
Michael Shifter was a featured speaker at an event in the Dominican Republic sponsored by FUNGLODE and attended by Dialogue member President Leonel Fernández.

March 12, 2009: Big Mac in the Americas: Cheaper, But Not Cheap
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
The Big Mac (The Economist's version) is back in this column after only a few months. However, many things have changed since September. This time, I want to review how the region's price competitiveness looks today, less than a year after the world financial crisis started.

March 11, 2009: Cambios ministeriales en Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
"Raúl ha ido ordenando el Estado cubano y eliminando las vías paralelas para la toma de decisiones que su hermano aupaba a expensas de las instituciones. Son pasitos pero pasos al fin. A todas luces, la economía es la primerísima prioridad."

March 11, 2009: Más que caminos trillados
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Con una relación estratégica, ambos países se beneficiarían de un proceso de consulta y cooperación. Aunque pocos países son tan importantes para Estados Unidos como lo es México, es muy poco probable que atraiga toda la atención del gobierno de Obama.

March 10, 2009: INFORME Diálogo Interamericano propone el intercambio de embajadores
By Fabiola Zerpa
Source: El Nacional (Venezuela)
El centro de análisis señala que la influencia del Presidente en América Latina disminuirá por la caída del petróleo.

March 9, 2009: Politics Take Center Stage
By Michael Shifter
Source: Poder
The best and worst cases of political polarization and reconciliation in Latin America.

March 9, 2009: "Sólo una elite de cubano-americanos mantiene la idea del embargo" (PDF)
By Interview with Dan Erikson
Source: El Nacional
El director del Programa del Caribe de Diálogo Interamerican aseguró que durante el gobierno del presidente Barack Obama habrá cambios en la política de Washington hacia La Habana, aunque no serán drásticos.

March 8, 2009: Raúl e o 'mel do poder'
By Daniel P. Erikson and Paul Wander
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Raúl Castro é considerado o mais pragmático e realista dos irmãos Castros, mas sua corajosa aposta para reformular o governo cubano revela que ele próprio tem grandes ambições. Como Lula está com viagem marcada para Washington, na próxima semana, os eventos registrados em Cuba com certeza estarão na sua agenda. Mas, independentemente das ambições de Lula e Obama com respeito a Cuba, eles não devem esquecer que muitos líderes estrangeiros viram suas esperanças virar pó quando deram de frente com as duras realidades do regime Castro.

March 8, 2009: Raúl and the "honey of power"
By Daniel P. Erikson and Paul Wander
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Raúl Castro has long been described as the more pragmatic and realistic of the Castro brothers, but his bold gamble to shake up the Cuban government reveals that he holds powerful ambitions of his own. Now that Lula is scheduled to travel to Washington next week, events in Cuba are sure to be on the agenda. But whatever ambitions Obama or Lula may harbor with respect to Cuba, they should remember that a long line of foreign leaders have seen their hopes for Cuba turn to dust when they collide with the hard realities of the Castro regime.

March 6, 2009: "Bookshelf: Daniel Erikson's 'Cuba Wars' Couldn't Be More Timely (PDF)
By Vito Echeverria
Source: CubaNews
Published by Bloomsbury Press, "Cuba Wars" details the multilevel conflict between the U.S. government and Castro as Washington racks up a long track record of failed diplomatic, legislative, propaganda and financial efforts to spark regime change in Cuba.

March 5, 2009: Cuba Receives More Cash From Workers Abroad
By Joel Millman
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Cuba is bucking a global downturn in migrants' remittances of foreign cash to families back home, according to a report to be released Thursday.

March 5, 2009: Informe revela un crecimiento de las remesas a la Isla
By ..
Source: Cuba Encuentro
Un informe que será divulgado este jueves indica que los cubanos que radican fuera de la Isla han aumentado el envío de dinero a sus familias en un momento en que disminuyen las de los emigrantes en todo el mundo debido a la crisis económica, informó el diario estadounidense The Wall Street Jornal.

March 4, 2009: Raúl Castro and Cuba's Global Diplomacy (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson and Paul Wander
Source: Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, Vol. 18
Cuba's global relations are on the upswing. In the two years since Raúl Castro took power in July 2006, he has ushered in subtle but important changes in Cuba's foreign policy while benefiting from a widely-shared desire on the part of many foreign countries to reach out to Cuba during its moment of transition away from the historic rule of Fidel Castro.

March 3, 2009: Sin sopresa: el foco estará sobre Obama en Trinidad y Tobago
By Peter Hakim
Source: Infolatam
Cuando los 34 líderes del Hemisferio Occidental democráticamente elegidos se junten en Puerto España el 17 de abril, en la quinta Cumbre de las Américas, algunos recordarán vivamente las tensiones y el resultado infeliz de la Cumbre anterior en Mar del Plata, hace aproximadamente tres años y medio. La discordia provino de las fuertes, y en algunos casos ásperas divisiones entre los gobiernos sobre diversas cuestiones, aumentada por la extendida aversión latinoamericana hacia el Presidente Bush y por la ausencia de un liderazgo moderador por parte del anfitrión argentino de entonces.

March 3, 2009: No Surprise: the Spotlight Will Be On Obama in Trinidad and Tobago
By Peter Hakim, President of the Inter-American Dialogue
Source: Infolatam
When the Western Hemisphere’s 34 democratically elected leaders gather in Port of Spain on April 17 for the fifth Summit of the Americas, many of them will vividly recall the tense proceeding and unhappy outcome of the previous Summit in Mar del Plata some three and one-half years ago. The discord stemmed from the sharp, and in some cases acrimonious, divisions among the governments on an array of issues and policy choices—and was compounded by the widespread Latin American distaste for President Bush and the absence of moderating leadership from the Argentine host.

March 3, 2009: Governments in Power Face Difficult Times (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Russia Journal
As growth slows and unemployment increases, the social agenda may well become even more important. I suspect there will be a pattern of defeating incumbent governments and turning to alternatives, moving in the contrary direction.

March 2, 2009: A Promising Reform
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Lost beneath the headlines of bailouts for the housing, financial, and automobile industries is an important change in the organization of the government that could have enormous implications for policy-making in coming years.

March 2, 2009: Un cambio alentador
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Tras los titulares sobre el plan de salvamento, yace un cambio importante en la organización del gobierno que podría tener enormes efectos en las políticas de los años venideros.

March 1, 2009: O gesto e a palavra
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Globo (Brazil)
Em vez de desenhar quadros sombrios ou róseos para o mercado, faz o decoupling à moda brasileira: descola a economia da política, precipita o debate eleitoral e, nele, vale o discurso vazio.

March 1, 2009: La fuerza de México
By Joaquín Villalobos
Source: Revista NEXOS México

February 28, 2009: Book Review of "Russian-Cuban Relations Since 1992: Continuing Camaraderie in a Post-Soviet World" (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Cuban Affairs
When Russian naval vessels were steaming towards Cuba last November even as a young Democratic senator prepared his transition into the White House, those with a sense of history could be forgiven for feeling a certain sense of vertigo. The warm embrace between Havana and Moscow at a moment when America faced grave uncertainty at home and abroad recalled the unsettling specter of a very different era, when such a development would have put the United States on high alert and perhaps posed a serious threat to the future of the nation itself.

February 28, 2009: Book Review of "The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution" (PDF)
By Cristina López-Gottardi
Source: Cuban Affairs
The fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution and the landmark U.S. presidential elections of 2008 mark an opportune time to reflect upon the state of U.S.-Cuban affairs. Cuba’s strained relationship with the United States dates to the turn of the century following the Spanish-American War and the initiation of the Platt Amendment in 1902. Cold War politics elevated Cuba’s status on the U.S. agenda as the country transitioned into a de facto Soviet satellite state. And by the 1980s, the ascendance of a hard-line U.S. approach under President Ronald Regan displayed the growing influence in national politics of the Cuban-American lobby. Today, while Cuba is no longer of major strategic importance to the U.S., it remains a disproportionately significant foreign policy consideration. Controversy surrounding U.S. policy towards the island continues to incite deep feelings from both sides of the Florida Straits.

February 27, 2009: O discurso do Presidente Obama ao Congresso de Washington
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
É difícil resistir ao entusiasmo que predomina ao ouvirmos o Presidente Obama discursar. Mais uma vez, essa característica esteve presente, quando pela primeira vez dirigiu-se ao Congresso Americano após sua eleição.

February 26, 2009: Mexico's progress in U.S. interest
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
While few countries are as important to the United States, Mexico is unlikely to get the Obama administration's undivided attention.

February 20, 2009: Lo que La Habana no hará
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
No hay razones para creer que el gobierno abandonará su enfoque selectivo y sus definiciones sui géneris. El pasado 5 de febrero, el Consejo de Derechos Humanos (CDH) de Naciones Unidas revisó el historial del gobierno cubano. A diferencia de la anterior Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, el CDH ordena un Examen Periódico Universal (EPU) para todos los Estados miembros.

February 19, 2009: América Latina y el Caribe en la coyuntura económica internacional: ¿cómo sobrevivirá la región?
By Claudio Loser
Source: Real Instituto Elcano
Este ARI revisa los antecedentes a la crisis actual en Latinoamérica y el Caribe, en el contexto más general de la crisis global.

February 17, 2009: A sort of centrist weighs in on Chavez victory
By Interview with Teodoro Petkoff
Source: Los Angeles Times
Teodoro Petkoff is a former leftist revolutionary and Cabinet minister. He is now editor of Tal Cual, a scrappy Caracas-based alternative newspaper. In highly polarized Venezuela, he is perhaps the closest thing to a centrist commentator.

February 12, 2009: Cuba lacks respect for human rights
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On Feb. 5, the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) reviewed the Cuban government's record. Unlike the old U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the HRC mandates a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for all member states.

February 10, 2009: A la espera de un futuro mejor
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Hace cincuenta años los cubanos se regocijaron con la caída de Fulgencio Batista. Hoy la alegría no es la emoción que predomina. Otros sentimientos —la apatía, la ira, la desesperación y el amargo resentimiento— están en nuestros corazones. La pérdida y la tristeza (por las vidas perdidas, las familias separadas, la fe rota del pueblo) son sobrecogedoras. Sólo la Cuba oficial celebra y se maravilla por las décadas transcurridas desde ese, tan lejano ya, primero de enero.

February 10, 2009: La política energética ejemplar de Brasil
By Paul Isbell
Source: Infolatam
Brasil es el único país en el hemisferio que ha reducido considerablemente no sólo su dependencia excesiva de las fuentes externas de energías fósiles, sino también su dependencia en energías fósiles en sí mismas.

February 6, 2009: US House Subcommittee Examines Latin American Alliances
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
During a hearing to examine policy options for Latin America under the Obama Administration, a US House subcommittee earlier this week debated the extent to which the US should engage countries that are seen as unfriendly to US interests.

February 5, 2009: Mejor dentro del euro que fuera
By Paul Isbell and Federico Steinberg
Source: El Pais (Spain)
El auténtico dilema de la economía española no es mantenerse o no en la moneda común, sino aumentar la productividad y la competitividad de las exportaciones e impulsar la inversión en educación y en innovación.

February 4, 2009: US, Mexico Must Expand Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Landen Romei
Source: Latin America Advisor
According to the International Labor Organization, there are 12.3 million people in forced labor and sexual servitude around the world. However, other non-profit organizations estimate that the number is closer to 27 million and growing, especially in Latin America. Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, the United States has dedicated millions of dollars to protect victims of contemporary slavery worldwide.

February 1, 2009: Can Obama End "The Cuba Wars?"
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Focal Point, Vol. 8, Issue 1
When Barack Obama won the White House last November, he pledged to focus on the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that continue to dominate the U.S. foreign policy agenda. But the peculiar results of his election have also positioned him to quickly end a third war that has been smoldering in the Straits of Florida for nearly a half a century: the long cold war between the U.S. and Cuba.

February 1, 2009: No Longer Washington's Backyard (PDF)
By Michael Shifter and Dan Joyce
Source: Current History
As Brazil’s mega-summit in December made clear, nations in a transformed region are demanding treatment befitting serious countries with global interests and ambitions.

February 1, 2009: Perdidos na Crise
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso
A redução da riqueza global oferece a todos, inclusive e principalmente aos governos, a chance de repensar o futuro. Ou se aumentam as regulações financeiras globalmente (sem sufocar a capacidade de inovação, mãe do desenvolvimento) e se repensa o modelo cultural de consumismo desenfreado e de dilapidação da natureza, ou a retomada de amanhã pode ser ainda mais danosa do que foi a etapa que se está esgotando.

February 1, 2009: Book Reviews: Has the Cuban Moment Arrived? (PDF)
By William W. Finan Jr.
Source: Current History
An ailing Fidel Castro has quit. Cuban-Americans' views have softened. The author of a new book suggests the time has come to end America's isolation of the island.

February 1, 2009: Book Review: Cuba Wars by Daniel Erikson (PDF)
By Greg Lestikow
Source: Journal of International Policy Solutions
"Cuba Wars" attempts to look into Cuba's future by analyzing its past. After so many years of conflict and missed opportunities under Fidel's watch, it seems that even Cuba experts are confused by what Raúl Castro's succession signifies, and only time will tell whether the author's prediction for the promises of the "Next Revolution" are warrented. What is certain is that Daniel Erikson has compiled an important tools for analyzing Cuba and the nation's relationship with it's giant neighbor to the north. More importantly, he makes an appeal for compassion to both sides, calling for U.S. and Cuban leaders to find a way out of this seemingly interminable cold war. This is a must-read for students of Cuba and Latin America, as well as any reader interested in learning about the repercussions of power politics and the misled policies that often result.

February 1, 2009: Latin Primer (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Monocle (United Kingdom)
Latin Americans know the region won't be Barack Obama's top priority. But they do expect he will be less patronising than his predecessors.

February 1, 2009: ¿Cuál puede ser el rol internacional para América Latina?
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Foro Europa - América Latina

February 1, 2009: EU Returns Directive: impact on migrants and remittances (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Elisabeth Burgess
Source: E-Finance & Payments Law & Policy
The EU Returns Directive, approved last year, is designed to harmonise laws amongst Member States requiring them to return non-EU migrants to their home countries or offer them legal status. Manuel Orozco and Elisabeth Burgess of the Remittances and Development Program of the Inter-American Dialogue - a non-profit policy analysis organisation - examine the impact that the Directive will have on migrant labour flows in the European Union Member States, including on remittance products.

February 1, 2009: Um aliado fora da agenda americana (PDF)
By Marsilea Gombata
Source: Jornal do Brasil

February 1, 2009: Política y Crisis Económica en América Latina (PDF)
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: Andean Democracy Research Network
La crisis y recesión económica global que estalló en setiembre de 2008 toca a todos los países del planeta. No hay territorios blindados. Es éste el contexto en el que estalló la actual crisis y recesión global y en base a la cual se abren interrogantes sobre los efectos económicos y políticos de la misma en la región latinoamericana.

January 29, 2009: Populists intent on destroying democracy
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Except for the past 25 years, democracy -- at minimum, civil liberties, separation of powers, free elections -- has mostly been a stranger in Latin America. Until the 1950s, traditional, strong-man dictatorships were, more often than not, the norm. In the 1960s, ''modern,'' institutional dictatorships entered the stage. Then, beginning in the late 1970s, democratic waves swept away these military regimes. But that's not the whole story. Populism -- el pueblo as the beneficiary of government policies -- left a deep imprint in the region's political culture. Leaders such as Juan Domingo Perón and Getúlio Vargas opened the politics of Argentina and Brazil to include workers and improve their lives. In that sense, this first-generation populism initially did well in Latin America.

January 29, 2009: Stimulus Packages: How Much Can the Region Afford?
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
John Maynard Keynes, long relegated to history books describing his fundamental contributions to macroeconomics, has returned with a vengeance. Everybody has become a Keynesian, even some of us recalcitrant Friedmaniacs. Fortunately, we now know that in times of crisis, large countries can stick both to government spending stimuli (as Keynes proposed) and an adequately ample supply of money in times of financial implosion (as Friedman discovered).

January 28, 2009: At 50, the Cuban Revolution is Facing a Mid-life Crisis
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Latin American Advisor
A half century has passed since a 32-year-old Fidel Castro led a small band of rebels to triumph during the 1959 Cuban Revolution, ousting the unpopular and corrupt regime of Fulgencio Batistia. But the revolution has also demonstrated an impressive ability to adapt and survive that cannot be easily dismissed. Obama is the 11th American president to confront the foreign policy challenges posed by the Cuban Revolution, and if history is any guide, he will not be the last.

January 28, 2009: At 50, the Cuban Revolution is Facing a Mid-Life Crisis
By Dan Erikson
Source: Latin America Advisor
On January 1, 2009, the Cuban Revolution that brought the Castro regime to power marked its 50th anniversary. A half century has passed since a 32-year-old Fidel Castro led a small band of rebels to triumph during the 1959 Cuban Revolution, ousting the unpopular and corrupt regime of Fulgencio Batistia.

January 27, 2009: Insulza: Obama Must Create Policy With Countries, Not For Them
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
When US President Barack Obama sits down with hemispheric leaders at the Summit of the Americas in April, a first step towards improving relations with Latin America will be to lend an open ear to the region's concerns, said Secretary General of the Organization of American States Jose Miguel Insulza on Monday

January 24, 2009: Obama Closes the Famous Prison on Guantánamo
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
President Barack Obama’s decision to close the detention center for suspected Al Qaeda operatives at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba represented the fulfillment of his campaign pledge and the repudiation of the Bush administration’s questionable legal practices during the “war on terror” that unfolded following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

January 24, 2009: Sai a prisão, fica a encrenca
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Obama não tem planos para eliminar a mais antiga base militar americana fora dos Estados Unidos.

January 23, 2009: Castro's 'potential immortality'
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Miami Herald
The flurry of recent rumors surrounding Fidel Castro's admittedly precarious health have once again breathed new life into the macabre but irresistible parlor game that Cuba watchers have been playing for decades: Is the 82-year old Cuban leader about to take his final bow?

January 23, 2009: What is the Potential for Biofuels Production in the Caribbean? (PDF)
By Energy Advisor Staff
The Jamaican government and Brazilian firm Infinity Bio-Energy failed to reach a deal for the company to take control of Jamaica's state-owned sugar plantations by the December 31 deadline, although the company said it hopes to raise the money to fund the takeover by the end of this month. What is the potential of biofuels production in Jamaica and other islands in the historically sugar-rich Caribbean, both for export and domestic electricity generation? Can the region become a viable destination for Brazilian and other foreign capital related to biofuels development?

January 22, 2009: Año electoral
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Se avecina el calendario electoral de América Latina. Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panamá y Uruguay celebran sus elecciones presidenciales en 2009. En Argentina, México y El Salvador (ya está en marcha), los ciudadanos depositarán sus votos en elecciones legislativas. Bolivia y Venezuela se aprestan a realizar referendos. Esta vez me ocuparé de un grupo y analizaré al otro en otro artículo.

January 21, 2009: Un duro invierno
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Espectador (Colombia)
No recuerdo a ningún presidente de los Estados Unidos que durante su discurso inaugural le dedicara tanta atención a las dificultades que enfrenta el país.

January 21, 2009: Obama necesitará tiempo y suerte
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano (Colombia)
Barack Obama no perderá tiempo y empezará a enfrentar los mayores retos que vienen afectando a los Estados Unidos desde la década de los años 30. La economía está en crisis, el país está envuelto en dos guerras y hay lugares problemáticos alrededor del mundo. Todo espera la acción de Washington.

January 21, 2009: Obama will need time and luck
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano (Colombia)
Barack Obama will waste no time tackling the most daunting policy challenges the United States has faced since the 1930s. The economy is in crisis, the country is involved in two wars, and there are trouble spots around the globe. All await action from Washington.

January 15, 2009: Electoral contests on 2009 calendar
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
In 2009, Latin America's electoral calendar speeds up. Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Uruguay hold presidential elections. In Argentina, Mexico and El Salvador, citizens cast ballots in legislative contests. Referendums are set to take place in Bolivia and Venezuela. I'll highlight a first set here, a second in the Jan. 29 column.

January 15, 2009: IFIs: A Return to the Cycle
By Claudio Loser
Source: Latin Business Chronicle
With high financing requirements, access to the international financial institutions will be a necessity for many Latin countries.

January 11, 2009: Diálogo mejor y más parejo con Obama
By Ricardo Lagos
Source: Clarín (Argentina)
El gobierno que asumirá en EE.UU. puede ser histórico no sólo para su sociedad, sino también para América latina.

January 7, 2009: Foreign Direct Investment Expected to Weaken This Year
By Alicia Bárcena
Source: Latin America Advisor
Despite the current global economic downturn, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) for 2008 is expected to surpass the 100 billion mark for the second consecutive year.

January 5, 2009: Inflation in Latin America: Pressures Are Down But Not Out
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
How things change in a year. By the end of 2007 in this same space it was indicated that "inflation is coming back worldwide in response to an unfortunate combination of higher energy and food prices, and expansionary monetary policy."

January 4, 2009: “El narcotráfico demandará de Obama atención política de alto nivel” (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa Gráfica El Salvador
Este analista del Interamerican Dialogue de Washington cree que el enfoque de Obama en la guerra contra las drogas debe ir más allá del apoyo financiero a programas tradicionales. Pide creatividad e innovación.

January 1, 2009: Cubans here and there still hope for better future
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Fifty years ago Cubans rejoiced in the downfall of Fulgencio Batista. Today joy isn't the overriding emotion. Other feelings -- such as apathy, anger, despair and rancor -- dwell in our hearts. Loss and sadness -- over the lives lost, the families sundered, a people's broken faith -- are overwhelming. Only official Cuba revels and marvels over the decades since that long ago Jan. 1.

January 1, 2009: Cuba on the Verge (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Great Decisions
Cuba today is torn between socialism and capitalism. With the Castro era coming to an end, what is the next step for Cuba? Will U.S. policy change any time soon?

January 1, 2009: Obama & Latin America: Magic or Realism? (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: World Policy Journal
While it is too early to know if the presidency of Barack Obama will lead to an important restructuring of inter-American relations, there is little question that the potential for momentous change is in the air. If the Obama presidency follows the pattern of its predecessors, the early warm glow of good feelings will soon give way to a pragmatic understanding on both sides of the relationship regarding the possibilities and limits of what the United States and Latin America can expect of the other.

December 29, 2008: Cuba, Castro, and U.S. Foreign Policy
By Interview with Dan Erikson
Source: PRI's The World
'The World' Anchor Katy Clark speaks with Dan Erikson, author of "The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution," about 50 years of tense relations between the US and Cuba.

December 29, 2008: Medio siglo en Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
Medio siglo. Se dice fácilmente pero no así lo que las décadas transcurridas desde el 1º de enero de 1959 han representado para los cubanos. Entonces, casi un pueblo entero abrazó a los jóvenes barbudos. Por fin, los cubanos lograríamos una Cuba soberana, justa y democrática. La alegría y la esperanza cundían por doquier.

December 28, 2008: "No esperen un gobierno de izquierda con Barack Obama"
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El País (Uruguay)
Latinoamérica no será prioridad en el nuevo gobierno de Estados Unidos, de Barack Obama. Brasil capeará el temporal financiero mejor que Argentina, y Uruguay se verá afectado por los problemas de sus vecinos y por las bajas de los precios de los productos de exportación. El vicepresidente del instituto Diálogo Interamericano definió al presidente electo como un hombre "pragmático" y de "mente fría". Pero, asismismo, opinó que muchos se decepcionarán si piensan que con él llega un gobierno de sesgo izquierdista.

December 28, 2008: Between Anxiety and Hope
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Observador (Uruguay)
The New Year in the US will be greeted with a mix of deep anxiety and great hope.

December 28, 2008: Uma Carcomida Relíquia da Guerra Fria
By Interview with Dan Erikson
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Assim especialista em relações internacionais define embargo a Cuba, anacronismo do qual os EUA já poderiam ter se livrado desde o colapso da URSS. Entrevista exclusiva com Daniel Erikson, Coordenador do Inter-American Dialogue e autor do livro The Cuba Wars, recém-lançado nos EUA.

December 28, 2008: Obama's Cabinet
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Although questions about policy positions persist, the complete selection of his cabinet and high-level advisors offers clues about what the US and world can expect over the next four years.

December 28, 2008: El gabinete de Obama
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Persisten los interrogantes sobre sus posturas políticas, pero la completa elección de su gabinete y el alto nivel de sus asesores ofrecen pistas sobre lo que E.U. y el mundo pueden esperar en los próximos cuatro años.

December 27, 2008: Entre la ansiedad y la esperanza (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Observador (Uruguay)
El nuevo año en Estados Unidos será saludado con una mezcla de profunda ansiedad y gran esperanza.

December 26, 2008: Ainda sobre previsões
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Em comentário recente, registrei que, mais do que nunca, o exercício de fazer previsões se torna cada vez mais problemático, particularmente para o ano de 2009.

December 24, 2008: Haiti's Unraveling Will Pose Test for President-elect Obama
By Dan Erikson
Source: Latin America Advisor
Haiti's slow but steady climb out of its political and economic abyss was severely jeopardized in 2008 by a series of internal and external shocks. In the spring, escalating food prices prompted widespread riots as the population pushed back against a 40 percent rise in the costs of basic food commodities, which cut deeply into the standard of living for a population where most people subsist on less than two dollars per day.

December 24, 2008: Latin America Faces 'Remarkable Deceleration' in Growth
By Alfredo Coutino
Source: Latin America Advisor
Latin America has shown a strong resilience to the international crisis. During 2008 the region's performance did not show major signs of deceleration. In fact, in the first half of the year, the region performed at a speed similar to that of one year before.

December 23, 2008: Compromiso o confrontación
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
El 20 de enero de 2009, Barack Obama asumirá la presidencia de Estados Unidos. Tiene programado viajar a Trinidad y Tobago, del 17 al 19 de abril, a la Cumbre de las Américas. Con toda certeza será recibido calurosamente, pero Obama pudiera enriquecer ese entusiasmo si antes de viajar pusiera fin a todas las restricciones impuestas a los viajes y las remesas de los cubanoamericanos. Sería una clara señal de que su gobierno saldría de la rutina política en relación con Cuba.

December 22, 2008: Del american dream a la crisis financiera global (PDF)
By Nora Lustig y Jorge Mariscal
Source: Nexos (Mexico)
La mañana del 17 de julio de 2007 los mercados financieros norteamericanos se despertaron con la noticia de que dos de los fondos administrados por Bear Sterns, uno de los bancos de inversión más grandes de los Estados Unidos, estaban en serios problemas a causa de sus inversiones en instrumentos financieros basados en deudas hipotecarias “subprime” o de baja calidad crediticia. Esta fue una de las primeras señales de las dificultades enfrentadas por esta compañía, que ocho meses después sería rematada a JP Morgan, y por el resto del sistema financiero global, que poco más de un año después se encontraba en la peor crisis desde la Gran Depresión.

December 20, 2008: Is Recession Causing A Migrant Exodus Or Influx?
By Marcela Sanchez
Source: The Tampa Tribune
Manuel Orozco cited in article.

December 19, 2008: Hipócrita defensa de la democracia
By Andrés Oppenheimer
Source: Diario de Cuyo (Argentina)
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

December 19, 2008: Latinoamérica: Me llega la crisis
By Interviews with members of the Andean Working Group
Source: Ideele (Peru)
Hace poco se realizó en Lima la reunión del Andean Working Group, promovida por Diálogo Interamericano, en la que participaron destacados especialistas de diferentes partes de Latinoamérica. Ideele conversó con Teodoro Petkoff de Venezuela, César Montúfar de Ecuador, José Miguel Vivanco de Chile, George Gray de Bolivia y el latinoamericanista canadiense Hal Klepak sobre la situación en que nos halla la crisis global, cuán preparados estamos y cuál es la actualidad política, social y de derechos humanos en Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba y Colombia.

December 18, 2008: Awaiting a new policy on Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On Jan. 20, 2009, Barack Obama will finally assume the U.S. presidency. On April 17-19, he's scheduled to travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas. Though he's sure to be warmly greeted, Obama can add to the warmth if he has ended all restrictions on Cuban-American travel and remittances before going. It'd be a clear signal that his administration doesn't mean business as usual on Cuba.

December 18, 2008: El Estilo Obama (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Caretas (Peru)
Caretas lo entrevistó el viernes 12 en su breve paso por Lima para participar en un panel internacional en el Instituto de Estudios Peruanos. Esto es lo que piensa sobre las futuras relaciones de EE.UU. con América Latina.

December 18, 2008: U.S. sanctions on Nicaragua seen as `hypocrisy'
By Andrés Oppenheimer
Source: The Miami Herald
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

December 17, 2008: Presidente electo Barack Obama
By Michael Shifter
Source: Ideele (Peru)
El analista Michael Shifter, uno de los primeros en darse cuenta de las posibilidades políticas de Obama, reflexiona sobre los principales hechos y nombramientos que se están produciendo en este importantísimo periodo de transición, que va desde la victoria hasta el inicio del nuevo gobierno.

December 17, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama
By Michael Shifter
Source: Ideele (Peru)
President-elect Barack Obama. That term comes naturally, and is universally used today in the United States, even by voters who preferred John McCain. Unless my memory is failing, I don’t remember president-elect George Bush, president-elect Bill Clinton, president-elect Ronald Reagan or president-elect Jimmy Carter being used too often in the “transition” period, immediately following their victories and before inauguration day. All were referred to as governor. But since November 4, 2008, senator Obama has been spontaneously replaced by president-elect Obama.

December 15, 2008: El Perú globalizado: Éxito económico con fracturas sociales (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Perú en el siglo XXI
Pese a que siguen existiendo retos importantes, los niveles de crecimiento del Perú, así como su inmersión en la economía global, han contribuido al verdadero progreso y la estabilidad. La enraizada pobreza del país –que sigue aumentando en ciertas regiones– revela que importantes segmentos de la población están siendo excluidos de los beneficios del espectacular crecimiento del país. Sólo tres de cada diez peruanos aprueban la actuación de Alan García, e, implícitamente, la dirección que está tomando el país; esto quiere decir que los reacios problemas sociales podrían hacer que descarrile la estrategia del gobierno de una mayor globalización como solución a los problemas sociales.

December 15, 2008: Un Gabinete para la guerra economica (PDF)
By Claudio Loser
Source: Revista Vientetres
El presidente electo de los Estados Unidos se enfrenta con uno de los retos económicos más críticos que ese país haya tenido en varias generaciones. Probablemente sus abuelos (y para algunos de nosotros nuestros padres) hayan sufrido las consecuencias de la Depresión del período 1929-33, pero los Estados Unidos no han tenido una crisis financiera de la magnitud actual desde entonces.

December 12, 2008: Confuso triple juego hispano-ruso-argentino
By Paul Isbell
Source: Infolatam
La entrada de Lukoil tanto en España como en Argentina sólo debería verse como un desarrollo positivo. El futuro del mundo pasa por la integración y la dependencia mutua, pese a lo que pueda parecer. Aunque las lenguas doradas van a empujar a la muerte un argumento puramente nacionalista - da igual desde donde salgan - no nos deberíamos dejar caer en esta trampa.

December 10, 2008: Chávez es su peor amigo
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
El 23 de noviembre, Hugo Chávez ganó el 75% de los cargos que se disputaban en las elecciones locales, regionales y estatales. Sus candidatos consiguieron 5,4 millones de votos en el país y la oposición obtuvo 4,4 millones. Los chavistas se impusieron en 17 de las 22 contiendas gubernamentales en la lid electoral.

December 5, 2008: Recessão ou depressão
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de São Paulo Brazil
A história da presente crise financeira é a história de uma morte anunciada. São incontáveis as referências feitas nos últimos anos aos “déficits gêmeos” da economia americana: na balança comercial e nas contas públicas. Os críticos do governo Bush, com Paul Krugman à frente, cansaram de clamar contra os gastos excessivos nas guerras, combinados com cortes de impostos para as camadas mais ricas da população e com uma política monetária complacente. O que não se conhecia a fundo era o mau uso que bancos e instituições assemelhadas faziam dessa situação de dinheiro farto, acompanhada de desregulamentação financeira. Daí emergiu o monstro da crise, muito mais feio do que se podia imaginar.

December 4, 2008: Possible Costs to the Region of the World Financial Crisis
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Life was to be good for Latin America this year and next. That is what many policy makers in the region wanted—and wanted us—to believe. Delinking was in, and dependency was out. Commodity prices would continue going up and there was no worry about financing. Reserves were high and generally creditworthiness was solid. Problems were hitting only the US and a few other developed countries that had caused the world economic commotion.

December 2, 2008: Nicaragua needs our attention
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Source: The Miami Herald
With the financial and economic crisis, terrorist violence in Mumbai, a momentous transition in Washington and a more-subtle one occurring more slowly in Havana, it is understandable, but unfortunate, that so little attention has been focused on the electoral and political crisis in Nicaragua.

December 1, 2008: Migrant Remittances Newsletter (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Anna Ferro
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by QED.

November 28, 2008: El aterrizaje cubano
By Joaquín Villalobos
Source: Revista Nexos (México)
Siempre me ha intrigado conocer lo que hablaron Fidel Castro y el Papa Juan Pablo II en la Habana en 1998, porque no estoy seguro de que Fidel creyera en el marxismo y de que Juan Pablo creyera en Dios. Uno ha hecho religión con la política y el otro hizo política con la religión. Pero el pragmatismo, el nacionalismo y el pensarse al frente de “dictaduras bondadosas” les eran comunes. Cuando comenzó la transparencia en la ex Unión Soviética, Cuba suspendió la circulación de las revistas “Sputnik y Novedades de Moscú”. Fidel Castro me dijo entonces: “durante años esas revistas sostuvieron al marxismo leninismo como verdad absoluta y ahora dicen que eso era mentira, es como si el Vaticano distribuyera un catecismo donde dijera que Dios no existe”.

November 27, 2008: Un ligero aire de cambio en Miami
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
El 1 de enero de 2009 se cumple el 50º aniversario de la revolución cubana. Apenas tres semanas después, Barack Obama tomará posesión de la Casa Blanca con sólo un problema en común con los diez presidentes que le antecedieron: un Gobierno en La Habana presidido por uno de los hermanos Castro.

November 24, 2008: Reform in Mexico Forces Debate on Sale of Teaching Positions
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Teaching positions are for sale in Mexico, and have been for decades. Although seldom discussed, the practice—established by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to reward party loyalists—is apparently widespread. The going price for a teaching position in a public primary school is reported to be between $5,000 and $12,000, depending on locale. Teachers who resign can either sell their positions or pass them on to their children. In at least some cases, local governments and the teachers' union supervise the buying and selling process.

November 23, 2008: América Latina y sus nuevas amistades
By Moisés Naím
Source: El País (Spain)
Mientras Hu Jintao, el presidente chino, visitaba Costa Rica, Perú y Cuba su colega ruso, Dmitri Medvédev, embarcaba hacia Brasil, Perú, Cuba y Venezuela donde coincidirá con la llegada del crucero nuclear ruso Pedro el Grande para participar en maniobras conjuntas con la Marina venezolana.

November 22, 2008: América Latina: vulnerable frente a la crisis financiera global
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
Venezuela y Argentina sufren un riesgo particularmente grave por su dependencia en las exportaciones de materias primas, y porque sus economías han sido pobremente administradas y sus acreedores e inversionistas sienten que fueron tratados con dureza.

November 22, 2008: Latin America and the Global Financial Crisis
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal(Mexico)
It was not too many months ago that Latin American governments and financial analysts generally were confident that the quality of the region’s economic management and its solid pace of growth in recent years would enable most countries to withstand a U.S. recession without suffering much damage to their own economies.

November 21, 2008: LATIN AMERICA/US: Obama may mark attitude shift
By Michael Shifter
Source: Oxford Analytica
Obama's election has generated enormous goodwill and enthusiasm in the region, as in the rest of the world. Although many Latin Americans are expecting change from Washington, most understand that Obama and Congress will be consumed by other urgent priorities.

November 21, 2008: At OAS, Evo Morales Calls for an End to US Policies of 'Imposition'
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
In his first ever trip to Washington, Bolivian President Evo Morales thanked the Organization of American States for help that he said prevented civil war in his nation earlier this year. Morales also proved to be a polarizing figure, even on US soil, as a small group of Bolivians assembled outside the OAS protested what they claimed was political repression in the Andean nation.

November 20, 2008: Open travel, remittances best course for Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On Jan. 1, 2009, the Cuban Revolution marks its 50th anniversary. Three weeks later, Barack Obama will step into the Oval Office as the 11th U.S. president to face a Castro-led government in Havana.

November 14, 2008: Obama y Uribe, la pareja dispareja
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Uribe empezó su mandato con el país en una crisis de seguridad. Obama enfrenta también una crisis sin precedentes, dos guerras en el extranjero y una debacle financiera. Mientras responde a estos retos, E.U. debe reconocer sus múltiples responsabilidades en el escenario global. No es opción volverse hacia sí mismos. Y tampoco lo es alejarse de sus viejos amigos.

November 14, 2008: Obama and Uribe, the Odd Couple
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Their temperaments and outlooks on the world differ sharply, making it unlikely they will replicate the chemistry between George Bush and Uribe or between Bill Clinton and Andrés Pastrana. Nevertheless, Obama and Uribe could well get along better than many observers expect.

November 14, 2008: US Congress to Consider Preferential Trade Status for Paraguay
By Elisabeth Burgess
Source: Latin America Advisor
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) this week said he plans to introduce legislation early next year to grant Paraguayan exports duty-free access to the US market. Such trade preferences would give Paraguay similar advantages to those that Andean countries have enjoyed since 1991 under the Andean Trade Preference Act and subsequent Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which require countries to cooperate with the US in anti-narcotics efforts.

November 13, 2008: Fox Warns of Isolationism During Times of Economic Crisis
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox on Tuesday warned against repeating what he said was a crucial mistake of the Great Depression—closing off markets during an economic crisis in an effort to create domestic jobs. Fox, who served as president from 2000 to 2006, has publicly questioned President-elect Barack Obama's views on trade. In an interview with the Latin America Advisor, the former President said any attempt to return to the isolationism and "nationalistic attitudes of the past" would be short-sighted.

November 13, 2008: Haiti's educational foundations
By Michael Lisman and Conor Bohan
Source: guardian.co.uk
If the sad story of College La Promesse is to have a silver lining, however, we can hope that these tragic scenes bring more attention to the less visible disaster of Haiti's education system, which suffers from the same endemic problems that brought down College La Promesse: short-term thinking and a lack of expertise and oversight. The lost opportunity for a decent and dignified life for most of Haiti's youth is not so easily reconstructed.

November 11, 2008: Don't ignore European economic powerhouse
By Paul Isbell
Source: The Miami Herald
With surveys on both sides of the Atlantic showing that Spaniards and Americans are once again viewing each other in an increasingly favorable light, now is the time to turn the page on the past.

November 10, 2008: A Consagrada Vitoria de Obama
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Imagino há 2/3 anos atrás quem afirmasse que um senador negro de Illinois tornar-se-ia Presidente da grande nação americana, seria taxado de lunático. Se recuássemos mais no tempo, não creio que alguém visionário poderia imaginar que esse fato viesse a ocorrer.

November 9, 2008: El cambio también llega a América Latina (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
El presidente electo Barack Obama es un líder de gran inteligencia y disciplina y es muy probable que sea moderado y pragmático en su acercamiento a una complicada agenda doméstica y extranjera.

November 9, 2008: Change also Arrives to Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Obama, a leader of enormous intellect and discipline, is likely to be measured and pragmatic in his approach to a daunting domestic and foreign agenda.

November 7, 2008: Atando Cabos. Presidente Obama, ¿y América Latina?
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: Diario La República (Peru)
Pese a la marginalidad del tema "América Latina" en la campaña presidencial, el triunfo de Obama es muy positivo.

November 7, 2008: Timely questions about Colombia, free trade
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
''It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once,'' said candidate Barack Obama in late September amid the financial meltdown. And so it will be for President Obama after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009.

November 6, 2008: La fuerza de la matemática
By Paul Isbell
Source: ABC Spain
La matemática terminó siendo demasiado dura para John McCain. Barack Obama ganó por seis puntos (52%-46%) en el voto popular -ligeramente por debajo del promedio final de los sondeos (7,4pp)- y por un margen amplio en el Colegio Electoral (364-174). Este resultado es muy similar al de Bill Clinton en 1992 (+5,5% en el voto popular y 370-168 en el Colegio Electoral), pero es la primera vez desde 1976 que un demócrata ha ganado por mayoría absoluta en el voto popular.

November 5, 2008: Obama frente a Latinoamérica
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
Probablemente Obama será un gradualista cauto hacia América Latina, que evitará grandes iniciativas como las lanzadas por John F. Kennedy en los 60. La dura realidades que tendrá pocos recursos a disposición.

November 5, 2008: Obama Facing Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
Among the many explanations for why Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, one thing is for sure: Latin America played no part.

November 4, 2008: Ansias de cambio
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Una encuesta en Cuba de Freedom House muestra un panorama desolador: La posibilidad de un cambio político genera más ansiedad que esperanza.

November 3, 2008: “La crisis económica tendió a afirmar a los demócratas” (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Observador (Uruguay)
El analista Michael Shifter dijo a El Observador que McCain no mostró tranquilidad

November 2, 2008: The Challenge in South America
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa (Bolivia)
That Latin America will not rank high on the agenda is, of course, nothing new. What is new, however, is how the political landscape has been transformed – especially in South America.

November 2, 2008: El reto en Sudamérica
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa (Bolivia)
“Ambos tienen mucho que aprender sobre cómo América Latina ha cambiado. La preocupación es que cualquiera que gane la elección caerá en viejas formas de tratar a países diseñadas en una era que ya se fue”

November 2, 2008: Eleições e crise
By Fernando H. Cardoso
Source: O Globo Brasil
Apurados os votos, algumas análises se confirmaram. Primeiro, a despeito das imperfeições e críticas, nosso sistema político é, de fato, competitivo. Segundo, a competição se dá menos entre partidos do que entre lideranças. Estas não deixam de estar ligadas a partidos, claro, mas, quando aprovadas nas urnas, não consagram automaticamente seus partidos. Terceiro, por mais que partidos e máquinas governamentais tenham capacidade de arrebanhar votos e por mais que as lideranças possam influir, não decidem os resultados eleitorais, pelo menos nas grandes cidades.

November 2, 2008: "Obama es una figura política extraordinaria"
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Perfil (Argentina)
Obama es una figura política extraordinaria, de las que aparecen sólo una vez en cada generación. Tiene una historia personal destacable y es un orador brillante. Su mensaje de cambio resuena en un país donde más del 80% cree que estamos yendo en la dirección equivocada.

November 1, 2008: El aterrizaje cubano
By Joaquín Villalobos
Source: Revista Nexos (México)
Cuba es para los EEUU política doméstica, una “provincia rebelde” y una de sus más persistentes paranoias. No se puede entender al régimen cubano, sino se tiene en cuenta esta patología política estadounidense.

November 1, 2008: Are Trends in Money Transfers to Latin America Shifting Downward? (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: FOCALPoint (Canada)
With the financial crisis in the United States, speculation about the decline in remittances to Latin America has raised concern about the impact on the economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly among more remittance dependent countries. Such speculation has largely been associated to the decline of flows to Mexico, thus raising questions about the future of these flows on an international scale. However, these speculations may obscure a rather complex reality exclusive to Mexico’s history as well as to basic dynamics of migration and remitting.

November 1, 2008: Remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean: Their Impact on Local Economies and The Response of Local Governments (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Decentralization and the Challenges to Democratic Governance
This report assesses the intersection of remittances with the local economies of five cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. We explore the extent to which these economies effectively absorb remittances into their productive base and the response of the local governments to these realities. The global is local: remittances go to a myriad of places outside capitals and large cities.

November 1, 2008: La Economía Local y las Respuestas de los Gobiernos Ante los Envíos de Remesas en América Latina y el Caribe (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: La Descentralización y los Desafíos para la Gobernabilidad Democrática
El presente informe evalúa la intersección entre las remesas y las economías locales en cinco ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe. Examinamos la medida en que estas economías realmente absorben las remesas en su base productiva y las respuestas de los gobiernos locales a estas realidades. Lo mundial se vuelve local: las remesas se envían a un gran número de lugares que no son las grandes ciudades y capitales.

October 30, 2008: Relaciones Venezuela - EEUU después del 4/11
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Universal (Venezuela)
Michael Shifter ofrece su percepción acerca de posibles escenarios en las relaciones de Venezuela con los Estados Unidos en caso de resultar electo Barack Obama o John McCain.

October 30, 2008: In Memóriam: A Emilia Luzárraga
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Una cubana que dedicó su vida a la reconciliación nacional. Emilia Luzárraga de Fernández (1938-2008), Emilita para todos sus amigos, murió la madrugada del 4 de octubre. Siempre había gozado de buena salud pero, en pocos meses, su cuerpo se consumió. No así su espíritu, que se robustecía a medida que el final se acercaba.

October 27, 2008: U.S.-Latin American Relations: Recommendations for the New Administration
By Michael Shifter
Source: University of Virgina Miller Center Forum
It is crucial for senior policy officials responsible for Latin America in January 2009 to take a fresh and honest look at the divergent tendencies unfolding in the region. Tired notions about an area long regarded in the United States as its strategic prerogative should give way to a nuanced appreciation of the marked regional differentiation.

October 26, 2008: ¿Están cayendo las remesas hacia AL y el Caribe?
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Confidencial (Nicaragua)
Ante la crisis financiera internacional y la reciente recesión económica en Estados Unidos, la discusión y especulación sobre el futuro de las remesas ha surgido como un factor que puede aún afectar más el crecimiento en América Latina y el Caribe. Esta especulación ha estado en parte asociada con la caída de las remesas a México, resaltando preguntas acerca del futuro de las remesas. Sin embargo, la caída de las remesas a México responde a realidades exclusivas de este país. Frente a esta discusión es importante entender por un lado el impacto de la crisis de la vivienda sobre los inmigrantes, así como también el curso actual de las remesas.

October 25, 2008: Y no le hicieron caso... (PDF)
By Diego García-Sayán
Source: El Comercio (Peru)
Estigmatizado por los conservadores, ultraderechistas y Wall Street, Nouriel Roubini, viene acertando desde hace cuatro años en prefigurar las tendencias de la crisis financiera y hasta aspectos tan específicos como el colapso de Lehman Brothers.

October 24, 2008: Obama mantiene su ventaja en el tramo final de la carrera
By Paul Isbell
Source: Expansión Spain
Estamos en el tramo final de las elecciones presidenciales y Barack Obama podría estar a punto de borrar a John McCain del mapa político norteamericano. Lo que parecía una contienda muy reñida hace solo un mes tiene ahora todos los visos de convertirse en una victoria clara para el senador de Illinois.

October 24, 2008: América latina no debe esperar grandes cambios
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Economista (Argentina)
Michael Schifter, del Diálogo Interamericano es uno de los especialistas más escuchados cuando se habla de las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y América latina. Destaca que la región ya “no está en la tapa de los diarios” y que eso es positivo porque demuestra que no es “fuente de conflictos”.

October 24, 2008: Cubans anxious about change
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Last month, Freedom House issued Change in Cuba: How Citizens View Their Country's Future, based on 180 in-depth interviews in Havana, Villa Clara, Holguín, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba. In April 2008, five field researchers traveled to Cuba to conduct face-to-face interviews using a 35-question template on three overarching themes...

October 23, 2008: El acuerdo boliviano
By George Gray Molina
Source: Argumentos (Peru)
Del abismo a la mesa, y de la mesa al acuerdo. Luego de semanas de violencia, confinamientos políticos y diálogo interrumpido, el 21 de octubre pasado el parlamento boliviano promulgó dos leyes que modifican más de 100 artículos de la Nueva Constitución Política de Estado, llaman a referendo constitucional el 25 de enero de 2009, y llaman a elecciones generales para diciembre de 2009.

October 22, 2008: What Latin America can Expect from the Next US President
By Peter Hakim
Source: Real Instituto Elcano
With the global financial markets in turmoil and Americans increasingly anxious about their economic futures, it is not surprising that foreign policy issues –even the Iraq war and international terrorism– have more and more become a sideshow in the race for the US presidency. Earlier in the year, taking advantage of Cuban Independence Day, both Obama and McCain offered major speeches on Latin America to audiences in Miami and John McCain took the time to travel to Colombia and Mexico. The region then virtually disappeared from the two campaigns for several months. It was only in the most recent debate on 15 October that the candidates discussed a number of key issues in US-Latin American relations –including NAFTA, the signed but un-ratified US-Colombian trade agreement, and the danger of relying on oil imported from Venezuela–.

October 20, 2008: España ante el 4 de noviembre
By Paul Isbell
Source: El Pais (Spain)
Las elecciones presidenciales del 4 de noviembre en Estados Unidos representan una gran oportunidad que España no debería desaprovechar. Tras lo ocurrido durante los últimos cinco años, el inminente cambio político en Washington ofrece, tanto a España como a Estados Unidos, una posibilidad única de transformar sus relaciones bilaterales.

October 18, 2008: Remittance transfers, its marketplace and financial intermediation in Uganda: preliminary findings, lessons and recommendations (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Inter-American Development Bank
This report provides a preliminary analysis of remittance transfers to Uganda. Uganda has a longstanding migratory tradition associated with its political history and geography. Yet little is known of how large the size of the emigrant population or diaspora is or about the extent of the economic activities migrants have with Uganda. Using available albeit limited survey data, expert interviews and data collected from the Central Bank, commercial banks, microfinance institutions and foreign exchange bureaus, the study offers an analysis of remittances in Uganda.

October 15, 2008: Tendencias Actuales en las Transferencias hacia Guatemala y su Intersección con las Finanzas (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Organización Internacional para las Migraciones
Presentación de la encuesta

October 15, 2008: El Retroceso al Autoritarismo
By Manuel Orozco
Source: El Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua)
El contexto político nicaragüense se ubica en un entorno de retroceso al autoritarismo, caracterizado por el ejercicio del discurso populista, la enajenación ideológica y la persecución. La victoria de Daniel Ortega confirmó la fuerza del pacto Alemán-Ortega, debilitando casi irreversiblemente el tenue nervio democrático nicaragüense, introduciendo un populismo sin fronteras como preámbulo a un gobierno que buscará constituir el autoritarismo en los próximos años.

October 13, 2008: Will the American Elections Shake Up Washington's Cuba Policy? (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Real Instituto Elcano
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, the US and Cuba remain locked in a long Cold War that seems likely to persist, in some fashion, irrespective of which presidential candidate seizes the White House or how sure-footedly or ineptly Raúl Castro governs the island. The decisions on Cuba policy made by the next American President will depend to some degree on the influence of their Cuban American supporters and the political juncture that occurs in Cuba.

October 10, 2008: Russia Exploits an Opening in Latin America
By Dan Erikson
Source: Latin America Advisor
With the expulsion last month of the US ambassadors to Bolivia and Venezuela, few were surprised to see Washington's relations with Latin America reach a new low. Far more striking is the fact the Russia's Vladimir Putin has taken advantage of receding US influence to step into the breach and actively consolidate Moscow's ties with the region.

October 10, 2008: "Nunca vi una crisis igual, claramente ya no hay ningún refugio seguro"
By Renato García Jiménez
Source: Diario Financiero (Chile)
Hoy, cuando la crisis sacude al mundo desarrollado y aumentan las críticas contra el modelo capitalista, Hakim niega que las recetas del libre Mercado hayan fracasado. Por el contrario, acusa a las autoridades de Estados Unidos y Europa de no haber seguido sus propios consejos y advierte que las consecuencias de ese error serán nefastas.

October 9, 2008: World Bank: Latin America 'Better-Built' to Withstand Crisis
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Energy Advisor
The World Bank's chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, Augusto de la Torre, said Wednesday the region has better "immunological capacities" than in the past to confront the global financial crisis, but that the initial effects—financial contagion, decreased demand for exports, and lower commodity prices—are already hitting home in the hemisphere.

October 9, 2008: No Way to Influence Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: Washington Post
The Oct. 6 editorial "A Choice for Latin America" described the regional situation in excessively stark terms, leading to a misguided policy prescription.

October 7, 2008: What World Financial Policymakers Could Learn From the Mexican Collapse of Yesteryear
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Today Mexico is suffering from the US slowdown, but its financial system is strong, and its economy very resilient in response of the strengthening of policies and institutions. Would it not be wise for US policymakers to leave their pride aside, and consult their brethren to the south, the IMF, and others for good advice on best practices for the financial system?

October 4, 2008: A arquitetura financeira
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: Estadao (Brasil)
Os mecanismos de formação de crises financeiras e o modo de sua propagação são conhecidos. A situação atual repete o enredo: abundância de financiamentos, voracidade dos consumidores, relaxamento dos mecanismos de avaliação de risco, falta de fiscalização das entidades emprestadoras e confiança "inabalável" em que haverá sempre quem empreste e quem pague.

October 1, 2008: Jamaican PM "Confident" in Face of US Crisis; Warns of Tourism Decline
By Matthew Schewel
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Prime Minister Bruce Golding said Tuesday that Jamaica's financial system was in a good position to respond to the crisis on Wall Street, and that the biggest blow to the economy would come from an expected downturn in tourism receipts.

September 29, 2008: "Se teme avanzar hacia economia socialista," dice Peter Hakim
By Melisa Cabo
Source: Télam (Argentina)
Peter Hakim, presidente del think tank Inter-American Dialogue, sostuvo que entre los principales problemas que impiden la aprobación del salvataje financiero en Estados Unidos, se encuentra el temor a estar "avanzando hacia una economía más socialista", a la falta de concesiones por parte de los representantes y a la posible reacción pública, ante la proximidad de elecciones el 4 de noviembre.

September 28, 2008: Optan migrantes por envíos en línea
By Silvia Garduño
Source: Reforma (Mexico)
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

September 28, 2008: ‘Mienten’ paisanos sobre remesas
By Silvia Garduño
Source: Reforma (Mexico)
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

September 26, 2008: La montaña rusa de la campaña
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Estados Unidos está aprendiendo lo que América Latina aprendió hace muchos años: en política, un día es una eternidad. La campaña presidencial, ya en su recta final, ha sido una montaña rusa.

September 26, 2008: The Campaign Rollercoaster
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
The United States is now learning what most of Latin America learned many years ago: one day is a long time in politics. The presidential campaign, now in its final stretch, has been a rollercoaster.

September 25, 2008: Castros' arrogance gets in the way of help
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Hurricanes Gustav and Ike devastated Cuba. Preliminary estimates put damages at more than $5 billion. The United Nations and more than 20 countries have already sent planeloads of humanitarian aid. Many Cuban exiles, too, are sending donations in cash, clothes and food.

September 25, 2008: Las Elecciones De Estados Unidos Y Las Definiciones Cruciales Para Sus Ciudadanos
By Michael Shifter
Source: Argumentos (Peru)
Por donde se le analice, Barack Obama debería ganar las elecciones del 4 de noviembre, si no por un tsunami, al menos por un margen significativo de votos. Este año, el ambiente general favorece nítidamente al candidato demócrata.

September 22, 2008: El país y Estados Unidos pierden con la expulsión de embajadores
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Razón (Bolivia)
El Diálogo Interamericano, un centro de pensamiento en EEUU, organizó un foro para analizar la actual situación de América Latina y los últimos conflictos entre Bolivia, Venezuela y EEUU. Después del foro, el vicepresidente del Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter, conversó con La Razón.

September 22, 2008: Still More Expensive to Have a Big Mac—and to Compete—in Latin America
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
The Big Mac exchange rate index (just issued by the Economist magazine for 2008) is attractive in its ability to capture in a universal and simple fashion changes in relative purchasing power among countries. It has serious shortcomings, as it follows only one specific product, but it captures very well major changes in prices and exchange rates.

September 20, 2008: Ecuador es diferente a Bolivia
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Comercio (Ecuador)
Entrevista - Michael Shifter, Vicepresidente del Interamerican Dialogue

September 20, 2008: “Estados Unidos perdió influencia”
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Crítica (Argentina)
Aunque La Paz y Caracas condicionaron su relación con Washington a la elección del nuevo gobierno, para Michael Shifter la región debe esperar continuidades antes que cambios después del 4 de noviembre.

September 16, 2008: Colombia then and now
By Rep. Jerry Weller
Source: The Washington Times
Today, the people of Colombia are proud of their nation's progress; they feel safer and more secure. They are making plans for the future. They have hope and you can see it in their eyes.

September 13, 2008: “Sería suicidio para Chávez cortar el suministro a EUA”
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa Gráfica (El Salvador)
Michael Shifter, uno de los analistas más respetados de Washington sobre Suramérica, señaló que de concretarse el apoyo militar ofrecido por el presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, a su par boliviano, Evo Morales, representaría un mal precedente en América Latina.

September 11, 2008: Impunity in Buenos Aires bombing
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Today we remember the 2,974 lives lost seven years ago at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the United 93 crash. Not that we will ever forget, but anniversaries -- whether of loss or happiness -- bring back memories in full force.

September 9, 2008: “Toda la campaña está subordinada a la problemática económica del país” (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El País (Uruguay)
El vicepresidente del Diálogo Interamericano ve por ahora muy pareja la carrera a la Casa Blanca entre el demócrata Barack Obama y el republicano John McCain, luego que ambos partidos celebraran sus respectivas convenciones.

September 8, 2008: Obama, McCain Offer Stark Contrasts on Latin America Policy
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: America.gov
Regional specialists size up candidates’ differences on Western Hemisphere.

September 7, 2008: La última batalla (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Con las propuestas sobre la mesa, el demócrata Barack Obama y el republicano John McCain salen a la caza de los indecisos.

September 7, 2008: The Final Battle
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
With their proposals on the table, the Democrat Barack Obama and the Republican John McCain go on the hunt for undecided votes.

September 3, 2008: O petróleo continuará nosso
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Não faz muito tempo, chamei a atenção nesta coluna para os desafios postos pelas descobertas de petróleo no pré-sal e para a necessidade de haver uma convergência de opiniões que permita, se for o caso, mudanças nas leis que regulamentam sua exploração. Mencionei mesmo a possibilidade de se utilizar os recursos gerados para resolver os problemas educacionais, trocando-se “minérios por neurônios”.

September 3, 2008: Afectan a las remesas políticas antimigrantes (PDF)
By Silvia Garduño
Source: Reforma (Mexico)
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

September 2, 2008: Adicción fatal
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
América Latina: ¿Son suficientes dos períodos presidenciales? La política es un deporte de contacto. En Estados Unidos lo hemos estado practicando en los últimos dieciocho meses, aunque es sólo ahora que Barack Obama y John McCain pueden ostentar, de manera oficial, los títulos de candidatos. Se augura un reñido combate, como no habíamos presenciado antes, para los próximos 60 días.

September 1, 2008: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: August 2008 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Anna Ferro
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

September 1, 2008: Remittances and Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean: Steps Forward on a Long Road Ahead (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
This report looks at the relationship between international remittances and microfinance, and presents the findings from a study on 166 microfinance and credit union institutions and an in-depth case study analysis of six of them. The objective of this report consists of learning whether microfinance institutions (MFIs) are paying remittances and if so, whether they are linking remittance transfers to other financial products. Previous research on this subject has been relatively limited, yet assumptions about the organic relationship between remittances and microfinance have been made. Through this report, we aim to go one step closer in identifying patterns in this relationship.

September 1, 2008: Remittance Transfers to Armenia: Preliminary Survey Data Analysis (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
This briefing offers a preliminary data analysis associated with remittance flows and migration trends in Armenia, interpreted from the Central Bank of Armenia’s household survey. The report offers a descriptive and statistical analysis of remittance trends by assessing typical behavior among recipients and senders, and the marketplace for money transfers. The briefing also analyzes the prospects for migration and remittances in the short term and explores some patterns that may exist or shed light on the continuity of flows.

August 28, 2008: Two presidential terms is enough
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Politics is a contact sport. In the United States, we've been at it for the past 18 months even if Barack Obama and John McCain are only now officially donning the title of candidate. The next 70 days promise a match like we've never seen before.

August 22, 2008: A la espera de una oportunidad
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
No es empresa fácil proyectar una visión, a largo plazo, sobre las relaciones Estados Unidos-Cuba. En mis dos últimos artículos expuse, a grandes rasgos, cómo veo el prolongado arco histórico.

August 22, 2008: Low Intra-Regional Trade Shows Region's Lack of Dynamism
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
It is by now a boring truism to say that trade and investment have exploded in the world—more so in the developing world. The rapid rise of Asia, together with a healthy recovery of Latin America and others, has brought new possibilities for the majority of emerging countries. However, developments have not been homogeneous: Asia has been engaged in a revolutionary transformation; Latin America has pursued integration efforts for a long time, but with considerably poorer results; and Africa is only now starting the process.

August 18, 2008: High Hopes for Paraguay's New "Bishop of the Poor" President
By Elisabeth Burgess
Source: Latin America Advisor
A socialist former bishop became president of Paraguay on Friday, promising to root out corruption, secrecy, and stark inequality he says was left behind by 61 years of rule under the single banner of the Colorado Party.

August 14, 2008: A chance for normal relations
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Taking the long view on U.S.-Cuba relations isn't easy. In my two most recent columns, I laid out in broad strokes the long historical arc as I see it.

August 14, 2008: What Can We Learn From Cuba and the Dominican Republic?
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Scores from a recent region-wide student achievement test demonstrate again that an overwhelming number of Latin American children are failing to reach adequate levels in math, language, and science. But most striking is that two countries—Cuba and the Dominican Republic—scored much differently than the others.

August 7, 2008: Una enemistad de medio siglo
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Con sus altas y bajas, el conflicto entre La Habana y Washington poco ha cambiado desde la Crisis de los Misiles.

August 7, 2008: Why We Are Together
By Peter Hakim
Source: FOCAL Point
In his book, City of Words, Argentine-Canadian essayist Alberto Manguel focuses on the question “Why are we together?”, referring to the long-standing inclination of humans to congregate. That is also the question that the Western Hemisphere’s 34 elected heads of state will have to answer when they assemble next April in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago for the Fifth Summit of the Americas.

August 6, 2008: The Way Forward on Immigration: A California Perspective (PDF)
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Source: Americas Quarterly
California, America’s most populous state -- with the dimensions, economy, power and international ties if not the sovereignty of a nation -- can and should play a leading role in attempting to break the U.S. legislative impasse on immigration policy and in forging policies to integrate immigrants more successfully into twenty-first century America. It should do so because California has long-standing, unique and relevant experience with immigration; because Californians have a huge stake in reforming the country’s dysfunctional immigration regime; and because they are ready to take the lead in demonstrating positive approaches to integrating immigrants.

August 6, 2008: Una tercera Oportunidad
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El Nuevo Herald
El próximo 1 de enero la revolución cubana cumple 50 años. Cabría sacar el saldo político. Prefiero, sin embargo, sacar otro: el de nuestros sentimientos.

August 6, 2008: DR-CAFTA and the Story of Chicken Little
By Rep. Jerry Weller
Three years later, as we recognized the third anniversary of Congress ratifying the trade agreement, we are witnesses to the fact the sky is not falling and trade is good for America. In fact, American workers, manufacturers and farmers have been the big winners thanks to new market access guaranteed under DR-CAFTA.

July 31, 2008: Washington, Havana must learn to live in peace
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
During the Cold War, the United States was of two minds regarding the Third World. Did the new nations in Africa and Asia provide fodder for Soviet expansionism?

July 31, 2008: Lecciones sabias
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Cuba y EE UU tendrán relaciones normales cuando La Habana convierta la cercanía en un valor y Washington considere con seriedad las expectativas cubanas.

July 31, 2008: Barack Obama y América Latina
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
La semana pasada, Barack Obama había podido recibir una bienvenida tan calurosa en Buenos Aires o Bogotá como la que tuvo en Berlín. Como Europa y gran parte del mundo, América Latina está cansada con George Bush y ansiosa por un cambio.

July 31, 2008: Barack Obama and Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Last week Barack Obama could have easily generated a similarly warm reception in Buenos Aires or even Bogotá, as he did in Berlin. Like Europe and much of the world, Latin America is tired of George Bush and anxious for change.

July 31, 2008: As privatizações reavaliadas
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Apesar da borrasca, que vem vindo forte sobre a economia global, tem-se a impressão de que vivemos em uma ilha, espero que não seja a da fantasia. Em algum momento e em alguma medida as trovoadas atingirão nossa economia, hoje mais sólida. Dentre os fatores que nos permitem enfrentar as dificuldades globais, quatro são fundamentais: a abertura comercial, a estabilização monetária, algumas mudanças nas formas e condutas administrativas e as privatizações.

July 29, 2008: Entrevista con Jim Kolbe: Es hora de prestar más atención a los vecinos (PDF)
By Dolia Estévez
Source: Poder y Negocios
Durante más de dos décadas, Jim Kolbe y John McCain, ex congresista del quinto distrito de Arizona y senador del mismo estado, han compartido un fuerte compromiso personal con México y Latinoamérica. Han sido aliados en batallas por mejorar los lazos políticos y económicos con esos países, algunas las han ganado y otras no. En los noventa, tuvieron éxito en lograr la aprobación legislativa del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) y fracasaron en hacer que el Congreso autorizara un paquete de rescate financiero para México. En 2007, el mismo año en que Kolbe puso fin a su trayectoria legislativa de 22 años, más no a su carrera política, no escatimaron esfuerzos en impulsar el fallido proyecto de reforma migratoria integral.

July 28, 2008: Calderon's Popularity Hinges on Success of Anti-Drug Effort
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Landen Romei
Source: Latin America Advisor
When Felipe Calderon assumed the presidency on December 2, 2006, his legitimacy was in question. On July 2, 2006, he had won the narrowest of victories over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who cried fraud and proclaimed himself the "legitimate president."

July 23, 2008: “No hay confianza en ambos gobiernos (Bolivia y EEUU)”
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Razón (Bolivia)
El vicepresidente del Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter, habló con La Razón en Washington DC sobre la crisis de Bolivia y las relaciones con Estados Unidos. Por el Diálogo Interamericano han pasado principales políticos, pensadores y analistas de diferentes tendencias. Sobre el tema boliviano han participado analistas, gente del Gobierno y los prefectos opositores.

July 17, 2008: Sober lessons from relations with Mexico
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Great powers have rarely tempered their actions out of respect for their weaker neighbors. U.S.-Mexican relations are a case in point. By 1850, Mexico had lost half of its territory to U.S. expansionism, a loss that suffused Mexican political culture with a mistrust of the United States that lingers still.

July 10, 2008: El parto de la democracia
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Chile es una historia de éxito en América Latina. El ingreso per cápita creció de $4,720, en 1990, a $13,936, en el año 2007.

July 9, 2008: Comienza la posguerra en Colombia
By Joaquin Villalobos
Source: El País
En Colombia fue necesario darle una oportunidad a la guerra. La paz negociada debe ser siempre el propósito fundamental en un conflicto, pero, en algunas ocasiones, pretenderla a toda costa puede significar la prolongación de la guerra.

July 9, 2008: Latin American Energy Efficiency Gains Lagging Rest of World
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Often we look at important worldwide economic issues, and we find evidence that Latin America is well positioned but losing out to the rest of the world. The region's GDP per capita is higher than in any other emerging area of the world, but the gap is narrowing fast. The region is a major food and oil exporter, but policies do not help reduce vulnerabilities to price fluctuations; and gas and oil resources are declining at a dangerous pace. This month my column deals with energy use. The picture again is mixed, with relatively high efficiency but limited gains at a time of a re-emerging energy crisis.

July 6, 2008: La Mandela colombiana
By Moisés Naím
Source: El País (Spain)
La semana pasada apareció una Mandela en Colombia. En el helicóptero que llevaba a Ingrid Betancourt a la libertad después de más de seis años de sufrimientos también viajaban César y Gafas, dos de los líderes del grupo de las FARC a cargo de su custodia y quienes eran los responsables de muchas de las crueldades que sufrió la ex candidata presidencial.

July 6, 2008: Chávez comprendió a tiempo que las FARC le restaban (PDF)
By Interview with Teodoro Petkoff
Source: El Comercio (Peru)
El director del diario Tal Cual y opositor al régimen venezolano plantea que el fin del chavismo y del terorismo en Colombia se avizora en el horizonte.

July 3, 2008: Growing pains of democracy, development
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Chile is Latin America's success story. Per capita income has grown from $4,720 in 1990 to $13,936 in 2007.

July 3, 2008: ‘A Devastating Blow’
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Newsweek
Michael Shifter, an expert on Latin American politics at the Inter-American Dialogue, spoke to Newsweek's Katie Paul about how the rescue could affect regional politics and the future of the FARC.

July 3, 2008: E.U. celebra el rescate pero piensa en el TLC
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Michael Shifter, Vicepresidente de Política de Diálogo Interamericano en Washington, E.U., le dijo a El Colombiano que las celebraciones más que obvias por el rescate de los 15 secuestrados por las Farc, no borran el ambiente de preocupación que existe en sectores demócratas de su país.

July 1, 2008: Leaving schools behind
By Michael Lisman
Source: guardian.co.uk
As their nominations become sealed, senators Barack Obama and John McCain are now fine-tuning their discourses about the major substantive issues of the day. One such discourse that will find its way into a myriad of others, assuredly, is the multifaceted conundrum of education in the US.

July 1, 2008: Las papas queman: causas y consecuencias de la carestia alimentaria (PDF)
By Nora Lustig
Source: NEXOS
Hasta hace poco tiempo, irónicamente, la queja principal de los países en desarrollo era que los precios de los productos agrícolas se mantenían artificialmente bajos en el mercado internacional—y con ello se dejaba fuera de la competencia a millones de productores--debido a la política de subsidios hacia el sector en los países avanzados. La injusticia prevaleciente en las reglas del juego, se decía, condenaba a una parte del mundo en desarrollo a vivir en la pobreza.

June 30, 2008: “Sería un suicidio si Uribe se la juega con McCain”: Michael Shifter
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: Semana (Colombia)
El analista de asuntos latinoamericanos en Washington, Michael Shifter, dice que si Uribe se la juega con el candidato republicano podría afectar la eventual aprobación del TLC en el Congreso gringo.

June 29, 2008: Los milagrosos efectos del petróleo caro
By Moisés Naím
Source: El País (Spain)
El precio del petróleo ha llegado a los 150 dólares por barril, un récord sin precedentes y la causa de grandes males. Pero no todas las consecuencias del petróleo caro son malas. Por ejemplo, el total de kilómetros por mes viajados en coche por los estadounidenses sufrió la más abrupta caída desde 1949 y el número de usuarios del transporte colectivo está batiendo récords.

June 27, 2008: La Visita de McCain
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
La visita de McCain puede no darle mucho en el aspecto electoral, pero indirectamente puede estimular un debate de mayor calidad, altamente necesario en Estados Unidos, al sacar a la luz los desafíos en Colombia y México.

June 27, 2008: McCain's Visit to Colombia
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
McCain’s visit may not yield much for him electorally, but by shining a light on the challenges in Colombia and Mexico, it may indirectly help stimulate a higher quality and sorely needed debate on these pressing issues.

June 25, 2008: La solución es el mercado
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Cuba Encuentro
El crecimiento global es la historia que destaca en nuestros tiempos", escribe Fareed Zakaria en su notable libro The Post-American World, cuya lectura es recomendable. El subtítulo, The Rise of the Rest, nos dice la razón por la que estamos en la cúspide de un verdadero orden global.

June 22, 2008: Raúl Castro must reform agriculture and economy
By Interview with Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal
Marifeli Pérez-Stable discusses Raúl Castro's recent reforms and US policy towards Cuba.

June 19, 2008: Markets, not aid, are the solution
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
''Global growth is the big story of our times,'' says Fareed Zakaria in his must-read book, The Post-American World. His subtitle -- The Rise of the Rest -- tells the story of why we're at the cusp of a truly global order.

June 17, 2008: Violencia contra periodistas: Voz de alarma
By Denise Dresser
Source: Presentation at Conference on Violence against Journalists and Impunity in Mexico
México entre los 15 países del mundo más peligrosos para ser periodista.... Donde cargar con una grabadora o una cámara de televisión o una libreta puede ser una actividad de alto riesgo. Donde hacer preguntas incómodas puede acarrear consecuencias mortales.

June 13, 2008: Falando de Educação
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
A convite do projeto TODOS PELA EDUCAÇÃO, que particípio e apoio desde sua criação, assisti na última terça feira a interessante apresentação feita pela McKinsey, prestigiosa empresa de consultoria internacional sobre o desafio da educação.

June 12, 2008: The prospects for US/Latin American relations after a new US president takes office next year.
By Michael Shifter
Source: Oxford Analytica
With the presidential candidates set and the campaign underway, details about the Latin America policy of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain should become clearer, and key issues in hemispheric policy will feature in the general election campaign -- particularly immigration and trade.

June 10, 2008: Obama, McCain y A. Latina
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Aunque Obama hizo un discurso de amplio espectro, los medios se centraron en un tema: Cuba. El contraste entre los dos candidatos respecto a esta cuestión es considerable.

June 10, 2008: ¿Cuánto puede durar un “empate catastrófico”?
By Carlos Basombrío Iglesias
Source: Peru21
Evo Morales sigue siendo un presidente con mandato fuerte y con la sólida adhesión de la mitad de los bolivianos. Pero, a la vez, tiene a la otra mitad, no sólo en contra, sino en abierta desobediencia a su gobierno, actuando por fuera del marco legal, promoviendo un proyecto político, social y económico totalmente incompatible con el suyo.

June 10, 2008: Obama, McCain and Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Old habits die hard. Though Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, gave a wide-ranging address, the media predictably focused on a single issue: Cuba.

June 9, 2008: Help opposition to restore democracy
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Once again Hugo Chávez may be overreaching. On May 28, a spine-chilling intelligence decree went into effect.

June 8, 2008: ¿Obama y Colombia, una política contradictoria?
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
La posición de Barack Obama frente a Colombia podría parecer contradictoria para muchos, pues mientras se opone al Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) con Estados Unidos, apoya fuertemente los esfuerzos de seguridad del Gobierno colombiano. Esa contradicción, sin embargo, no es percibida por el candidato demócrata y ni por muchos de los miembros de su partido.

June 8, 2008: Barack Obama and Colombia, a Contradictory Policy?
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Colombiano
Barack Obama’s positions on Colombia – he opposes the free trade agreement with the United States but strongly supports the government’s security efforts – may seem contradictory to many in Colombia, but the Democratic nominee and many in his political party see no such inconsistency.

June 6, 2008: Challenge for Mexican Education "Alliance" is Execution
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
The "Alliance for Education Quality," approved on May 15 by Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the powerful head of the national teachers' union, Elba Esther Gordillo, aims to transform Mexico's poorly performing public schools into a key tool for promoting social advancement and international competitiveness.

June 4, 2008: Fernandez's Easy Victory in the DR Belies Tough Road Ahead
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
On May 16, President Leonel Fernandez romped to victory in the Dominican Republic's presidential elections and won a coveted third term in office. Despite sporadic political violence that claimed three lives, Fernandez declared the election to be a 'democratic fiesta' and called for a national celebration. But he quickly warned that 'the country must return to normalcy to face the challenges of adverse international conditions.' Indeed, while the Dominican Republic has thrived under Fernandez's leadership, many deeply rooted challenges remain.

June 3, 2008: Developing Asia Could Catch Up to Latin America by 2030
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
This column briefly presents some per capita income projections through 2030. The results suggest a declining relative position of the region in the world.

June 1, 2008: Buen nombre, mala idea
By Moises Naim
Source: El País (Spain)
¿Estaría usted de acuerdo con que se formara una alianza mundial de naciones democráticas? Al club sólo serían admitidos países democráticos que se comprometieran a no usar la fuerza para dirimir conflictos entre sí.

June 1, 2008: A China das pessoas
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora (Brazil)
Estive na China nos dez últimos dias de maio. Na primeira vez em que andei por lá, em 1995, era presidente da República. Em visita oficial vêem-se muitos tapetes vermelhos, conversa-se com os líderes políticos, há muitos banquetes, mas pouco se vê do povo.

June 1, 2008: Planting the seeds of financial inclusion: financial literacy for remittance recipients in Moldova (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: International Labour Organisation
From December 2007 through May 2008, the IOM and ILO collaborated on a financial literacy project conducted with Moldovan remittance recipients. The sessions took place at 10 branches at four banks (Banca di Economi, Eurocredit Bank, FIncombank, Mobias Bank,) and several Savings and Credit Associations. This report presents the findings of the project and is based on interviews with educators, and analysis of an intake evaluation form administered to the nearly 7,000 remittance recipients who participated.

June 1, 2008: La Economía Local y Las Respuestas De Los Gobiernos Ante Los Envíos de Remesas en América Latina y El Caribe (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Organización de los Estados Americanos
El presente informe evalúa la intersección entre las remesas y las economías locales en cinco ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe. Examinamos la medida en que estas economías realmente absorben las remesas en su base productiva y las respuestas de los gobiernos locales a estas realidades. Lo mundial se vuelve local: las remesas se envían a un gran número de lugares que no son las grandes ciudades y capitales.

June 1, 2008: Remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean: Their Impact on Local Economies and the Response of Local Governments (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Organization of American States
This report assesses the intersection of remittances with the local economies of five cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. We explore the extent to which these economies effectively absorb remittances into their productive base and the response of the local governments to these realities. The global is local: remittances go to a myriad of cities outside large capitals and cities.

May 30, 2008: McCain Has Bold Vision for Improved Ties With Latin America
By Jim Kolbe
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Jim Kolbe essay on Senator McCain's Latin America policy, as published in the May 30, 2008 issue of the Latin America Advisor.

May 29, 2008: Clinton Would Work to Restore US Credibility in the Region
By Lee Feinstein
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Lee Feinstein essay on Senator Clinton's Latin America policy, as published in the May 29, 2008 issue of the Latin America Advisor.

May 28, 2008: Barack Obama tiene todo para ganar la Presidencia
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: La Nacion (Chile)
En una charla organizada ayer por la Universidad de las Américas en un hotel de Santiago, Hakim destacó las cualidades que hacen de Obama un "político comparable con dirigentes de la talla de Ronald Reagan"

May 28, 2008: Experto estadounidense dice que su país "está más distante que nunca" de América Latina
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: El Mercurio (Chile)
El conflicto en Irak, las alzas en el precio internacional del petróleo y la compleja situación de su economía son temas que hoy generan deseos de cambios radicales entre los norteamericanos y que estarían sentando las bases de lo que será el trabajo del próximo Presidente de ese país, según afirmó hoy en Chile el presidente de la entidad Diálogo Interamericano, Peter Hakim.

May 27, 2008: México en guerra
By Joaquín Villalobos
Source: El Diario de Hoy (El Salvador)
La marihuana es considerada inofensiva y es la más popular de todas las drogas. Quienes la consumen no dimensionan la actividad criminal a la que dan soporte cuando la compran.

May 25, 2008: Hablemos de mujeres
By Moisés Naím
Source: El País (Spain)
Nunca antes les había ido tan bien. En el mundo de hoy hay más mujeres con poder, dinero y trabajo remunerado que nunca antes. Estas tendencias se han acelerado en las últimas dos décadas.

May 22, 2008: FARC's a 'hot potato'
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Interpol’s technical report is crystal clear: Colombia did not alter the computers salvaged from the rubble of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) camp in Ecuador on March 1. Evaluating the substantive content of the 10,000 files is another matter altogether.

May 22, 2008: Nuestra responsabilidad es detener la imposición de un proyecto totalitario
By interview with Jorge Quiroga Ramírez
Source: La Razon (Bolivia)
Lo que enfrentamos es la extensión del modelo chavista en el hemisferio, que ha puesto sus garras en Bolivia hace muchos años y que tiene un gobierno títere y sumiso a sus designios hegemónicos, totalitarios y autoritarios.

May 18, 2008: Lula versus Chávez
By Moisés Naím
Source: El País (Spain)
Mientras Hugo Chávez se dedica a insultar a la Interpol, Lula da Silva celebra a Standard &Poor's. La Interpol existe para combatir el crimen internacional y Standard&Poor's para evaluar riesgos de inversión. Las dos acaban de emitir importantes informes.

May 17, 2008: Uruguay y la región tienen que acentuar reformas económicas (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El País (Uruguay)
El vicepresidente de la influyente institución Diálogo Interamericano, no rehúye ninguna pregunta sobre el actual panorama político, económico y diplomático en el continente. De acuerdo con Shifter, la crisis en ese país afectará mínimamente al Cono Sur, aunque éste deberá estar prevenido y no caer “en la complacencia”. Tampoco cree que el sucesor del presidente GeorgeW. Bush en EE.UU. traiga un cambio en el vínculo con la región. Para él, las ideas de un “Socialismo del Siglo XXI” tampoco son la respuesta.

May 15, 2008: Letter to the editor
By Nora Lustig
Source: The Economist

May 13, 2008: China's Relationship with Latin America
By Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong

May 8, 2008: Free trade could benefit all partners
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Free trade is getting a bum rap everywhere. Long gone is the spirit of the early 1990s when the Americas jointly raised the banner of integration.

May 7, 2008: Consulta popular como alternativa para dirimir las diferencias sobre la reforma política
By Marta Lucía Ramírez de Rincón
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
En días pasados, propuse la inmediata convocatoria presidencial a una Gran Alianza por la Ética en la política y a una Consulta Popular obedeciendo a la urgencia histórica que provoca la crisis política actual.

May 1, 2008: Inventar o Futuro
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora (Brazil)
Na segunda feira desta semana participei de um encontro em Santiago para comemorar os sessenta anos da Cepal. Na ocasião Alain Touraine fez uma conferência admirável na qual reviu a contribuição de Raul Prebisch e seus seguidores para a compreensão da América Latina.

May 1, 2008: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: May 2008 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Anna Ferro
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

May 1, 2008: Bolivia, Ecuador y Venezuela, la refundación andina (PDF)
By Michael Shifter and Dan Joyce
Source: Política Exterior
Morales, Correa y Chávez llegaron al poder con la promesa de una transformación política radical. El punto de partida ha sido poner en marcha nuevas constituciones en Bolivia, Ecuador y Venezuela, una estrategia con resultados inesperados e inciertos para los presidentes.

May 1, 2008: Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela: The Andean Refoundation
By Michael Shifter and Dan Joyce
Source: Política Exterior (Spain)
Constitutional assemblies are an increasingly popular solution to political dissatisfaction in the Andean region of South America. But the sharp differences in these two images, of leaders at different ends of the constitutional cycle, illustrate that these promises to engineer profound, deep-seeded change have significant limitations and drawbacks.

May 1, 2008: Entre “Santa Hillary” y “Obama, el que todo lo puede” (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
Las interesantísimas elecciones primarias de los Estados Unidos, a punto de batir un récord Guiness por su duración, debido a la intensa contienda entre Hillary y Obama, son analizadas en típico-estilo-Michael Shifter.

May 1, 2008: Between "Saint Hillary" and "Omnipotent Obama"
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
The fascinating and intense battle between Hillary and Obama in the Democratic primary, on pace to set a world endurance record, are analyzed by Michael Shifter.

April 30, 2008: Upgrade for Peru Follows Decade of Strong Economic Results
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
Peru, the seventh-largest economy in Latin America, was recently granted investment-grade status by Fitch Ratings. This action can be expected to be followed by the other two international rating agencies. Peru thus joins a very exclusive regional club, up to now only consisting of Chile and Mexico.

April 27, 2008: ¿Cuánto vale un nombre? (PDF)
By Moises Naim
Source: El País (Spain)
El estudio ilumina algunas interesantes tendencias del mundo actual, y que van más allá de los temas relacionados con negocios, marcas y mercadeo que motivaron la investigación.

April 27, 2008: Llegó el tiempo de dar protección y garantías
By Ricardo Lagos
Source: Clarin (Argentina)
El crecimiento económico de América latina conduce al reto de definir qué futuro queremos conformar.

April 25, 2008: Impacto do aumento da taxa de juros
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Como se comentava, o COPOM, Conselho de Política Monetária, reunido na semana passada aumentou em meio por cento a taxa SELIC. A elevação estava sendo projetada justificada pelo aquecimento da demanda agregada. Com essa elevação de meio ponto percentual estamos novamente entre os líderes das taxas reais de juros que remuneram investidores.

April 24, 2008: Let's find common ground for a free Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Between April 10-13, 200 Cuban-American students and recently minted professionals gathered at Duke University for the annual meeting of Raíces de Esperanza. Older folks like me also participated in what has become a spring rite of conversations about Cuba.

April 22, 2008: Latin America, Caribbean the Focus of China-Taiwan Tussle
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor
On March 22, Taiwan's hard-fought presidential election produced political shockwaves that sent ripples all the way to Latin America when Ma Ying-jeou led the Koumintang nationalist party back to power for the first time since 2000.

April 20, 2008: Betty la Fea (PDF)
By Moises Naim
Source: El País (Spain)
América Latina es Betty la Fea.

April 20, 2008: Un consejo para el próximo presidente
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
Incluso cuando las opiniones latinoamericanas sobre Estados Unidos mejoraron en el último año, la calidad de las relaciones estadounidenses con las naciones de la región sigue siendo pobre, al igual que la credibilidad de EU en asuntos regionales. Para reparar el daño, el próximo presidente del país deberá revertir sustancialmente las políticas globales de la Casa Blanca de Bush al tiempo que, paradójicamente, se apega a la agenda sobre políticas de la administración para Latinoamérica.

April 17, 2008: Los obstáculos al TLC con E.U.
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Se les puede perdonar a los colombianos que no entiendan por qué el TLC de su país con Estados Unidos fue frenado. El problema en este caso es que el pensamiento racional no ofrece una explicación satisfactoria.

April 17, 2008: Obstacles Facing the Free Trade Agreement with the United States
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Colombians can be forgiven if they have trouble understanding precisely why their country’s free trade agreement with the United States has been put on hold. In this case, the problem may be that rational thought does not offer a satisfactory explanation.

April 14, 2008: Lesson of Sao Paulo Reforms: Get the Public on Your Side
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor
Sao Paulo's state school system, already one of the largest in Latin America, now seeks to become one of the most innovative as well.

April 13, 2008: Conselhos para o próximo presidente dos EUA
By Peter Hakim
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Para reparar os danos, o próximo presidente terá de reverter as políticas globais da Casa Branca de George W. Bush.

April 13, 2008: Advice for the Next US President
By Peter Hakim
Source: O Estado de São Paulo Brazil
To repair the damage, the next American president will need to substantially reverse the global policies of the Bush White House while, paradoxically, sticking closely to the Administration’s substantive agenda for Latin America.

April 12, 2008: ¿Le dará pulmonía a AL?
By Nora Lustig
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
Dice el dicho que cuando Estados Unidos se resfría al resto del mundo le da pulmonía. La situación actual podría ser aún más ominosa porque el que parece tener pulmonía es el vecino del norte. Sin embargo, a diferencia de otros tiempos en que nuestros países se caracterizaban por tener una gran vulnerabilidad ante situaciones externas adversas, la buena noticia es que hoy la región está mejor preparada para los embates de la economía globalizada.

April 10, 2008: The Surest Road to Peace
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Abiding by the simple principles embodied in the fragile détente forged in the Dominican Republic and seconded by the OAS -- sovereignty and security -- is the surest road to peace.

April 6, 2008: La región vista desde Estados Unidos (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa (Bolivia)
Las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y Sudamérica, las pugnas internas en la Comunidad Andina de Naciones (CAN), el gobierno de Evo Morales y su alianza con el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez, la “izquierda” en Latinoamérica, las posibilidades discursivas del Socialismo del Siglo XXI...

April 6, 2008: The Region as Seen from the United States
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa (Bolivia)
Relations between the United States and South America, internal conflict in the Andes, the government of Evo Morales and his alliance with President Chávez of Venezuela, the left in Latin America, the possibilities for Socialism for the 21st Century...

April 4, 2008: Cenário Político nas Américas e Relação com os Estado Unidos (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Revista América Economia
Three important issues from this year's US political campaign will affect Latin America: trade, immigration and Cuba.

April 4, 2008: Previdência no Brasil e o déficit que se acumula (PDF)
By Roberto Texeira da Costa
Source: AméricaEconomia
O atual sistema previdenciário do Brasil, no qua los trabalhadores atuais financíam a aposentadoria dos idosos, com retençao na fonte, representa um déficit equivalente a 1,93 vez o PIB do País, se projetarmos o que se perderá daqui a 2050.

April 1, 2008: Oportunidade perdida
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora
Preparei este artigo antes de viajar para os Estados Unidos onde participo, hoje, de uma série de discussões na Universidade de Brown, em comemoração aos quarenta anos da primeira edição do livro que fiz com Enzo Faletto sobre Dependência e Desenvolvimento na América Latina. É a minha despedida de Brown, depois de haver sido professor at large (título que requereu curta permanência docente anual) durante cinco anos.

April 1, 2008: Cristina Fernandez's First 100 Days Marked by Turbulence
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gómez, Jr.
Source: Latin America Advisor.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner recently celebrated her first 100 days as Argentina's president. While her approval ratings remain relatively high (between 47 and 65 percent), the initial period of her presidency has been turbulent.

April 1, 2008: Book Review of "Cuba's Aborted Reform" and "Cuba Transnational" (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Latin American Politics and Society, Vol. 50, No. 1
Fidel Castro, it has been said, is a brilliant politician but a terrible economist. In their new book, Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López, express little opinion about the Cuban leader's political talents, but they clearly agree with the most pessimistic assessments of his economic management.

March 31, 2008: Rising Food Costs Good for Some Countries, Bad for Others
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.
The turmoil in the energy markets has been at the center of our collective concerns in the recent past. However, the year 2008 brings us face-to-face with another major crisis, which some newspapers call "the end of cheap food."

March 28, 2008: The Nicaraguan diaspora: trends and opportunities for diaspora engagement in skills transfers and development (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Office for Economic Co-operation and Developmen
This paper presents an analysis of the migration patterns of Nicaraguans over the past thirty years and using household survey data also looks at the characteristics of skilled migration from the country. Moreover the paper explains the characteristics of Nicaraguan association and their current capacity to work on their home country development. The paper also provides four recommendations as policy opportunities for cooperation with diasporas on skills transfers and attainment among Nicaraguans.

March 27, 2008: Education is the key
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Latin America is doing better but still not good enough. One reason lies in the quality of its labor force and its schools.

March 24, 2008: Spain and U.S.: Latin Partners?
By Eric Farnsworth and Christian Gomez
Source: Latin Business Chronicle
The re-election of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on March 9 was noted without enthusiasm in Washington. After all, soon after his first election in 2004, Zapatero fulfilled a campaign promise when he hastily withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq, and he remains the only EU leader who has not met with President Bush.

March 23, 2008: EE.UU. mantendría relaciones con un gobierno de izquierda (PDF)
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Diario de Hoy (El Salvador)
Independientemente de quién gane las elecciones presidenciales en Estados Unidos en noviembre próximo, el nuevo gobierno de ese país respetará la decisión quelos salvadoreños tomen en las urnas en 2009. Así opinan los politólogos entrevistados por El Diario de Hoy en Washington.

March 22, 2008: Bush Not Making the Grade on Education Pledge to Central America
By Michael Lisman and Megan Fletcher
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
This time last year, President Bush promised that more U.S. aid would be channeled to education projects through a new U.S.-Latin America policy focus on the region's "social agenda." Yet today, one year later, U.S. commitment to education in Central America is declining.

March 21, 2008: Otra Política
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Cuba sigue siendo una dictadura a pesar de los cambios en los cargos y de los movimientos en los puestos dentro del círculo de poder. Ni Fidel ni Raúl Castro toleran a la oposición política o respetan las libertades civiles. Ambos se sienten amenazados por los ciudadanos que reúnen firmas, como hizo Osvaldo Payá; por los que promueven la sociedad civil, como hace Martha Beatriz Roque; por los que defienden una izquierda democrática, como los integrantes del Arco Progresista; o por los que se unen al movimiento Yo No Coopero, que busca la no participación de los ciudadanos en la Cuba oficial.

March 20, 2008: Gangorra ou Montanha Russa?
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
O prestigioso jornal The New York Times publicou em sua edição de 19 de março, provocativa matéria com o título “Se você não consegue entender a crise de crédito, junte-se ao clube.”

March 20, 2008: Raul Castro Raises Hopes for Economic Reforms in Cuba
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor .
In his February 24 inauguration speech, Raul Castro gave clues to the careful balancing act that he will have to achieve as he consolidates his power as Cuba's new president.

March 19, 2008: Colombia perdió un poco: no esperaba tantas críticas
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: El Comercio (Ecuador)
¿Quién es el perdedor y el ganador de esta crisis que ha sido superada?Primero diría que los grandes perdedores son las FARC, perdieron a su líder poderoso y ya quedó muy claro que Ecuador no va a proteger a la guerrilla. Colombia gana, en cierta forma, porque eliminó a un líder importante, era el comunicador de las FARC.

March 19, 2008: Elecciones paraguayas, con peso en Argentina y Brasil
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Source: Clarín (Argentina)
Parece improcedente hablar de las elecciones presidenciales en Paraguay, ya que todas las miradas están enfocadas hacia los Estados Unidos.

March 16, 2008: Estados Unidos y su "patio trasero" (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
Washington jugó un rol marginal para calmar la reciente crisis entre los países andinos. El rol fue cumplido esencialmente por los latinoamericanos, en especial Brasil, Chile, República Dominicana, el Grupo de Río y la Organización de los Estados Americanos.

March 16, 2008: The United States and its "Backyard"
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
Washington played a strikingly marginal role in calming the recent Andean crisis. That role was left essentially to the Latin Americans - especially Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, the Rio Group and the Organization of American States, under the leadership of Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza.

March 13, 2008: Review laws on travel, remittances
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Despite all the changes of titles and position-shuffling within the ruling circle, Cuba remains a dictatorship. Neither Fidel nor Raúl Castro brooks political opposition or respects civil liberties.

March 10, 2008: Mejores vecinos
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Source: AméricaEconomía
En menos de un año EE.UU. estrenará un nuevo presidente y un nuevo Congreso. En cuanto asuman, tendrán muchos temas que enfrentar: guerras en Irak y Afganistán, crisis en Pakistán y un posible conflicto con Irán, sin olvidar el cambio climático, el surgimiento de China e India, el conflicto palestino-israelí, la recesión económica, la inmigración ilegal y otros desafíos domésticos como problemas de cobertura de salud, reforma tributaria y educación.

March 7, 2008: La vieja guardia mueve los hilos
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
Lo que sucedió en La Habana el pasado 24 de febrero me recordó a Moscú a principios de la década del ochenta. Después de la muerte de Leonid Breshnev, dos viejos —primero, el más liberal Yuri Andrópov, y luego, el momificado Konstantin Chernenko— gobernaron la Unión Soviética. No fue sino hasta 1985 que el más juvenil Mijaíl Gorbachov tomó las riendas del Kremlin. El resto es historia.

March 6, 2008: Change in Cuba?
By Christian Gomez, Jr.
Source: Foreign Policy Digest
On February 19, Fidel Castro, 81, announced his permanent retirement as Cuba's president. At the time of his announcement, Fidel had served as head of state for 49 years, making him the second longest ruling head of state in the world behind Queen Elizabeth.

March 6, 2008: 'Lula' debería asumir un liderazgo para encontrarle salidas a la crisis
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
A pesar de todo, hay buenas noticias en medio de los hechos de los últimos días.

March 5, 2008: 'Lula' should show leadership to end the crisis
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
While the prospect of interstate war is clearly ominous and unnerving, there is some good news buried in the chain of events unfolding in the Andes.

March 3, 2008: Vigiar sem punir
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Source: O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora
Tomo emprestado, modificando-o, o título de Michel Foucault, assim como poderia ter intitulado este comentário Crime sem castigo, parodiando Dostoievsky.

March 1, 2008: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: February 2008 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Anna Ferro
Dear Readers, This year starts with important developments. Worldwide, remittances grew between 6 and 20 percent year-on-year in 2007, with the exception of Mexico, where growth was only 3 percent. These numbers may indicate that more mature markets have reached a point of stability. Meanwhile, large and small companies are introducing mobile devices as money transfer mechanisms. This move reflects a money transfer industry exploring technology applications as a means to expand their revenues while coping with challenges within their institutions. Moreover, this issue highlights how financial institutions are increasingly catering to migrants or remittance recipients with different financial products. We also include a guest note discussing the concept and practice of the “productizing of remittances,” and a research note on the role of exclusive agreements and how competing money transfer operators are dealing with these contractual clauses.

February 28, 2008: Latin American Labor Protections Increase Informality, Poverty
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.
Latin American labor markets are a portrait of contradictions: complex and far-reaching worker protection legislation, significant unemployment, and a high degree of economic informality, not to speak of poverty and inequality.

February 28, 2008: Same old guard pulling the strings
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
What happened in Havana on Sunday reminded me of Moscow in the early 1980s. After Leonid Brezhnev's passing, two old men -- first, the more open-minded Yuri Andropov, then the mummified Konstantin Chernenko -- ruled the Soviet Union.

February 23, 2008: Para aprimorar as políticas dos EUA
By Abraham Lowenthal
Source: O Estado de São Paulo
Em menos de um ano, um novo presidente e um novo Congresso americanos assumirão. Muitas questões vão requerer pronta atenção: as guerras no Iraque e no Afeganistão, a potencial implosão do Paquistão, um possível conflito com o Irã, a evidência crescente da mudança climática e seus efeitos, as proezas econômicas da China e da Índia e as implicações globais de sua ascensão, as incertezas israelo-palestinas - para não mencionar uma recessão econômica se aprofundando, a forte agitação sobre imigração ilegal, uma crescente crise no sistema de saúde, tomar importantes decisões em política fiscal e, evidentemente, a necessidade de se concentrar em questões relacionadas à educação e em outros desafios domésticos.

February 22, 2008: Se va Bush, ¿qué viene? (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Perú Económico
Los latinoamericanos y quienes siguen los sucesos en la región crecientemente se hacen la inevitable pregunta: ¿Cómo cambiará la nueva administración la política de EEUU hacia América Latina?

February 22, 2008: Bush is leaving, what is coming? (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Perú Económico
Latin Americans and those who follow the region are increasingly asking the inevitable question: How will the new administration change US policy towards Latin America?

February 20, 2008: El mensaje de Fidel
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
El mensaje de Fidel Castro —“no aspiraré ni aceptaré el cargo de Presidente del Consejo de Estado y Comandante en Jefe”— no debió sorprendernos. Recientemente había escrito sobre la necesidad de abrirle paso a las nuevas generaciones y también que no debía aferrarse a cargos.

February 20, 2008: Preocupante ranking de desempeño estudiantil
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Publicado en el Latin America Advisor, el boletín diario del Diálogo Interamericano.
Una vez más los países de Latinoamérica se ubicaron en los últimos lugares de un ranking que clasifica a países de acuerdo con los puntajes promedio obtenidos en una prueba internacional de desempeño estudiantil. ¿Cómo podemos interpretar este pobre resultado?

February 15, 2008: Forces from within are demanding changes
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Was Eliécer Avila -- one of the students who questioned Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón in a widely circulated video -- arrested on Feb. 9? An independent journalist filed a report to that effect.

February 14, 2008: Toward Improved U.S. Policies in the Americas
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
In less than a year, a new U.S. President and Congress will take office. Many issues will require their prompt attention: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pakistan’s potential implosion, possible conflict with Iran, growing evidence of climate change and its effects, the economic prowess of China and India and the global implications of their rise, the Israel-Palestine quandary—not to mention a deepening economic recession, turmoil over unauthorized immigration, a growing health care crisis, major decisions on tax policy and the evident need to focus on education and other domestic challenges.

February 8, 2008: Difícil Fazer Previsões
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Tenho o hábito de guardar artigos, charges, comunicados, palestras, notícias importantes e por aí afora. Remexendo antigos papéis encontrei três cartoons, que com mais de 25 anos não perderam sua atualidade.

February 7, 2008: Michael Shifter: Si Obama o Clinton ganan finalmente las elecciones, la relación de EE.UU. con América Latina mejorará
By Michael Shifter (interview)
Source: ideele Radio (Peru)
Si Barack Obama o Hillary Clinton, logran finalmente ganar las elecciones presidenciales en Estados Unidos, la relación entre este país y América Latina mejorará, pues se abriría un mayor clima de confianza, aseguró el vicepresidente de Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter.

February 6, 2008: Region's Govts Need to Develop Demand for Quality Education
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.
A former Latin American president, reflecting on the difficulty of improving his country's schools, recently observed that: "for a politician, education costs money and produces nothing; it is a net negative process."

February 4, 2008: The Macroeconomic Environment for Competitiveness in Latin America (PDF)
By Claudio M. Loser
Under the basic premise that macroeconomic stability is a pre-condition for competitiveness, this article reviews some of the key principles that determine the basis for good macroeconomic performance, the recent experience of the region in this regard, and some lessons for the future. Reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. NOTE: This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been reviewed or edited. The definitive version of this extract may be found in the work Can Latin America Compete?: confronting the challenges of globalization edited by Jerry Haar and John Price, which can be purchased from http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1403975434.

February 1, 2008: Proponen 'tratamiento intensivo' para salvar el Tratado de Libre Comercio
By Sergio Gómez Maseri
Published in El Tiempo - El documento, escrito por su director Peter Hakim, parte de la base que los demócratas no han cerrado la puerta a la consideración del TLC en el legislativo y menciona, como prueba de ello, el respaldo que el partido sigue brindando a Colombia demostrado en la aprobación de nuevos recursos para el Plan Colombia y en las palabras recientes de sus principales líderes.

February 1, 2008: Requiem for the Monroe Doctrine (PDF)
By Dan Erikson
Published in Current History - The United States has long been suspicious of foreign powers that meddled in the Western Hemisphere. In recent years, Latin America’s increasingly diverse international relations have stoked such fears anew, as the region has drawn closer to Washington’s global rivals at a moment when us influence is facing unprecedented challenges.

February 1, 2008: Building Human Capital: Is Latin American Education Competitive? (PDF)
By Jeffrey Puryear and Tamara Ortega Goodspeed
Source: Can Latin America Compete?: Confronting the Challenges of Globalization (Haar and Price, ed.)
Latin America’s ability to compete successfully in global markets depends significantly on the quality of its labor force, which in turn depends on the quality of its schools. By making learning the chief measure of success and making schools accountable to citizens, countries can take a major step forward in strengthening their competitiveness. Reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. NOTE: This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been reviewed or edited.

February 1, 2008: A New Path for Latin America? (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Current History
Even without the constitutional amendments, Chávez’s unbridled ambition and appetite for power have already produced virtual one-man rule, devoid of any institutional checks or constraints. Latin America, it appears, must find other models for effective governance and sustainable prosperity.

January 31, 2008: Has defeat at the polls deterred Chávez?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Hugo Chávez is all over the place. One day, he's basking in the release of two Colombian women held hostage by the FARC for years.

January 30, 2008: Analistas consideran un error forzar aval para el TLC
By Portafolio
Published in Portafolio (Colombia) - El presidente del Diálogo Interamericano, Peter Hakim, dijo que estrategias que obliguen al Congreso de E.U. a considerar el TLC sería lesivo.

January 29, 2008: Latin America Not Immune from Global Economic Shocks
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
The classic and extremely funny 1980 movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" shows the impact of the casual drop of a Coca Cola bottle from a helicopter on an isolated African tribe and the havoc it creates. Some analysts see a parallel in the recent turmoil in the financial and asset markets as being effectively caused only by the collapse of the "subprime" mortgage market.

January 28, 2008: Gaining Congressional Consideration and Approval of the Colombia-U.S. FTA
By Peter Hakim
Supporters of the Colombia-U.S. FTA should encourage the Colombian government to develop a proposal for addressing the outstanding humanitarian and human rights concerns of the House Democratic Leadership.

January 26, 2008: Nuevos horizontes para Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
Fidel Castro cumple un año y medio sin aparecer en público. La visita a Cuba del presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva se había planeado con meses de antelación.

January 26, 2008: Cae envío de remesas (PDF)
By Silvia Garduño
Source: Reforma (Mexico)
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

January 24, 2008: O fenômeno das Cadernetas de Poupança
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Números recentemente publicados sobre 2007 indicam um ano espetacular para as cadernetas de poupança, o melhor ano de sua história. No ano, os depósitos superaram os saques em R$ 33,4 bilhões, saldo esse 5 vezes maior que o resultado de 2006.

January 19, 2008: México y Venezuela: compañías petroleras
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gómez
Source: El Universal
El 3 de enero y por primera vez, los precios del petróleo crudo rompieron la barrera de los 100 dólares por barril. Y si bien los precios se han enfriado desde entonces, y cayeron por debajo de los 90 dólares el 16 de enero, la demanda mundial por el combustible no muestra señales de abatimiento.

January 18, 2008: Venezuela, Mexico Need to Reform State Oil Companies
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gómez, Jr.
Source: Latin America Advisor
On January 3, crude oil futures broke $100 a barrel for the first time ever. While prices have cooled since then, falling below $90 a barrel on January 16, worldwide demand for oil shows no signs of abating. Although high oil prices have led to soaring government revenues for the main oil-producing countries in Latin America, continued high prices will affect each country differently. The main factor is the behavior of national oil companies.

January 17, 2008: Women in the Americas
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Women in Latin America and the Caribbean are making political strides. Though long impenetrable, glass ceilings over the halls of power have begun to crack.

January 16, 2008: Legitimidad a cambio de rehenes maltratados
By Joaquín Villalobos
Published in El País (Spain) - Si Chávez estuviera sólo ayudando a salvar rehenes sería positivo, pero su reconocimiento político a las FARC, reaviva la violencia colombiana, le abre las puertas de su país a la cocaína y lo convierte en protector de unos crueles narcoterroristas.

January 15, 2008: Uno tendría que tener un corazón de piedra
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa (Panama)
Tras cuatro décadas de un sangriento conflicto armado, lo único que importa es obtener resultados positivos. Sin embargo, las misiones de liberación sencillas y discretas son la clave para el éxito.

January 15, 2008: One Would Have to Have a Heart of Stone
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Prensa (Panama)
After four decades of armed conflict, the only thing that matters now is results. Still, simplicity and discretion are the keys to success.

January 11, 2008: Un país ‘fundido’
By Homero Campa
Source: AM (Mexico)
Manuel Orozco quoted in article.

January 6, 2008: Convergências e estratégias
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora - A história recente mostrou que os países que conseguiram “dar um salto” atenderam ao mesmo tempo aos desafios dos mercados globalizados e às necessidades das populações locais. Fizeram isso quando foram capazes de definir o futuro sem medi-lo pelo calendário eleitoral e produziram um relativo consenso sobre metas de, pelo menos, médio prazo.

January 3, 2008: More Caribbean Islands Looking to Get into Financial Services
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
The Caribbean is famous for its offshore financial services, but the reality is that few islands benefit. Offshore financial services have generally been limited to a few leading destinations, including Barbados, the Bahamas, and the UK territories in the Caribbean, but now other islands are looking to get into the game.

January 3, 2008: Steps toward progress, peace
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Colombia is often in the headlines. As I write, three hostages -- two women and the 4-year-old boy born in captivity to one of them -- still await their freedom.

January 3, 2008: Ano Novo. Vida Velha!
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Na virada do ano, respeitando o calendário gregoriano quase sempre registramos nossas expectativas positivas de mudanças para o novo período que se inicia em 1º de Janeiro. Ano novo, vida nova, um dos muitos ditados que com frequência ouvimos!

January 2, 2008: Is our aid making us safer?
By Jim Kolbe
Published in The Baltimore Sun - The basic problem is that our development policy lacks coherence. With more than 20 different U.S. departments and agencies engaged in development work, at least 56 other bilateral donors and more than 230 international organizations, funds and programs, the aid field is indeed a crowded one.

January 1, 2008: Latin America: The Next U.S. President's Agenda (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Great Decisions 2008
The task of remodeling U.S. policy should be less difficult in this hemisphere than it will be in other regions of the world. As the next President contemplates how to revive U.S. prestige and diminished influence worldwide, Latin America may be the right place to begin. The cost should be lower, and the payoff quicker.

January 1, 2008: Latin American Women in Movement: Changing Politics, Changing Minds (PDF)
By Joan M. Caivano and Thayer Hardwick
Published in Civil Society and Social Movements: Building Sustainable Democracies in Latin America, ed. Arthur Domike. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2008. This chapter will examine women’s social movements that emerged in the 1970s—during the dictatorships and economic crises in South America and guerrilla movements opposed to authoritarian regimes in Central America. This period also coincides with the emergence of the second wave of feminism. We will review the evolution of women’s organizations and mobilizations, their nature, structures, goals and strategies, to discern patterns from the past and lessons for the future.

December 30, 2007: Convivência e Conflito
By Sergio Fausto
Published in O Estado de São Paulo - "People, can´t we all get along?". Com esse apelo patético - Gente, será que não podemos todos nos dar bem? - Rodney King dirigiu-se às câmeras de televisão, a pedido das autoridades de Los Angeles, em mais uma tentativa de conter a onda de violência que varria a cidade na primavera de 1992.

December 26, 2007: Es la hora de tomarse un profundo respiro
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Nación (Argentina)
Las relaciones entre la Argentina y Estados Unidos son demasiado importantes para permitir que lo que se ha dado en llamar "el escándalo de la valija" continúe deteriorándolas hasta provocar una crisis grave.

December 26, 2007: Time for a Deep Breath
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Nación (Argentina)
Relations between Argentina and the United States are too important to allow the so-called “suitcase scandal” to deteriorate any further into a serious crisis, especially with so many questions unanswered.

December 20, 2007: Giving up the reins?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
His era is ending, and the much-vaunted succession has already started, even if hobbled by his presence and the interim nature of last year's transfer of power. Cuba's political calendar -- the Jan. 20 election of deputies to the National Assembly and the subsequent selection of the Councils of State and Ministers -- will signal either a de jure succession or the Comandante's enduring obstinacy.

December 17, 2007: Six Latin American Countries' Test Scores Near Bottom—Again
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.
Once again Latin America has scored near the bottom in a major international test of student achievement. How should we interpret its poor showing?

December 14, 2007: Las drogas, armas de destrucción masiva
By Joaquín Villalobos
Published in El País (Spain) - El problema del consumo en los países desarrollados se basa en una flagrante contradicción: de una parte se persigue la oferta y al mismo tiempo se tolera la demanda, que es lo que genera su producción

December 12, 2007: Colombia's Gains Deserve External Support, Approval of FTA
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
A negative FTA vote would hit Colombia badly, but also hurt the US in its relations with a strong and promising trading partner that could soon become the third-largest economy in the region.

December 10, 2007: Opposition's window of opportunity
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
“A photo finish,” Chávez said after Venezuelans rejected his constitutional reforms. He’s right, of course, only the No –which few really thought would win– is resounding a lot louder than 51-49.

December 10, 2007: Uma Saída Para a Bolívia
By Sergio Fausto
Published in O Estado de São Paulo - Na mesma cerimônia em que foi chamado de xeique da Amazônia por Chávez e retribuiu o gracejo qualificando-o de rei do petróleo, o presidente Lula afirmou que Evo Morales “é a coisa mais extraordinária que aconteceu na América Latina nos últimos tempos”.

December 7, 2007: New president's challenges
By Peter Hakim
Source: Miami Herald
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who will become president of Argentina on Monday, owes her landslide electoral victory to the extraordinary political and economic success that her husband -- outgoing President Néstor Kirchner -- enjoyed over the past four years. And most voters want her to follow in Kirchner's footsteps.

December 7, 2007: The Beginning of the End
By Michael Shifter
Source: The New Republic
Yes, he's still in control, but Chavez's defeat last Sunday will galvanize Venezuela's opposition movement and change his reign forever.

December 4, 2007: Looking forward and including migration in development: remittance leveraging opportunities for Moldova (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: International Organization for Migration-Moldova
This report provides an analysis of the impact of remittances in Moldova, particularly paying attention to the trends among remittance recipients, and the challenges to better leverage their income. Drawing from lessons and experiences in other countries about the ways in which remittance transfers are leveraged, this study provides recommendations to the Moldovan government and private sector. The study is based on field work interviews with banking institutions, government agencies, international organizations, and other non-governmental institutions. Moreover, statistical analysis was used to analyze household survey data commissioned in 2006 by the International Organization for Migration’s mission in Moldova, as well as survey data on remittance recipient households retrieving their money at banks and a survey of household members of Savings and Credit Associations.

December 2, 2007: Direito e avesso
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora - Parece que a política nacional entrou de novo na zona cinzenta onde todos os gatos são pardos e se lê o direito pelo avesso. No horizonte nublado da política, não só aqui, mas no resto da América Latina, brotam "idéias novas".

December 1, 2007: Latin America: Trading Places (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Monocle (UK)
Latin America is breaking away from US tutelage, under which it had sat for much of the 20th century.this trend has been discernible over the past few decades, but has accelerated in recent years.

December 1, 2007: La nueva dependencia de América Latina: El papel de sus líderes políticos frente a una nueva oportunidad (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
En el 2007, un importante consenso parece estar creándose en América Latina. La mayoría coincide ahora en que el alto crecimiento económico, la reducción de la pobreza e incluso una cierta mejora en la reducción de la desigualdad son cambios bienvenidos y positivos, pero que no necesariamente mitigan la profunda frustración que sufren muchos en la región.

December 1, 2007: The New Dependence of Latin America: Regional Political Leaders Facing a New Opportunity
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
In 2007, an important consensus seemed to be taking shape in Latin America. Most now agree that high economic growth, poverty reduction, and even some improvement in social inequality are welcome and positive, but do not necessarily mitigate the keen frustration felt by many throughout the region.

November 27, 2007: In Search of Hugo Chávez
By Michael Shifter
Source: Chronogram
Caricatures have defined the poles of a debate that has obscured the reality of the Chávez phenomenon—and thwarted the development of a sound response to him. Chávez’s appeal cannot be explained without acknowledging the deep dissatisfaction with the existing political and economic order felt by much of the population in Venezuela and throughout much of the rest of Latin America, the world’s most unequal region.

November 22, 2007: Grateful to all who have worked for a better Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving. Canada's was the first in the New World.

November 21, 2007: No Chileno Left Behind: Reforms Most Ambitious in Region
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor
The grand agreement on education reform that Chilean political leaders reached last week is a victory for political consensus and a big step forward in improving the country's public schools.

November 21, 2007: El Acuerdo Chileno Sitúa la Accountability al Servicio del Aprendizaje
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Publicado en el Latin America Advisor, el boletín diario del Diálogo Interamericano.
El “Acuerdo por la Calidad Educativa” que pactaron recientemente los líderes políticos en Chile es una victoria para el consenso político y un gran paso hacia la mejora de las escuelas públicas del país.

November 19, 2007: War on Terror Gives New Life to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
The winds of change are blowing through the military detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The naval base has been in US possession for more than a century, but it achieved worldwide notoriety when the Bush administration decided to hold hundreds of suspected terrorist detainees there following the US invasion of Afghanistan.

November 14, 2007: After Vote, Costa Rica Turns to Implementation of CAFTA-DR
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Fabian Borges-Herrero
Source: Latin America Advisor
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias had made CAFTA approval a central issue of his platform in the 2006 election. Now, Arias can turn his attention to governing and, especially, healing the rifts that a divisive referendum campaign aggravated.

November 11, 2007: Vade Retro
By Sergio Fausto
Published in O Estado de São Paulo - Um espectro ronda as Américas: a deformação dos regimes democráticos em hiper-presidencialismos aberta ou veladamente autoritários.

November 9, 2007: El debate sobre apertura comercial en Estados Unidos: a la caza de un entendimiento bipartidista (PDF)
By I. M. (Mac) Destler
La llegada de una mayoría Demócrata al Congreso en enero del 2007 hizo temblar a más de un partidario del libre comercio. En efecto, en los últimos diez años la tendencia en Estados Unidos ha sido votar la apertura comercial según posturas estrictamente partidistas.

November 8, 2007: Cristina Fernandez's Honeymoon May Be Short in Argentina
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
In late October, Argentina elected Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner president. The voting process was open and clean. The support was overwhelming and her mandate is strong, but her tenure may be far from easy.

November 8, 2007: Bachelet, Fernández push politics beyond gender
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Women are breaking the highest of glass ceilings in politics. On Oct. 28, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner became Argentina's president-elect.

November 7, 2007: Slouching Toward Authoritarianism
By Michael Shifter
Source: ForeignAffairs.org
An update to Michael Shifter's May/June 2006 essay "In Search of Hugo Chávez". So far, Hugo Chávez has deftly deflected criticism and overcome opposition. With his newest initiatives, however, he may be overreaching--threatening to stall his project both domestically and internationally.

November 2, 2007: Nuevo enfoque para Latinoamérica (PDF)
By Abraham Lowenthal
Published in Reforma (Mexico) - Un año antes de la elección presidencial en Estados Unidos, cada candidato desarrolla declaraciones de postura sobre la política exterior, que resultan más importantes que de costumbre tras el desastre en Iraq.

November 1, 2007: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: November 2007 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Anna Ferro
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

November 1, 2007: Elecciones en EEUU: Cualquier cosa puede suceder (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
Falta más de un año para las elecciones norteamericanas, pero la contienda previa entre los candidatos demócratas y republicanos se está viviendo con una intensidad excepcional.

November 1, 2007: US Elections: Anything Can Happen
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
There is still over a year to go before the US elections, but the preliminary contest is exceptionally intense.

November 1, 2007: Encruzilhada
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora - Outro dia peguei um táxi na estação ferroviária de Providence, onde fica a Universidade de Brown na qual trabalho temporariamente. Fiz perguntas ao motorista do tipo que os estrangeiros costumam fazer.

November 1, 2007: U.S. Cuba Relations in 2007: Trade, Security, and Diplomacy (PDF)
By Dan Erikson and Kate Neeper
In July 2006, Fidel Castro passed power to his younger brother and defense minister Raúl Castro and a team of other ministers on a provisional basis. Since then, the U.S.-Cuba relationship has been hovering on the brink of the post-Fidel era. There is little question that the tense and estranged relationship between the two countries is about to enter a new phase. The unresolved question is whether the future of U.S.-Cuban relations will look much different from the present.

October 30, 2007: Calderón se consolida tras un año de gobierno
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
El 1º de diciembre Felipe Calderón cumple un año al frente de México. Por las controversias suscitadas por la elección de 2006 y la resistencia a admitir sus resultados de parte de Andrés Manuel López Obrador y un sector del Partido de la Revolución Democrática, México parecía abocado a un largo período de incertidumbre.

October 28, 2007: Marifeli Pérez-Stable: "La democracia en América Latina se hace daño a si misma"
By Erika Luters
Published in El Mercurio Ni las dictaduras ni las guerrillas son los actuales peligros para el desarrollo de la democracia en América Latina. La amenaza está en la instalación de gobiernos populistas, favorecidos por el desencanto de la población en el sistema democrático.

October 27, 2007: Un acuerdo aún es posible
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
A menos que las preocupaciones de los demócratas se solucionen, el TLC no será ratificado. La administración Bush está trabajando horas extras para persuadir al Congreso estadounidense de que ratifique el tratado de libre comercio que firmó con Colombia el año pasado.

October 27, 2007: How to repair a damaged relationship (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Published in Newsletter of Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver - Few would dispute that the US relationship with Latin America has deteriorated over the past decade, or that the past half dozen years have been the worst. Even Bush administration officials, and certainly many Republicans in Congress, concede as much. There is manifestly less trust than there had been in inter-American affairs.

October 27, 2007: Ratifying the Colombia-US FTA
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
The Bush Administration is working overtime to persuade the US Congress to ratify the free trade agreement it signed with Colombia last year. Both President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently gave major speeches emphasizing how important the Colombian FTA is to the US agenda in Latin America. Other cabinet members have taken congressional delegations to Colombia to help muster the requisite Democratic backing.

October 25, 2007: Between a rock and a hard place
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Time may be or may not be running out, but the Cuban regime chugs along as if it isn't. In early September, the Communist Party called on Cubans to discuss Raúl Castro's speech last July 26.

October 20, 2007: Una relación renovada (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
Despues de la última visita de George Bush a América Latina, en marzo pasado, se percibía una sensación de fatiga en la region.

October 20, 2007: A Renewed Relationship
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
After George Bush’s last visit to Latin America in March, it was easy to identify a sense of fatigue in the region.

October 18, 2007: Sending Money Home: Worldwide Remittance Flows to Developing Countries (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: International Fund for Agricultural Development
This report represents a baseline in a series of regional documents aimed at highlighting the importance of the rural remittances in developing countries and their potential to stimulate local economic activity. The following worldwide remittance map seeks to quantify the overall flow of remittances and highlight the importance they may play in the development of rural areas of the developing world. It compiles the best available information on migrant populations, the percentage of migrants sending remittances, average amounts remitted annually and the average frequency of annual transfers. Central banks and other official government sources, money transfer companies, international organizations and academic institutions were used for reference support. The map covers more than 150 developing countries* – many for the first time.

October 18, 2007: Estimating Global Remittance Flows: A Methodology (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: International Fund for Agricultural Development
This note describes the methodology that was used to estimate global remittance flows (both formal and informal). Any attempt to produce a global estimate of remittances will rely on extrapolations where data are nonexistent, insufficient, or unreliable. The method use for this study was the combined use of primary and secondary sources of data on patterns of remitting, with the data on global migration that were derived from the Global Migrant Origin Database (GMOD). The GMOD project informs on the number of migrants, their origin, and destination.

October 17, 2007: Diez propuestas (PDF)
By Abraham Lowenthal
Published in AméricaEconomía - Falta más de un año para que el próximo presidente de Estados Unidos sea electo; aun así grupos de trabajo tratan de capturar la atención de los candidatos. Aquí ofrezco 10 recomendaciones a los candidates.

October 15, 2007: A via-crúcis do PL 3.741
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Published in Folha de São Paulo - EM 8/11 de 2000, o Executivo enviou à Câmara dos Deputados o projeto de lei 3.741, propondo a alteração da Lei das Sociedades Anônimas (lei 6.404/76), que estendia às empresas de grande porte disposições relativas à elaboração e publicação de demonstrações contábeis, ainda que não organizadas na forma de sociedades anônimas, e dispunha sobre os requisitos de qualificação de entidades de estudo e divulgação de princípios, normas e padrões de contabilidade e auditoria como organizações da sociedade civil de interesse público.

October 12, 2007: Remittances, competition and fair financial access opportunities in Nigeria (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Bryanna Millis
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
This report presents the findings of a study on remittances to Nigeria and explores the policy and development implications for senders and recipients. The main problem identified in the findings is that the competitive environment for money transfers in Nigeria is highly constrained. This is due to near monopolistic conditions by one Money Transfer Organization and the fact that banks are the only entities legally authorized to perform international payments. These conditions actually facilitate informal transfers. Other findings in this report show that there is willingness among banks and other financial institutions to entertain alternative strategies, including partnerships with alternative MTOs or innovative technologies for money transfers.

October 11, 2007: Dispirited democracies open door to populism
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
These days democracy is its own worst enemy in Latin America. Where equality before the law is just a phrase, institutions are fiefdoms and economic growth doesn't sustain improving living standards, democracy sows a popular desencanto, a malaise and populism steps in.

October 9, 2007: Chavez's Threat Against Private Schools Raises Broader Questions
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor
On September 17, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to close or nationalize private schools that refuse to comply with the recently announced "Bolivarian Education System." His action raises a broader question: what can governments legitimately require of their private schools?

October 7, 2007: Can Hugo Chavez Help Americans?
By Michael Shifter
Published in Los Angeles Times - The Venezuelan president could broker a deal that would free American hostages in Colombia.

October 5, 2007: La libertad de la luz
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El Nuevo Herald
El libro es un compendio de los primeros 78 editoriales de la revista Vitral. En abril, Dagoberto Valdés Hernández fue relevado de la dirección de la revista así como del Centro de Formación Cívica y Religiosa.

October 3, 2007: Ahmadinejad finds it warmer in Latin America
By Dan Erikson
Published in The Los Angeles Times - If Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was displeased by the hostile reception he got during his trip to a United Nations summit in New York last week, the next stage of his journey surely lifted his spirits.

October 3, 2007: Education, Investment Keys to Region's Medium-Term Growth
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
Latin America seems to have done well during the recent turmoil in world financial markets ... The story is unfortunately more sobering when we look at the medium-term prospects for economic growth.

October 1, 2007: How Competitive are Latin America’s Schools? (PDF)
By Tamara Ortega Goodspeed and Jeffrey Puryear
Source: FOCALPoint
Good education prepares people to work and lays the foundation for stronger institutions, greater transparency and good governance - all of which allow economies to function smoothly. Unfortunately, Latin American schools are not very competitive - with major failings in quantity, quality and equity.

October 1, 2007: Cristina Fernandez's Biggest Challenge: Cleaning Up Argentine Politics
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
As Argentine President Nestor Kirchner's four-year term draws to a close, voters appear likely to elect his wife Cristina Fernandez as Argentina's next president.

October 1, 2007: Mundo, mundo, vasto mundo
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora - O outono no Nova Inglaterra é esplêndido. Final de setembro ainda é quase verão, ou, como chamam por aqui, Indian summer.

September 30, 2007: O Filme É Melhor Que a Foto
By Sergio Fausto
Published in O Estado de Sao Paulo - A absolvição de Renan Calheiros no plenário do Senado reforçou a sensação de que a impunidade é uma deformação congênita do Brasil.

September 29, 2007: Nuevas guerras y viejas izquierdas
By Joaquín Villalobos
Published in El País - La violencia es ahora fragmentada, multidireccional, sin reglas, sin propósito claro y sostenida por una economía informal-criminal. Algo así como en una lucha de todos contra todos. El resultado no es la victoria de un bando, sino la fragmentación de la sociedad y la privatización de la violencia, con la consiguiente pérdida del monopolio de ésta por parte del Estado.

September 27, 2007: Chavez's 21st century socialism is hopeless
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Hugo Chávez doesn't want one, Evo Morales may disband his and Rafael Correa threatens to resign if he doesn't control it.

September 26, 2007: The Pursuit of Cohesion: European Union Transfers to Poorer Regions and Countries (PDF)
By Anthony J. Ody
In recent years, attention has been increasingly drawn to Latin America’s deep-seated economic and social inequalities – between countries, and among regions and population groups within each country. As governments and international organizations search for new ways to tackle these inequalities, interest has grown in the possible relevance of the European Union’s experience in building a continent-wide model of economic and social integration.

September 25, 2007: Carlos Slim's Wealth Comes at Mexico's Expense
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gómez, Jr.
Source: Latin America Advisor
According to Fortune magazine, Mexican mogul Carlos Slim has surpassed Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Slim's estimated $59 billion empire—which includes over 200 companies in telecommunications, construction, tobacco, mining, and banking, among others—constitutes a third of the Mexican stock market and more than five percent of the country's 2006 GDP.

September 21, 2007: REALISMO ESPERANÇOSO
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Periodicamente somos perguntados se estamos otimistas. Tenho uma certa aversão em classificação de otimistas ou pessimistas.

September 13, 2007: From Caracas to Bogota
By Michael Shifter
Published in Cambio Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez can be forgiven if he thinks that William Brownfield is following him. Brownfield is starting his tenure as US ambassador in Bogota precisely when it seems Chavez is getting more involved in the most sensitive questions related to peace and security in Colombia.

September 13, 2007: Calderón on the right track
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
What a difference a year makes. Last September, Felipe Calderón's razor-thin presidential win still stung Mexico. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, proclaimed himself ''legitimate president'' and Calderón, a ''usurper.''

September 13, 2007: De Caracas a Bogotá
By Michael Shifter
Published in Cambio.com Al presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez se le puede disculpar si piensa que William Brownfield lo está siguiendo. Y es que Brownfield está comenzando su periodo como embajador de Estados Unidos en Bogotá, precisamente cuando parece que Chávez se está involucrando en los temas más sensibles, relacionados con la paz y la seguridad en Colombia.

September 10, 2007: Una Latinoamérica ruidosa bajo la lupa de Michael Shifter
By Esteban Rahal C.
Published in El Colombiano - En entrevista con EL COLOMBIANO, el vicepresidente de Política de la organización Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter, hace una mirada crítica y profunda de algunas coyunturas importantes de la región.

September 7, 2007: Ecuador Under Rafael Correa: A Work in Progress
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
English translation of article originally published in América Economía - For a decade, Ecuador has been South America’s most unstable polity. Eight different presidents have served, three ousted by means of dubious constitutionality before they could finish their terms.

September 5, 2007: ¿Por qué la invasión a Panamá?
By Michael Shifter
Published in BBC Mundo - La invasión militar de Panamá de 1989, definida por la captura y la detención del gobernante de facto Manuel Antonio Noriega, tuvo todos los rasgos de una intervención al estilo de la Guerra Fría. O para mencionar un ejemplo más reciente, la guerra en Irak.

September 5, 2007: Why Invade Panama?
By Michael Shifter
Published in BBC Mundo The December 1989 military invasion of Panama, marked by the capture and detention of the dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, had all the trappings of a classic US intervention, reminiscent of the Cold War and pre-Cold War years as well as the more recent war in Iraq.

September 5, 2007: As Low Priority, Latin American Schools Not Very Competitive
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor
Everyone agrees that quality education is crucial, and should be extended to all children, especially the poor. But when it comes time to make tough decisions, the consensus breaks down.

September 1, 2007: Culpa e responsabilidade
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo and Zéro Hora - O editorial do O Estado de S. Paulo, na quinta-feira última, Nunca antes neste país, ressalta com razão que a decisão do STF mostrou caberem nos bancos dos réus um governo, um partido e um sistema político-eleitoral. A cortina de fumaça publicitário-eleitoral do disciplinado PT faz seus dirigentes dizerem em uníssono: não temos nada com isso, o julgamento não respinga em nós nem no governo, o mau comportamento é caso isolado, talvez de um só “companheiro”, o auto imolado Delúbio, etc. São justificativas típicas de partidos autoritários: “o Partido”, em sua essência é perfeito; os homens que o compõem são entidades à parte -- podem ser pecadores, mas o partido não erra nunca.

August 30, 2007: Better opportunities await Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
An era is ending. With Fidel Castro's inevitable passing, neither Latin America nor Cuba will ever be the same. The Comandante has always valued ideas -- i.e., his own -- over the prosaic -- i.e., ordinary people. Since Cuba alone never satisfied his supersized ego, he looked elsewhere, Latin America in particular.

August 26, 2007: Pragmatismo supera a ideología (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Published in El Tiempo (Colombia) La ideología no ha muerto, pero el pragmatismo aumenta en América Latina. Un ejemplo claro de esta tendencia es el anunciado encuentro de los presidentes Álvaro Uribe y Hugo Chávez a finales de este mes para discutir el posible papel de Chávez en un intercambio humanitario con las Farc.

August 26, 2007: Pragmatism trumps ideology (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Published in El Tiempo Ideology is far from dead, but pragmatism is on the rise throughout Latin America. (English version)

August 19, 2007: Help Mexico with costs of the drug war (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Published in The Miami Herald For the health of our southern neighbor's nascent democracy and the strengthening of our own border controls, it is fundamental that the United States and Mexico enhance their cooperation.

August 17, 2007: Marching to different drummers
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chávez just concluded parallel tours of Latin America. Lula visited Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica and Panama while Chávez traveled to Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador and Bolivia.

August 17, 2007: To US' Chagrin, Chavez Gives Iran Entry Into Latin America
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue's daily Latin America Advisor.
WASHINGTON—"When I come to Iran, Washington gets upset," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez noted during his official visit to Tehran earlier this summer.

August 14, 2007: Region Still Lags Developed World in Ability to Buy a Big Mac
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.
Somewhat more than two years ago, I wrote in this column about the Big Mac index of costs and wages, based on the well-known work published in The Economist ... I believe it is time to revisit the subject.

August 9, 2007: Abertura de capital da Infraero
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Published in Folha de S.Paulo

August 7, 2007: China, Taiwan, and the Battle for Latin America* (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson and Janice Chen
“Published in The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs”

August 6, 2007: Peru: Alan Garcia's First Year
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
English Translation of original published article

August 6, 2007: El primer año de García (PDF)
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Published in Américaeconomía
English translation can be found here

August 5, 2007: Simbolismo e liderança
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in O Estado de S.Paulo

August 2, 2007: How our neighbors see us
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Under the auspices of the Pew Research Center, the Global Attitudes Project conducts surveys in 54 countries on world affairs. Citizens in six Latin American countries -- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela -- were interviewed in the most recent survey.

August 1, 2007: ENTREVISTA: Realizada por María Teresa Ronderos a Joaquín Villalobos
By Joaquín Villalobos
Revista Semana Edición Especial del 25 Aniversario. Bogotá; Colombia, Agosto 2007

August 1, 2007: Where Does Banco del Sur Fit In?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gómez, Jr.
Source: Latin America Advisor
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez envisions Banco del Sur as a key component of his larger Latin American integration project. In theory, Banco del Sur—a South American development bank for South America—would eliminate the region's reliance on international financial institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank, IMF, and IDB.

July 31, 2007: 26 de julio
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
Antes del recién pasado 26 de julio –fecha que rememora el asalto al Cuartel Moncada en 1953– ni siquiera corrieron rumores. A diferencia del 1º de mayo cuando se decía que aparecería en la Plaza de la Revolución, esta vez se supo el día antes que Raúl Castro –gobernante interino– presidiría el acto en Camagüey por la efeméride.

July 30, 2007: Social turbulence in Peru
By Michael Shifter
Published in The Miami Herald Latin America's new political geography -- the widening schism between the beneficiaries of globalization and those being left behind -- is threatening to derail the region's recent achievements.

July 26, 2007: Olhando Para Fora
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Published in A T U A L I D A D E S

July 24, 2007: Region's Finance Ministers Less Corrupt Than Other Ministers
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
In reaction to the recent "restroom-gate" accusations made against former Argentine Economy Minister Felisa Miceli, I was asked by my friend and Advisor Editor Robert Simpson whether finance ministers in Latin America had a track record of corruption higher than the average for the members of their governments.

July 23, 2007: Aproximación a Guatemala
By Beatriz Paredes
Published in El Universal

July 20, 2007: Por qué aún no habrá TLC con E.U. (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
English translation available here - Ya está claro que el TLC de Estados Unidos con Colombia no será ratificado muy pronto por el Congreso estadounidense. Los colombianos tienen buenas razones para estar furiosos y frustrados con Washington.

July 20, 2007: Free Trade Prospects with the United States
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
It is now clear that the US-Colombia free trade deal (FTA) will not be ratified by the US Congress anytime soon. Colombians have good reason to be angry and frustrated with Washington.

July 19, 2007: Interview with Roberto Teixeira da Costa
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Published in Gazeta Mercantil

July 19, 2007: In one couple's story, a lesson for all
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Santiago de Cuba's Archbishop Emeritus Pedro Meurice Estiu called it ''an anthropological lesion,'' the fear and helplessness that keeps most Cubans on the island paralyzed. If I may add to Meurice's signal insight, that lesion also bears a deep-seated anger -- manifest or latent -- that haunts Cubans everywhere.

July 19, 2007: Peruvian Teachers' Strike Highlights Struggle for Reform
By Jeffrey Puryear
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor
Peru's teachers union (SUTEP) launched a national strike in early July when Congress passed a bill that would require public school teachers to take regular competency exams.

July 5, 2007: Chinese-style reforms would be an improvement
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
''China opened the door wide, Vietnam a window, here not even a crack!'' So blasted Fidel Castro in 1995 after visiting the two Asian countries.

July 2, 2007: JFK Terrorist Plot Draws US Spotlight on Caribbean
By Dan Erikson
Source: Published in the Dialogue's daily Latin America Advisor.
When the JFK airport bombing conspiracy was revealed last month, many Americans were shocked to learn that the latest terror plot had been hatched in the Caribbean.

July 1, 2007: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: July 2007 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco; Anna Ferro
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

July 1, 2007: A White House Focus on Social Justice in Latin America? (PDF)
By Nancy Birdsall and Peter Hakim
Source: Center for Global Development's CDG Notes
The U.S. should help Latin America tackle its long-neglected social agenda: the pervasive poverty, inequality and race discrimination that deprive so many Latin American of economic opportunity and basic rights.

July 1, 2007: Ainda há tempo
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso

July 1, 2007: Review of U.S. Relations with Latin America: Opportunities Lost or Opportunities Squandered?
By Daniel P. Erikson
Published in Cuban Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 3

June 27, 2007: Study Shows Doing Business in Latin America is Not Easy
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.
A common frustration of domestic and foreign investors in Latin America is the complexity involved in doing business in the region, and thus difficulties in engaging in new investments.

June 25, 2007: Worker Remittances and the Financial Sector: issues and lessons in the South Caucasus (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
This report presents the results of a regional and comparative study of the flows of remittances to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova and their relationship to the financial sector, its industry and marketplace. The study analyzes the inflow of unilateral transfers known as remittances in connection with different economic sectors. Specifically, the study focuses on macroeconomic dynamics, payment system modernization, the market for transfers, cross sale of financial services, securitization and bond issuing if possible, remittance and financial literacy, regulatory balance between payment systems and migration management and the macroeconomics of finance.

June 21, 2007: The president of some Nicaraguans
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
It has been almost six months since Daniel Ortega assumed the presidency of Nicaragua. His return should not be viewed in the same light as the advent of Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa.

June 10, 2007: Student protesters braver than OAS
By Michael Shifter
Published in The Miami Herald Apparently spontaneously, tens of thousands have been marching in the streets for the last two weeks, making their grievances known to the Chávez-dominated judiciary and National Assembly and sending a clear message that Chávez has gone too far in his autocratic project.

June 10, 2007: La libertad de prensa, amenazada
By Michael Shifter
Published in El Tiempo Hace mucho tiempo que la libertad de prensa en América Latina no era objeto de un asalto tan grande como el que sufre hoy.

June 7, 2007: Democracy brings stability, economic progress
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
The arrogance of power: that's how William Fulbright depicted Lyndon Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Two decades later, Mikhail Gorbachev attributed the same to the Soviet Union's Communist Party.

June 6, 2007: Chegaremos lá?
By Sérgio Fausto
Published in O Estado de S.Paulo

June 1, 2007: Chávez quiere comprarse una revolución
By Joaquín Villalobos
Published in El Pais (Spain)

June 1, 2007: Corrupção, voto e orçamento
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in Globo, Estado de S.Paulo, Zéro Hora

May 24, 2007: U.S. Immigration Reform: A Confusing Process
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Published in O Estado de Sao Paolo

May 23, 2007: Data on Latin America's Rich Highlights Region's Inequality
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
Forbes Magazine announced recently that Mexico's Carlos Slim, with assets over $50 billion, is now the second-richest man in the world ... It is a fairly inordinate position for a Latin American, because the region represents about 4.5 percent of world wealth.

May 20, 2007: Imigração e desafio para EUA (PDF)
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Published in O Estado de Sao Paolo
English translation available here

May 10, 2007: Democracy consists of more than just elections
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
After last year's marathon, Latin America's electoral calendar in 2007 is a breeze. Only Argentina and Guatemala are holding presidential elections, though both could hold surprises.

May 7, 2007: La política de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba pasa por Miami
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam

May 4, 2007: Venezuela/US: Policy options
By Michael Shifter
Published in Oxford Analytica With Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently re-elected, it is safe to assume that Washington -- including the next administration, beginning in January 2009 -- will have little choice but to continue to deal with him and the challenge he poses. It will be critical for Washington to develop new policy instruments and make additional resources available to deal with Latin America's persistently high levels of poverty and inequality, which could, over time, undercut Chavez's appeal and help repair the severely damaged US regional image.

May 4, 2007: US/Venezuela: Policy Options (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Published in Oxford Analytica>/i> To date, the US approach to Chavez has alternated between confrontational and passive, and has thus been incoherent and confusing.

May 2, 2007: Democrats and Free Trade
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers once said that United States could never have a sensible foreign policy as long as one of its political parties opposes free trade while the other shows little regard for multilateral institutions. Events today in Washington make him look prescient.

May 1, 2007: Um Brasil melhor
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Published in Globo, Estado de S.Paulo, Zéro Hora

May 1, 2007: Obama: The First Black President of the United States?
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele
Chicago is an essential point of reference to understand Barack Obama's remarkable ascendancy to the national political stage and why he is today such a serious contender to be the next president of the United States.

May 1, 2007: Obama: ¿El primer presidente negro de Estados Unidos?
By Michael Shifter
Published in ideele El analista Michael Shifter, contra lo que se dice generalmente en el Perú, plantea la posibilidad de que Obama alcance la Presidencia de los Estados Unidos, por más que falte todavía mucho para las elecciones y tenga aún grandes desafíos por delante. Sobre él nos describe también una historia y un perfil fascinantes: ascendencia, formación, virtudes, defectos, y semejanzas y diferencias con ex presidentes como Kennedy y Clinton, o contendores como Hillary.

April 28, 2007: La suerte incierta de los TLC (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
English translation available here - El ex secretario del Tesoro Larry Summers dijo una vez que Estados Unidos jamás podría tener una razonable política exterior si uno de sus partidos se oponía al libre comercio mientras que el otro mostraba poca consideración por las instituciones multilaterales. Los hechos actuales en Washington lo hacen ver clarividente. El Banco Mundial sigue en medio de la turbulencia porque la administración Bush le da más importancia a su lealtad hacia el disminuido presidente que a la salud de la institución.

April 28, 2007: CHINA: Cricket 'Champion'
By Daniel P. Erikson; Paul Wander
Published in The Miami Herald

April 26, 2007: Getting away from polarized politics
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Nine months ago, Raúl Castro assumed interim power upon his brother's illness. Slight hints of change and, unfortunately, the usual intransigence are in evidence. Still, we are now in the realm of opportunities, which might be seized -- here and there -- or missed altogether.

April 24, 2007: The Shrinking Presence of the IMF in Latin America
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
Six months ago, I reviewed in this column the potentially declining role of the region in the governance of the International Monetary Fund ... In the aftermath of the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank earlier this month, I want to analyze the reverse phenomenon—the shrinking role of the IMF in Latin America.

April 23, 2007: ¿Qué es de la vida de Fidel?
By Marifeli P'erez-Stable
Source: Infolatam

April 22, 2007: Handle Labor Issues
By Daniel P. Erikson; Megan Fletcher
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The U.S. agenda in Latin America will face a crucial test on trade.

April 21, 2007: Democracy's Dangerous Impostors
By Moisés Naím
Published in The Washington Post

April 21, 2007: Es mejor sacarlo todo a la luz (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Published in Cambio (Colombia) Desde hace tiempo ha habido especulaciones o sospechas sobre los lazos entre sectores de la clase política colombiana y grupos armados como las fuerzas paramilitares, los cuales están respaldados para impulsar el lucrativo tráfico de drogas.

April 17, 2007: Banco do Sul
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

April 15, 2007: Acumular poder o lograr el equilibrio, los dos caminos (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
La Nación - Si gana, Correa tendrá que enfrentar una opción difícil: o bien tendrá que seguir aplastando a los actores políticos tradicionales de Ecuador, o usar su nueva posición de fuerza para construir consenso y gobernar un paisaje político inusualmente rebelde.

April 14, 2007: Will Correa seek compromise, build good governance?
By Michael Shifter
Source: Miami Herald
If he wins the referendum to rewrite the country's constitution, Correa will face a difficult choice: He can either continue to steamroll traditional Ecuadorean political actors, or use his new position of strength to build a consensus to govern an unusually fractious political landscape.

April 12, 2007: To bridge ideological, economic schisms, reform Mercosur
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gomez, Jr.
Source: The Miami Herald

April 12, 2007: To Bridge Ideological, Economic Schisms, Reform Mercosur
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Christian Gomez
Source: The Miami Herald
Trade within the MERCOSUR customs union has increased by $25 billion in the last decade. Mercosur's vast potential has, nonetheless, gone unrealized.

April 11, 2007: Cadê o piloto?
By Sergio Fausto
Published in O Estado de S.Paulo (Brazil)

April 9, 2007: Guatemala: una nación en peligro
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Encuentro en la Red
El 19 de febrero, cuatro salvadoreños (tres legisladores y su chofer) fueron ultimados brutalmente en Guatemala. Iban hacia la capital para asistir a una sesión del Parlamento Centroamericano (PARLACEN) cuando los asesinaron, poco después de cruzar la frontera. Unos días más tarde, la policía guatemalteca arrestó a cuatro policías como autores del crimen quienes, a su vez, fueron asesinados cuando permanecían en una prisión de máxima seguridad. ¡Si todo tuviera una explicación tan sencilla como de que se trataba de un negocio de drogas que había salido mal!

April 8, 2007: Estados Unidos frente a la pobreza de AL
By Nora Lustig
Published in El Universal (Mexico)

April 7, 2007: US-Brazil Cooperation-2007
By Peter Hakim
Source: Estado de São Paulo (Brazil)
At a conference in the Dominican Republic two months ago, Lula's foreign policy advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia challenged my claim that US-Brazilian relations were as good as ever, asserting proudly that, in fact, they had never been better. Even if a bit exaggerated, this was a clear message that Brazil assigned central importance to its ties to the US. There is no question that both countries badly need one another to achieve their foreign policy objectives.

April 7, 2007: A cooperação entre Brasil e EUA
By Peter Hakim
Source: Estado de S.Paulo (Brasil)
English translation available here - Há dois meses, numa conferência na República Dominicana, o assessor de política externa do presidente Lula, Marco Aurélio Garcia, contestou minha afirmação de que as relações entre EUA e Brasil estavam boas como sempre e afirmou, orgulhosamente, que, na verdade, nunca estiveram melhores. Mesmo um pouco exagerada, foi uma nítida mensagem de que o Brasil confere importância crucial às suas relações com os EUA. Não há dúvida de que ambos os países necessitam muito um do outro para atingir seus objetivos de política externa.

April 1, 2007: A democracia americana
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Oped published in Globo, Estado de S.Paulo, Zéro Hora

April 1, 2007: Card-Based Remittances: A Closer Look at Supply and Demand (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Katy Jacob & Jennifer Tescher
Source: The Center for Financial Services Innovation
This report presents the results of an analysis of the supply and demand for card-based transfers among migrants. We analyze a nationwide study of Latin American and Caribbean migrant remittance senders and their access and use of card products of all kinds. Coupled with extensive interviews with card-based remittance providers, this analysis allows us to investigate the relationship between the supply for card-based remittances and remittance senders’ demands for financial products.

April 1, 2007: "Estados Unidos quiere un vecindario amigable"
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: América Economía, Edición Nº 338
Con América Latina como destino, George W. Bush protagonizó a comienzos de marzo la gira por el exterior más extensa desde que inició su primer mandato en 2000. Desde los acuerdos firmados con el presidente brasileño Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva para el desarrollo del etanol, hasta las débiles promesas a su colega mexicano Felipe Calderón para relajar las leyes migratorias, pasando por las visitas a Uruguay, Colombia y Guatemala, Bush intentó dar vuelta la percepción generalizada acerca de que América Latina no ocupa un lugar prioritario en la agenda de su administración.

April 1, 2007: Corruption and Transition: The Challenge to Cuban Democracy (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
*This essay is drawn from a chapter that the author wrote for the forthcoming book Looking Forward: Comparative Perspectives on Cuba's Transition, which is edited by Marifeli Perez- Stable and will be published by University of Notre Dame Press in 2007.

April 1, 2007: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: April 2007 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Anna Lindley
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

March 31, 2007: "EE.UU. puede contrarrestar a Chávez" (Entrevista con Michael Shifter) (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Comercio (Peru)
Shifter considera que a Estados Unidos le ha costado acostumbrarse al hecho de que América Latina ya no es solo su patio trasero. 'La región tiene ahora más opciones en el mundo', asegura.

March 30, 2007: Friends and business partners
By Peter Hakim
Source: Miami Herald
President Bush, who just returned from his second trip to Brazil in 18 months, will welcome Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Camp David tomorrow. Despite their clashing views on a range of issues, the United States and Brazil have fashioned a surprisingly close and constructive relationship, and the two presidents enjoy an unexpected personal chemistry.

March 29, 2007: A nation roiled in insecurity
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On Feb. 19, four Salvadorans -- three legislators and their driver -- were brutally slain in Guatemala. They were on their way to Guatemala City to attend a session of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) when they were slain not long after they crossed the border.

March 28, 2007: From Persuasion to Power? Women's Policy Machineries in Latin America (PDF)
By Susan Franceschet
Prepared for the conference, WOMEN IN THE AMERICAS: PATHS TO POLITICAL POWER

March 27, 2007: 'Alan García sigue las encuestas' (Entrevista con Michael Shifter) (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Perú21
Responde Michael Shifter sobre las perspectivas políticas del Perú para los próximos años.

March 16, 2007: El libre y justo comercio requiere una mejor educación
By Michael Lisman
Source: La Prensa (Nicaragua)

March 15, 2007: Latin Trip was only photo ops (PDF)
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
published in the San Francisco Chronicle

March 15, 2007: Trip benefits yet to come
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
President Bush came home yesterday. Was his six-day trip to Latin America worth it? The short answer is a modest Yes.

March 15, 2007: Immigration Reform: Bush's Big Promises
By BusinessWeek
The President assured leaders across Latin America that he would push for reform. Now, he has to tackle Congress. "If the U.S. ends up building a 700-mile wall and doesn't get a guest-worker program approved, let alone some mechanism for giving legal status to people who are in the U.S. without permission, whatever goodwill Bush has gotten out of his trip will evaporate," says Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue.

March 13, 2007: Viaje a América Latina
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
published in América Economía, Edición 337

March 12, 2007: A lesson in free trade
By Michael Lisman
Source: guardian.co.uk
President Bush's first visit to Guatemala this week focused attention on, among other things, the free trade agreement with Central America (DR-CAFTA) and on the complicated issues surrounding liberalized trade policies in the region. But a less visible issue, though no less important, is that free trade also requires better education.

March 11, 2007: A respectful Bush could earn points in Latin America (PDF)
By Abraham F. Lowenthal
published in the San Jose Mercury News

March 10, 2007: Repairing Latin Relations (PDF)
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: National Journal
With the influence of anti-American firebrand Hugo Chavez spreading like Venezuela's petrodollars throughout Latin America, President Bush began an extended trip to the region on March 8, armed with a host of economic initiatives and aid packages. His travels are taking him and first lady Laura Bush to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico.

March 9, 2007: Bush should borrow from Clinton on Latin America
By Mack McLarty

March 7, 2007: Guatemala, destino fatal
By Joaquín Villalobos

March 6, 2007: Bush's opportunity to mend relations
By Peter Hakim
Source: Miami Herald
President Bush's week-long visit to Latin America comes at a delicate moment for U.S. relations with the region. Anti-U.S. feeling is deep and pervasive -- and insistently fanned by Washington's chief adversary, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

March 5, 2007: Price Controls Not Effective in Slowing Argentine Inflation
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
Since 2004, Argentina has been carrying out a campaign of price controls as a mechanism to reduce inflation. The authorities claim that this is a novel approach that provides an alternative to the technocratic and market-related approach suggested by the IMF and others.

March 2, 2007: Calderón needs to push the envelope
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
After candidate Vicente Fox upended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's electoral machinery in 2000, Mexican expectations soared. As president, however, Fox was cowed by the PRI state he inherited.

March 1, 2007: Uma Cúpula Mundial do Clima
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso

March 1, 2007: Dream Team ou Compromisso Político?
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

March 1, 2007: La victoria pírrica del Comandante (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Foreign Affairs en Español
Marifeli Pérez-Stable analiza el legado de Fiderl Castro. A lo largo de décadas, el mayor logro de la política estadounidense ha sido reforzar el baluarte principal de Castro: la defensa de la soberanía de Cuba. Al final, la salud postró a Fidel, y su era se está apagando. La vida en Cuba ha seguido su curso normal y es improbable que el régimen se venga abajo luego de la despedida final al Comandante en Jefe. Pero la sucesión ya está en marcha.

March 1, 2007: U.S. Policy Towards Latin America
By Peter Hakim
A little more than a year ago, I published an article that started with the sentence: “US relations with Latin America have reached their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.” The change in the State Department’s leadership on Latin America has since then clearly improved the tone of the relationship and eased its surface tension. And there is other good news to report.

February 28, 2007: "No hay un eje del mal en América latina", dice Michael Shifter
By Hugo Alconada Mon
Interview with Michael Shifter

February 28, 2007: Setting some realistic U.S. goals
By Abraham F. Lowenthal

February 28, 2007: "No hay un eje del mal en América latina", dice Michael Shifter
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: La Nación (Argentina)
La guerra en Irak consume casi todas las energías de la política exterior de Estados Unidos. Es una realidad de la administración Bush, pero Michael Shifter piensa que seguirá por varios años más. "Es ingenuo pensar que América latina va a ser una prioridad para el próximo presidente", previene el profesor de la Escuela de Servicio Exterior de la Georgetown University.

February 25, 2007: "Estados Unidos debería ser más generoso en sus acuerdos con los países pequeños"
By Peter Hakim
Source: Diario Libre (República Dominicana)
No agrada a algunos, es admirado por muchos y escuchado por todos. A Peter Hakim le llueven las críticas o los halagos cuando habla.

February 18, 2007: Bush y su nueva mirada a Latinoamérica
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Tercera (Chile)
La intención puede ser sincera, y los esfuerzos por parte de los altos diplomáticos admirable, pero el entorno geopolítico no es favorable para una relación revigorizada con América Latina.

February 16, 2007: Notícias do Front Internacional
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

February 15, 2007: Hints at Renewing Ties with Cuba (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Marifeli Pérez-Stable looks at the evolution of Mexico's relations with Cuba as President Felipe Calderón hinted a rapprochement toward Cuba.

February 12, 2007: English-Speaking Caribbean Not Doing as Well as Thought
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
In this column, I will review the current situation of the English-speaking Caribbean—12 counties that range from the turbulent Jamaica and the prosperous Trinidad and Tobago, to the tiny members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

February 4, 2007: The Chance to Get It Right
By Nicole Spencer

February 2, 2007: "SABIAS QUE..." - Interview with Claudio Loser
By Claudio Loser

February 1, 2007: Latin America and the United States: Attention Deficit Disorder and What to Do About It
By Abraham F. Lowenthal

February 1, 2007: Desequilíbrio de poder
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso

February 1, 2007: US-Cuba Relations: The Limits of Wishful Thinking
By Dan Erikson
Published in FOCALPOINT: Spotlight on the Americas

February 1, 2007: Latin America's Drug Problem (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Current History
With violence mounting in Mexico and Brazil, and a real risk of deterioration spreading across much of the region, dealing with the drug crisis clearly requires a sharper focus and more imaginative approaches.

February 1, 2007: The Year of the Ballot (PDF)
By Jorge Castañeda and Patricio Navia
Published in the February 2007 issue of Current History

February 1, 2007: After Fidel: Oh Brother... (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Published in the February 2007 issue of Current History

February 1, 2007: Sooner or Later, “Fidel Show” Will End
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Marifeli Pérez-Stable looks at the different possibilities for transition in Cuba following Fidel Castro's inevitable death.

January 31, 2007: O Brasil precisa descer do muro
By Sergio Fausto

January 23, 2007: Venezuelan Measures Response to Years of Economic Decline
By Claudio Loser
Source: Published in the Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor.
At the time of his recent, second inauguration as president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez announced his intention to nationalize a number of "strategic" industries, like electricity and telecommunications, and privatize areas of oil production. Furthermore, he will drastically restrict Central Bank autonomy.

January 18, 2007: The High Price of Dismissing Democracy (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Marifeli Pérez-Stable notes that support for democracy in Latin America is at an all-time high. However, unlike most Latin Americans, Hugo Chávez, Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa dismiss representative democracy and a market economy as the best conduits of progress. Their prescriptions -- direct democracy and state-centered economies -- failed in the past and will surely fail again.

January 15, 2007: Segunda presidencia de Ortega (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
Marifeli Pérez-Stable analiza los prospectos de la segunda presidencia de Daniel Ortega en Nicaragua.

January 12, 2007: VENEZUELA - RISCO OU OPORTUNIDADE?
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

January 10, 2007: The Venezuelan nut begins to crack
By Michael Shifter
Source: New York Daily News
Over the long term, it is just not possible for one man, however charismatic, to dominate a society and economy as complex as Venezuela's.

January 5, 2007: 2007 AINDA NÃO COMEÇOU
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

January 5, 2007: EE UU ahorcando al mundo
By Joaquín Villalobos

January 4, 2007: ¿Llegó la hora de enterrar al Mercosur?
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

January 4, 2007: Wanted: Economic Opportunity (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Marifeli Pérez-Stable argues that economic opening would do a great deal to improve the living standards of Cubans. Beyond material gains achieved through increased production of food products and consumer goods, Cubans would once again have hope, she argues.

January 2, 2007: El Mercosur no será velado ni sepultado
By Roberto Teixeira da Costa

January 1, 2007: Ano novo, valores permanentes
By Fernando Henrique Cardoso

January 1, 2007: Migrant Remittances Newsletter: January 2007 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Anna Lindley
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

January 1, 2007: Global Remittances and the Law – A Review of Regional Trends and Regulatory Issues (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: International Migration Law: Developing Paradigms and Key Challenges
One of the problems in remittance transfers stems from a lack of correspondence between rules imposed on transfers and people’s (remitters and businesses) realistic capacity to comply with them. For example, remitters are often required to provide inaccessible forms of identification or companies are required to police their clients. The end result is that people choose informal networks. It is thus important to find a balance between reality and the law in order to improve the ability to regulate these increasingly important economic practices.

January 1, 2007: Migrant Foreign Savings and Asset Accumulation (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Reducing Global Poverty: The Case for Asset Accumulation
This chapter explores the relationships between migrant foreign savings and financial asset accumulation. Primarily, it distinguishes between different types of transnational economic activities that migrants engage in and demonstrates that not all of them are equally conducive to asset accumulation.

January 1, 2007: Central American Diasporas and Hometown Associations (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Diasporas and Development
This article surveys trends in the Central American diaspora and then looks closely at the work of hometown associations in three countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

December 27, 2006: Cuba en compás de espera (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Infolatam
Marifeli Perez-Stable discute los escenarios de transición en Cuba. Las perspectivas a mediano plazo de la sucesión son complejísimas. Raúl Castro es un líder puente.

December 21, 2006: Never lose sight of a Cuba that has room for all of us
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
For almost six decades, Castro has been a fixture of Cuban politics. With the year and his life winding down, my heart and my mind are set on Cuba more than ever.

December 18, 2006: A New Politics for Latin America?
By Michael Shifter
Source: America Magazine
It is tempting to view the string of election results in Latin America over the past year as proof that the world’s most unequal region has moved to the left. Media accounts highlight the repudiation of free market-oriented policies, those widely referred to as “neoliberal” reforms and delineated in the Washington consensus of the early 1990’s.

December 10, 2006: The Best of Both Dictators
By Michael Shifter
Source: The Washington Post
The parallels are striking: Two ruthless dictators who sacrificed human rights for political aims. Two men idolized by their followers and despised by the exiles they drove away. Two archetypes of the Latin American strongman, one in dark sunglasses, the other with that ever-present cigar. For the past half-century, no two leaders have so defined Latin America's political scene as Cuba's Fidel Castro and Chile's Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

December 7, 2006: New leaders' challenges: institutions, social fabric
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
The citizens of Chile, Costa Rica, Haiti, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela elected or reelected their presidents. Even in the closest cases, the contests were largely free and fair.

December 6, 2006: El 'paraescándalo' y E.U.
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Dicen que a veces de las crisis se generan oportunidades. Esto se ajusta a la actualidad política en Colombia. La penetración del paramilitarismo en las instituciones, aunque conocida por mucho tiempo, recién está saliendo a la luz.

November 9, 2006: Has Ortega really, truly changed? (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
It's official: Daniel Ortega is Nicaragua's president-elect. In a five-man field, the Sandinista's 38 percent took him past the finish mark.

November 4, 2006: La continuidad es la regla
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Espectador (Colombia)
Iraq domina las elecciones del próximo martes en Estados Unidos. De acuerdo con la mayoría de sondeos, eso es precisamente lo que preocupa a la mayoría de los americanos. La guerra es tremendamente impopular y es vista por la mayoría como un grave error.

November 2, 2006: Why Meddle in Nicaragua?
By Michael Shifter
Source: The Washington Post
As Latin America's busy election cycle winds down, the Bush administration deserves a lot of credit. In election after election it has shown admirable restraint and has wisely avoided taking sides. Nicaragua, however, has been the exception. U.S. conduct in advance of Sunday's election has been anything but restrained. The Bush administration has blotted its otherwise exemplary record in a small and impoverished Central American country -- probably the one in which there is the least at stake for U.S. interests.

November 1, 2006: El Proceso Colombiano desde un Contexto Regional (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Perspectiva (Colombia)
En general, la creencia es que hay una tendencia hacia la izquierda y en ese sentido, Colombia, por los resultados de las elecciones de mayo, es visto como una excepción.

October 26, 2006: Will democracy be strengthened?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Nicaragua is on the cusp of a political realignment. Even if Sandinista Daniel Ortega wins, the voting blocks of the past 16 years have already been shaken by dissensions.

October 12, 2006: Drop Populism; Embrace Markets (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Marifeli Pérez-Stable looks at Latin America's scepticism of markets. She argues that nowhere else are markets questioned and state-centered economics still praised in the way they are in Latin America. The debate is over and markets won hands down.

October 1, 2006: Migrant Remittances: October 2006 Issue (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Anna Lindley
Migrant Remittances is a forum to share information about migrant remittances (debates, new developments or initiatives, new data, case studies, and publications). The newsletter is sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and produced by DAI.

October 1, 2006: Between hardship and hope: Remittances and the local economy in Latin America (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank
This report assesses the capacity and willingness of Latin American economies to effectively absorb remittances into their productive base. Although remittances overall have a positive impact on households and local economies, their effect on long term growth and sustainable development depends in the way these economies react to foreign savings.

September 28, 2006: Nonaligned Movement: summit 'a confluence of bravado'
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
The Nonaligned Movement (NAM) met in Havana Sept. 11-16. Inveterate anti-U.S. foes -- Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prominently among them -- captured headlines worldwid

September 21, 2006: Calderón, al centro (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
Marifeli Perez-Stable argumenta la que estrechez de la victoria de Felipe Calderón Hinojosa en las elecciones presidenciales mexicanas ofrece oportunidades imprevistas que el debe aprovechadar al máximo, por el bien de todos.

September 21, 2006: Calderón, al centro
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
La decisión del Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación dio por terminada -de manera definitiva e inapelable- la controvertida elección mexicana. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, del Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN), es el presidente electo.

September 14, 2006: Mexico: Calderón Must Stand Above the Partisan Fray
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Mexico is deeply polarized. Calderón must stand above the partisan fray.

August 21, 2006: EUA temem nova imigracao de Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: O Estado de Sao Paulo
Para professora cubana, essa preocupação explica amoderação do governo Americano com relaçãoà transição do regime.

August 17, 2006: How would Raúl and Hugo get along?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
How would Raúl Castro and Hugo Chávez get along?

August 7, 2006: Reconciliación en libertad (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
Marifeli Pérez-Stable argumenta que la era de Fidel Castro está por acabar. Sin él, a los cubanos -en la isla y en la diáspora- se les presenta la oportunidad de dotar una política basada en un amplio y fuerte centro donde será posible dialogar y se llegar a acuerdos.

August 7, 2006: Reconciliación en libertad
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
"Todos debemos retirarnos relativamente jóvenes", dijera Fidel Castro al periodista estadounidense Lee Lockwood en 1965. A Cuba le ha costado muy caro la incapacidad del Comandante de regirse por lo que afirmaba entonces, pero también a su legado.

August 3, 2006: A critical moment for the future of Cuba (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Fidel Castro is out of sight, and we (sort of) know why. A newscaster read a message from Castro saying he's ''stable'' but -- we gather -- gravely ill for, otherwise, wouldn't he have told us himself?

August 1, 2006: Cuba and China (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson and Adam Minson

July 20, 2006: López Obrador has a weak case
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Was there fraud in Mexico's presidential election on July 2? Andrés Manuel López Obrador has a weak case.

July 13, 2006: Don't count Chavez out
By Michael Shifter
Source: New York Daily News
Six months ago, Hugo Chavez was, according to several observers, on a roll. The fiery Venezuelan president - the Bush administration's main adversary in Latin America - was buoyed by the resounding victory of his close ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales. With gas prices soaring, Chavez, the leader of the world's fourth largest oil producing nation, had lots of money to spend in order to tighten his grip on power at home and extend political influence abroad.

July 6, 2006: Where parties stand after the balloting
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Mexico's July 2 presidential election remains too close to call.

July 1, 2006: En busca de Hugo Chávez
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs en Español
Justo cuando el derrumbe inminente de un puente obligara al gobierno del presidente Hugo Chávez a cerrar la única autopista que une el aeropuerto principal de Venezuela con la ciudad capital, en enero, comenzaron las recriminaciones. Los opositores de Chávez lo acusaron de desaprovechar la bonanza petrolera del país en proyectos de corte político en el extranjero mientras olvidaba la infraestructura interna.

July 1, 2006: “A la segunda va la vencida”
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
Entrevista con el presidente Alan García, por Michael Shifter

July 1, 2006: A Dragon in the Andes?: China, Venezuela, and U.S. Energy Security (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Military Review
Does China's increasing role in South America's energy sector represent a threat to U.S. interests? In recent years, this question has provoked unease among U.S. policymakers who see a dangerous convergence of three worrisome trends. The first is the rise of China as a global economic power that may seek to challenge U.S. dominance over the next quarter-century. Second, U.S. influence in Latin America appears to be in flux as a number of the region's leaders, led by Venezuela's left-leaning President Hugo Chávez, have embraced populist politics and adopted anti-American stances. Third, ensuring access to energy sources has become a central U.S. security concern because a tight global oil market has caused crude oil prices to soar to more than $70 per barrel. Against this backdrop, China's increased efforts to tap into energy reserves in the Western Hemisphere have reverberated throughout the region, with potentially profound consequences for U.S. energy security.

June 23, 2006: Seven Questions: Mexico’s Presidential Race
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Policy
Mexico’s summer is especially hot this year as a tight presidential race draws to a close. FP spoke with Michael Shifter, Latin America Expert, about the campaign, widespread disappointment with Vicente Fox, and the state of Mexican democracy.

June 22, 2006: On the threshold of a developed country
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Michelle Bachelet crossed the 100-day mark as Chile's president last week. I'd say the honeymoon is over, except she never had one.

June 8, 2006: Leave the extremes, focus on the center
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
What Cuba lacks is a healthy, hefty and far-reaching political center, which is where dialogue happens, people listen and compromises are reached. Polarization is perversely easy: Hard choices don't have to be made.

June 4, 2006: A Conversation With Alan Garcia
By Michael Shifter
Source: Washington Post
Alan Garcia was dubbed the Latin American Kennedy when he was elected president of Peru in 1985, promising to reform a stagnant country and improve the lot of the poor. Yet when he left in 1990, Peru's economy was in ruins, a Maoist insurgency was terrorizing the country and Garcia's popularity had plummeted. Now, the charismatic Garcia is running for president again; he goes into today's runoff a slight favorite over anti-U.S. nationalist Ollanta Humala. Garcia recently spoke in Lima about his second act in politics with the Inter-American Dialogue's Michael Shifter.

June 1, 2006: In Search of Hugo Chavez
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs
Almost as soon as a collapsing bridge forced the government of President Hugo Chvez Fras to shut down the only highway linking Venezuela's main airport and capital city in January, the recriminations began. Chvez's opponents accused him of wasting the country's oil bonanza on politically driven projects abroad while neglecting infrastructure at home.

June 1, 2006: 'Venezuela colabora con la actual fragmentación de América Latina'
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Comercio (Ecuador)
El vicepresidente del área de políticas del Diálogo Interamericano señala que no debemos pensar que la influencia de Hugo Chávez es ilimitada América Latina es un tema recurrente en la cabeza del vicepresidente del área de políticas de la ONG Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter ya que durante años se ha dedicado al estudio de las relaciones entre EE.UU. y nuestra región.

May 25, 2006: Hemisphere needs a relevant OAS
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable and Jaclyn Shull-Gonzalez
Source: The Miami Herald
Politics is the Organization of American States's main order of business. That's the central premise of ''Responding to the Hemisphere's Political Challenges,'' a just-issued report by an Inter-American Dialogue Task Force.

May 12, 2006: International Flows of Remittances: Cost, competition and financial access in Latin America and the Caribbean- toward an industry scorecard (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Inter-American Development Bank
The importance of worker remittance flows has increased substantially over the past ten years, and with that increase the intermediation of remittance transfers has also experienced important changes. In 2005, total remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to more than US$52 billion in money transfers, a volume that represents at least a ten percent revenue for the remittance industry as well as an important source of foreign savings with leveraging potential for receiving countries.

May 11, 2006: Will change happen on a populist or modern platform?
By Marifeli Perez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Latin America has two Lefts: one is progressive and moderate; the other, a throwback and confrontational. Michele Bachelet, Tabaré Vázquez and, to a lesser extent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva embrace modernity; Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales and Ollanta Humala, the past.

May 1, 2006: Migraciones y remesas en America Latina y el Caribe: Los flujos intrarregionales y las determinantes macroeconomicas (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco, Caitlin Lockwood y Rebecca Rouse
Source: Sistema Económico Latinoamericano y del Caribe
El estudio sobre “Migraciones y remesas en América Latina y el Caribe: Los flujos intra-regionales y las determinantes macro-económicas” está enmarcado en el Proyecto 1.2.1 del Programa de Trabajo de la Secretaría Permanente del SELA para el año 2005. Tiene por objeto analizar el impacto macroeconómico de las remesas de los migrantes en algunos de los Estados Miembros del SELA, así como realizar una primera aproximación al análisis de los principales flujos intra-regionales de remesas en América Latina y el Caribe.

April 27, 2006: Unjust means debase our cherished ends
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Published in The Miami Herald. The ends don't justify the means is a simple maxim. The late Senator Frank Church, D-Idaho, noted the following about the CIA assassination plots in the 1960s, which included eight against Fidel Castro.

April 13, 2006: Focus on Cuba's dictatorship
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On May 9, the United Nations' General Assembly will elect its new Human Rights Council. Eight of the 47 seats are apportioned to Latin America and the Caribbean; nine countries, including Cuba, have announced their candidacies.

April 9, 2006: Some see 'outsider' as only hope
By Michael Shifter and Vinay Jawahar
Source: Miami Herald
'Outsider' is not a Spanish word, but you wouldn't know it if you were in Lima, Peru. Going into today's presidential elections, polls suggest that Ollanta Humala, a former military official and quintessential outsider, is leading his rivals, conservative former congresswoman Lourdes Flores and former President Alan García, who are vying for second place in an eventual run-off.

April 8, 2006: The Mexican Elections (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Real Instituto Elcano
Marifeli Pérez-Stable analyzes the outcome of the 2006 Mexican elections and Andrés Manuel López Obrador's refusal to accept the results.

March 30, 2006: Gangs undermine security, democracy
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Maras, the vicious gangs that are the region's No. 1 human threat, live up to their namesake. Extortion, prostitution, homicide and trafficking in people, arms and drugs are their principal activities.

March 16, 2006: Guard against foul play in presidential elections
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On March 5, Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast held elections for its regional council. The coast, where 10 percent of the population lives, has elected its councilors every four years since 1990.

March 2, 2006: Only a market economy can sustain robust growth
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Nothing helps the poor like robust economic growth. Still, growth must be made to benefit the poor for poverty to be reduced.

March 1, 2006: West African Financial Flows and Opportunities for People and Small Businesses (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
USAID commissioned this study to investigate the size and scope of informal financial transactions in West Africa. Intra-regional traders often complain about the barriers to doing business in theregion, yet intra-regional trade is strong and an important component of national economies. Migrant labor, frequently accompanied by family members, are also crossing borders to participate in agricultural harvests and other economic activities. These temporary labor migrants are frequent users of remittance networks that enable them to transfer funds to their native communities.

February 25, 2006: Por el sendero de Doña Violeta
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El Nuevo Herald
Hoy 25 de febrero se cumplen 16 años de la victoria en Nicaragua de Doña Violeta Chamorro. Los sandinistas --que se creían invencibles-- aceptaron su derrota y pasaron a la oposición.

February 19, 2006: EUA têm novo rival real na AL, diz analista
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: Folha
Se Washington virou as costas para a América Latina após o 11 de Setembro, agora está alerta e pronto para tolher a figura de Hugo Chávez, presidente da Venezuela, que desponta como o "primeiro adversário real" dos EUA no hemisfério em muitos anos, embalado pelo crescente rejeicionismo e antiamericanismo na região.

February 17, 2006: Multiple elections changing region's leadership this year
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
By the end of 2006, 12 countries in Latin America will have newly elected or re-elected presidents. Three have already settled their presidential elections: Honduras, where last November the opposition won; Chile, where the incumbent coalition's Michele Bachelet became the first woman in the region to gain the presidency on her own right; and Bolivia, where Evo Morales coasted into office.

February 2, 2006: Contest for Mexico's presidency
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
On July 2, Mexicans will choose a new president. Were the election held today, Andrés Manuel López Obrador would win Los Pinos -- the Mexican White House -- for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

January 22, 2006: Múltiples caras de la izquierda en América Latina
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Nacional (Venezuela)
Con la asunción al mando de Evo Morales en Bolivia, suman seis los presidentes de izquierda electos democráticamente en América Latina. Sin embargo, para Michael Shifter, vicepresidente de Diálogo Interamericano (una organización no gubernamental con sede en Washington), “esto no significa que en la región exista una tendencia monolítica”.

January 22, 2006: No crean en esos rótulos
By Michael Shifter
Source: Clarín (Argentina)
Las figuras que reciben con mayor frecuencia el rótulo de izquierdistas cubren un espectro muy amplio. Además de Castro y Chávez, al presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, del Partido de los Trabajadores, se lo considera ideológicamente alineado con Tabaré Vázquez de Uruguay y el presidente de Argentina, Néstor Kirchner.

January 19, 2006: Chile's new president has the common touch
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
A Socialist, Chilean President Bachelet is a single mother of three, an agnostic, the daughter of an air-force general who was tortured and died in prison after Gen. Augusto Pinochet's coup. Bachelet and her mother also suffered imprisonment and torture before being exiled.

January 16, 2006: Populist delusions block Latin America's progress
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Financial Times
Populism is on the rise in Latin America. Disenchantment with democracy and market reforms is growing.

January 7, 2006: "EE.UU. y América Latina se divorciaron"
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: El Mercurio
Para Peter Hakim el quiebre radica en el lento crecimiento económico y el liderazgo de Chávez en la región.

January 5, 2006: Democracy + Market Economy = Progress
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Bolivia's Evo Morales surprised almost everyone last month by winning a 54 percent landslide in a crowded presidential field. His rags-to-power story dwarfs Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's in Brazil.

January 2, 2006: Is Washington Losing Latin America? (PDF)
By Peter Hakim
Source: Foreign Affairs
Relations between the United States and Latin America today are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

January 1, 2006: Más que un giro a la izquierda
By Michael Shifter
Source: La Opinion (Los Angeles)
A juzgar por los recuentos en los medios, la gran noticia en Latinoamérica para el año 2005 fue el giro político hacia la izquierda. Ya sea visto como una causa de preocupación o celebración, la investidura del primer gobierno uruguayo de “izquierda” en marzo y, de una forma más drástica, la elección en diciembre del primer presidente indígena boliviano —quien favorece la legalización del cultivo de coca y ha hecho un llamado para la nacionalización del gas natural- parecen señalar un cambio radical en la política de la región. Ese giro, sin embargo, es solo un fragmento de una mayor y más complicada historia.

January 1, 2006: Mexico's Uneasy Choice: The 2006 Presidential Election (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: World Policy Journal
Mexico's democracy has freed itself from its authoritarian past, yet it is faltering in its quest to become a modern nation. The country shed the one-party system that Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa once described as "the perfect dictatorship," only to witness its new multiparty system descend into political paralysis. It escaped the cycle of economic crisis that bankrupted the previous generations, only to watch as financial stability was steadily eroded by shifts in the global economy that have drained jobs and investment. Improved living standards and longer life expectancy have changed its demographic profile, but Mexico may never grow wealthy enough to pay for its citizens who reach old age. Mexico's next president will face decisions on immigration, security, and economic policy that will require breaking the persistent gridlock that has become the downside of the democratic transition.

January 1, 2006: Sending Money Home: Can Remittances Reduce Poverty? (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: id21 insights
At least US$232 billion will be sent back home globally by around 200 million migrants to their families in 2005, three times official development aid (US$78.6 billion dollars). Moreover, migration and remittance experts argue that the unofficial transfers could be as large as formal flows. What impact is this having on poverty reduction?

December 31, 2005: Ante una encrucijada
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
Hace 15 años el porvenir de América Latina parecía prometedor. La democracia y el mercado auguraban una nueva era de buen gobierno y bienestar popular.

December 31, 2005: ‘EE.UU. maneja la tesis de que en el patio trasero hay pocos intereses’
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Comercio (Ecuador)
América Latina tiene en Michael Shifter a un aliado de pensamiento menos ortodoxo y más ecuánime sobre los procesos políticos y sociales en la región. Además, es el vicepresidente del Interamerican Dialogue (Diálogo Interamericano) que, desde Washington, mantiene la lupa permanente sobre los acontecimientos en el hemisferio sur.

December 22, 2005: Poverty hurts children the most
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Forty-one million children in Latin America won't cheer the holidays. They live in extreme poverty, i.e., on less than a dollar a day.

December 8, 2005: Under Bolaños, democracy has prevailed
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
President Enrique Bolaños now looks to remain in office until the end of his term in January 2007. For a while, it seemed as if he would suffer the fate of more than a dozen Latin American presidents in the past two decades who have had their terms cut short by either social upheavals or allegations of wrongdoing.

December 1, 2005: La maldición de los segundos periodos
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
Según el sugerente recorrido político hecho por el autor, hay una especie de condena política en la que Estados Unidos y los diferentes países de América Latina son iguales: “Es difícil encontrar segundos periodos en la historia reciente —sean estos consecutivos o no— que hayan logrado mejores resultados que los primeros”.

November 24, 2005: U.S.-Europe meeting of minds hard to achieve (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Mars and Venus: That's the United States and Europe on so many fronts, and so it is on Cuba.

November 1, 2005: Of Ideological Convergence and Power in Nicaragua (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: FOCAL Point Spotlight on the Americas
To the untrained eye, the Nicaraguan political process seems to suggest that a crisis of legitimacy and political instability is clouding the country just as presidential elections are approaching in 2006. However, muscle flexing is what prevails between two ideologically opposed traditional political machines, resistant to adapt to democratic change and choosing instead short-term arrangements, with weak elite consensus. The end result is a struggle over control of political power, short-term ideological convergence, and substantive undermining of democratic institutions.

November 1, 2005: Summit of the Americas: Presidents Must Do More Than Mouth Platitudes
By Peter Hakim
Source: Miami Herald
On Friday, President Bush will join the Western Hemisphere's 33 other elected leaders in Mar del Plata, Argentina for another Summit of the Americas. There are reasons to worry that this gathering of presidents, coming at a time when U.S.-Latin American relations are deeply troubled, could turn out to be a train wreck.

October 27, 2005: Book offers look at Raúl-Fidel aliance
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
We'll be talking about him long after he's gone. I try my darnest not to mention him -- that's really the most stinging dart -- but, sometimes, Fidel Castro must be named.

October 23, 2005: Diasporas, Development and Transnational Integration: Ghanaians in the U.S., U.K. and Germany (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Citizen International
Migration and development intersect vis-à-vis family remittances. The movement of people, transformed into modern day diasporas or transnational migrant groups, influences economic growth by virtue of the range of economic relationships fostered with the homeland. The Ghanaian diaspora is a critical model and case study demonstrating the impact that migrant economic relationships – in particular those that concern remittances – have on the home country. As remittance senders, Ghanaians are shown to remit in large amounts and on a regular basis. Their commitment is solidly associated with immediate relatives who benefit from these funds over an extended period of time. Unlike other diasporas whose remittance tends to decline over time, Ghanaians tend to remit more the longer they remain abroad.

October 13, 2005: Successes have been wrought 'against all odds'
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
It is the oldest among the democracies that emerged in Latin America after 1978. Yes, that's the Dominican Republic.

October 1, 2005: The Caribbean: Democracy Adrift? (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson and Adam Minson
Source: Journal of Democracy
Many Caribbean nations have long taken pride in the strength of their political institutions and democratic traditions. Of the 15 countries that make up the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom), only three - Grenada, Haiti, and Suriname - have experienced unconstitutional changes in government or external military interventions. In fact, most member countries have experienced peaceful transfers of power from ruling party to opposition and back again. During the last three decades, as much of the rest of Latin America shifted from military rule to democracy only to see democratic governments collapse under popular discontent, Caribbean democracies have remained comparatively stable and well functioning. Yet in many of these countries, unease lurks below the surface.

September 29, 2005: Keep politics out of the courts
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. Winston Churchill, the author of that quote, knew a thing or two, and he's still talking to us.

September 15, 2005: After Katrina, compassion, politics
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Latin America has been second to none in supporting Katrina's victims. Heartfelt compassion at the sights and sounds of the tragedy is, of course, driving the generosity of foreigners and Americans alike.

September 1, 2005: Common-sense recommendations
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Drug-related violence and illegal immigration have tensed U.S.-Mexican relations. In the U.S. border states, anti-Mexican sentiments are growing.

September 1, 2005: Conceptual considerations, empirical challenges and solutions in measuring remittances (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Centre for Latin American Monetary Studies
Although for the past ten years an increasing number of players have attached significant importance to the impact of remittances on development and economic growth, its full contribution will be clearer once there is greater knowledge and more accurate measurement of the flows going to Latin America and the Caribbean. As part of a CEMLA mandate, this commissioned report tries to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with the measurement of remittances.

August 30, 2005: Scandalous Brazil
By Pater Hakim
Source: Los Angeles Times
Not much has been going right for the U.S. in Latin America. Mexico and Chile spoke for many countries in the region when they opposed the war in Iraq in the U.N. Security Council. And now Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, with the support of Fidel Castro, is intent on building a Latin American anti-U.S. coalition.

August 28, 2005: But Seriously . . .
By Michael Shifter
Source: Washington Post
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a lucky man. Not only is the elected leader of the world's fifth-largest oil producer reveling in today's market bonanza, he's also profiting from the blunders of opponents, using them to advance his so-called Bolivarian Revolution, at home and throughout Latin America.

August 4, 2005: Inching toward more democracy, less discrimination
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Are Mexicans racist? From the U.S perspective, two recent incidents would have us answer Yes.

August 3, 2005: Bush must press Uribe on steps for peace
By Michael Shifter and Vinay Jawahar
Source: Financial Times
Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe, who on Thursday meets George W.?Bush, the US president, in Crawford, Texas, is no stranger to criticism. Despite his popularity, during his three years in office he has frequently been described as inflexible and imperious, often indifferent to human rights.

July 21, 2005: Rays of hope amid violence
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Violence has been the law of the land in Guatemala. Racism and inequality have always scorched the social fabric.

July 7, 2005: Most still believe democracy is best
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Dissatisfied with how democracy works, most Latin Americans would still not support a military government.

July 1, 2005: Transnational Engagement, Remittances and Their Relationship to Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco et al.
Source: Instutite for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University
This report researches transnational ties between migrants and their home country. The study presents the results of a new study on the patterns of migrants’ transnational activities. Surveys were conducted among Latin American and Caribbean immigrants from 14 countries living in the United States and also of remittance-recipient families in eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. We analyze transnationalism through the scope of the “5Ts” – family remittance transfers, tourism, transportation, telecommunication, and nostalgic trade – and argue that they are important transnational activities that promote economic development in the age of globalization.

June 23, 2005: U.S. Policy can't stay on square one forever
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Neither confrontation nor engagement has worked. Both imply dialogue, and Fidel Castro only knows harangue.

June 9, 2005: The two Bolivias are more polarized than ever
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Three times and he's out? In March, Bolivian President Carlos Mesa twice tendered his resignation, which Congress did not accept. On Monday, he again resigned with a distressed, ''This is as far as I can go.''

June 6, 2005: Vigorous OAS vital for democracies
By Michael Shifter
Source: Miami Herald
For the first time in a quarter century, the annual General Assembly of the Organization of American States is being held on U.S. soil. President Bush is expected to address the gathering in Fort Lauderdale today.

May 26, 2005: Cuba-Mexico relations strained to the brink
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Mexico has a Cuba problem. After its vote for the resolution critical of the Cuban government at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Havana fired a fusillade of insults.

May 12, 2005: Latin America a a critical juncture
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
After an unprecedented five-at-bat strike outs on April 11, the Organization of American States hit a double on May 2 by electing Chilean Interior Minister José Miguel Insulza as its secretary-general.

May 11, 2005: Bonfire of the Andes
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs
El Tiempo, Colombia's biggest daily, got it just right in its April 20 lead editorial: "Ecuador: A Collapse Foretold." The situation in Colombia's southern neighbor was approaching a breaking point, and no one was surprised when, later that day, Lucio Gutiérrez became Ecuador's third president in eight years to fail to finish his term.

April 28, 2005: Politics drives mounting crisis
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños may be on his way out. In recent days, protests -- by students, bus drivers and slum dwellers -- have shaken Managua and may be spreading to other cities.

April 14, 2005: History - complex Path to democracy
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Cuba's story is not, at heart, about the United States. It is about Cubans and our struggles for, yes, sovereignty but also good government -- freedom and democracy.

April 7, 2005: Chávez should not steer US policy
By Michael Shifter
Source: Financial Times
Latin America's left is not what it used to be. Economic policies being pursued by so-called leftist governments in the region draw less from the writings of Ché Guevara than from those of Adam Smith.

March 31, 2005: Much remains unchanged in country's politics (Microsoft Word)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Once in office, Fox quickly dissipated the aura of expectation. Public opinion has long considered the president clueless politically.

March 19, 2005: Sol Linowitz Dies; Carter-Era Envoy Helped Found Xerox
By Joe Holley
Published in The Washington Post

March 17, 2005: A Real Partnership Depends on Both Sides
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Latin America should be a priority for the United States but isn't really.

March 3, 2005: Confront Chávez with unity
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Not long after last August's referendum, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced the dawn of a new day for his Bolivarian revolution.

March 1, 2005: Markets and Financial Democracy: The Case For Remittance Transfers (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Journal of Payment Systems Law
A growing number of countries, including the United States, have recently committed themselves to facilitating remittance transfers by immigrants sending money back to their home countries. Leaders of the large industrialized democracies have called for efforts to reduce the costs of transfers and to promote a greater role by banks and other financial institutions in an industry currently dominated by wire transfer firms.

March 1, 2005: Latin America Defies Old Labels
By Michael Shifter and Vinay Jawahar
Source: Los Angeles Times
It is tempting to view today's inauguration of Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez as further proof of a shift to the "left" in South America. After all, Vazquez comes from the Broad Front-Progressive Encounter coalition of communists, socialists and former Tupamaro urban guerrillas.

February 17, 2005: China offers opportunities, poses threats
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Published in The Miami Herald. China offers opportunities for Latin America. Trade is growing by leaps and bounds.

February 15, 2005: Latin America's Curious Peacemaker
By Michael Shifter
Source: The Washington Post
Fidel Castro may rule one of the few remaining "outposts of tyranny" in the world, but the Cuban dictator did us all a favor by breaking the impasse that threatened to escalate into a serious conflict between two countries of enormous strategic significance for the United States.

February 3, 2005: The searing legacy of slavery can't be overstated
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Up to 150 million Latin Americans are of African descent: 30 percent of the region's population and three times the 40 million who are indigenous.

February 1, 2005: Development and Remittances to Guatemala: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Cooperation (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco with Eve Hamilton
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
Guatemala is a major recipient of migrant worker remittances, registering $2.6 billion in 2004. More than 50 percent of this flow has gone into rural areas and socially disadvantaged sectors where access to income and financial opportunities is scant. This flow is among the most significant forces of economic growth for Guatemala, yet it has received minimal policy attention.

February 1, 2005: Haiti after Aristide: Still on the Brink (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Current History
In the 1990s, Haiti was on the front lines of US efforts to help bind Latin America and the Caribbean into a 'community of democracies.' Today, the country is the closest example of a failed state this side of the Atlantic.

January 30, 2005: La despolarización necesaria
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: El País
El 31 de enero los ministros de Exteriores de la Unión Europea ratificaron lo que ya ocurrió: la normalización de las relaciones con Cuba luego de las sanciones impuestas por la ola represiva de 2003. La administración de Bush y algunos sectores del Miami cubano rechazan de plano cualquier reblandecimiento —o lo que se perciba como tal— ante el régimen de Fidel Castro.

January 25, 2005: Cuba: El día después del velorio (PDF)
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: Real Instituto Elcano de Estudios Internacionales y Estratégicos
Marifeli Pérez-Stable argumenta que Cuba probablemente no saldrá de su estancamiento actual hasta después de la desaparición de Fidel Castro.

January 20, 2005: Other regions ahead in economic growth
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Latin America is lagging. China and India are leaping ahead.

January 6, 2005: Latin America: Brazil Flexes Muscles on International Stage
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Brazil is the second most important country in the Americas, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is reveling in it. An activist foreign policy -- centered on gaining greater clout for the erstwhile Third World -- is raising Brazil's profile in world affairs.

January 5, 2005: ¿Don Quijote cabalga de nuevo?
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
”Don Quijote" es el más reciente de una serie de símbolos que se busca asociar con la Revolución Bolivariana de Hugo Chávez. En abril, coincidiendo con el cuatrocientos aniversario de la publicación del clásico de Cervantes, Chávez distribuyó alrededor de un millón de copias del libro el Quijote a sus seguidores en lo que fue conocido como la "Operación Dulcinea". El Presidente venezolano buscó asociarse a la imagen de luchador por la justicia social, desfacedor de entuertos y soñador del Quijote.

January 3, 2005: President Makes Mockery of Rule of Law
By Michael Shifter
Source: Miami Herald
As shown by its reaction to the disputed elections in Ukraine, Washington can do a lot to defend democracy. But Washington isn't paying much attention to the ominous slide of democracy closer to home. Ecuador, where a recent rupture in democratic practices has sadly gone unnoticed, is a case in point.

January 1, 2005: Central America's Free Trade Gamble (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: World Policy Journal
In 2005, the small, poverty-stricken countries of Central America will embark on a grand experiment in free trade with the rich and powerful "colossus of the north." It is a wager of significant proportions that will reshape their economies and societies in the coming decades, and provide new fodder for the ongoing global debate on the advantages and drawbacks of trade integration among countries with vastly unequal levels of development.

January 1, 2005: Charting Castro's Possible Successors (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: SAIS Review
Fidel Castro has been president of Cuba for close to 50 years, but - despite the hopes of some around el Comandante - he will not live forever. Observers watch Castro's health and the swirl of leaders in his inner circle. There is no clear indication that communism will collapse after his death or that his brother - Raul - will take control. A number of would-be successors wait in the wings. This article looks at the top echelon of these figures, suggesting the next leader will likely come from a group of men numbering less than 10.

January 1, 2005: Hometown Associations and Development: Ownership, Correspondence, Sustainability and Replicability (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Katherine Welle
Source: New Patterns for Mexico: Observations on Remittances, Philanthropic Giving, and Equitable Development
Hometown associations (HTAs), organizations of immigrants who raise funds for the betterment of their places of origin, are growing in importance for communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. HTAs illustrate the evolving relationship between development and migration. One key aspect of this relationship is the impact on equity, an important component of development philosophy.

January 1, 2005: International Financial Flows and Worker Remittances: Best Practices (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: United Nations Population Division
The interplay between micro patterns and macro dynamics has created ‘distant proximities’ (Rosenau, 2003). Distant proximities are real-life experiences that both integrate and fragment relationships outside and inside borders. Immigrants are key protagonists of distant proximities: through their labour, they integrate their home and host countries into the global economy in order to keep their own families together. Nevertheless, their lives are also fragmented by the experience of distance and separation from their families and nations. The end result is a transnational lifestyle, characterized by both opportunities and hardships that feature this paradox of distance and closeness.

January 1, 2005: Transnationalism and Development: Trends and Opportunities in Latin America (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Remittances: Development Impact and Prospects
Within the framework of globalization, new transnational networks have emerged from the consolidation of migration ties. Migration networks, based on household-to-household relationships, are now contributing significantly to the integration of countries into the global economy. Expressions of that integration include immigrant-based donations, small and large investments, trade, tourism, and unilateral transfers of worker remittances. This chapter addresses those issues and their relationship to development.

January 1, 2005: Remittances and MFI intermediation: issues and (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco and Eve Hamilton
Source: Remittances, Microfinance and Development: Building the Links, Volume 1: a Global View
Remittance flows to Latin American and the Caribbean reached $45 billion in 2004. For countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Jamaica, among others, remittances represent 10 percent or more of GDP and are one of the most important sources of foreign currency (IAD 2004). At the household level, remittances are a critical source of income for families living in poverty. Receiving households have significant purchasing power relative to other poor households that do not receive remittances (Orozco 2004). These recipient households, have, however, limited access to the financial institutions that would provide them with access to financial services such as loans, and safe interest-earning savings instruments, including remittance delivery.

December 28, 2004: Looking Away as a Democracy Dies
By Michael Shifter
Source: Los Angeles Times
As shown by its reaction to the disputed elections in Ukraine, Washington can do a lot to defend democracy. But Washington isn't paying much attention to the ominous slide of democracy closer to home. Ecuador, where a recent rupture in democratic practices has sadly gone unnoticed, is a case in point.

December 23, 2004: When clock stops ticking, bet on engagement may pay off
By Marifeliz Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
It's a subject I try to avoid. But, every once in a while, something happens that drags me into yet another round of debate on how to deal with Cuba.

December 9, 2004: Focus on common foreign-policy goals
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
In the late 1970s, Adolfo Suárez -- Spain's first democratic president -- emphasized Latin America's special place in Spanish foreign policy. Initially, language, culture and history affirmed Spanish-Latin American ties; investments and diplomacy would later strengthen them.

November 25, 2004: Eradicate violence against women in Latin America
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
He was an egomaniacal tyrant, and the three sisters fearlessly opposed him. Once, their family left one of his parties early and defiantly refused to apologize.

November 11, 2004: Long way to go to implement solid reforms
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Time is not on Mexico's side. Consolidated democracies such as the United States, Canada and Western Europe took decades to settle democratic institutions, forge open societies and empower their citizens.

October 28, 2004: Fox missed chance for greatness
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Those were the days that ended -- no, vanished -- while Mexicans still relished Vicente Fox's dislodging of the PRI from the presidency. In 2001, Mexico had a golden opportunity to become Latin America's Spain: a democratic transition that laid solid democratic foundations after decades of authoritarianism or, at least, that was the hope.

October 18, 2004: Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean: Issues and Perspectives on Development (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Organization of American States
When most people think of the flow of foreign currency to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), they probably assume that foreign aid or investment by business accounts for most of the money arriving in Latin countries. In fact, immigrant remittances – money sent by Latin Americans living and working in other countries, most notably the U.S., to their families in their countries of origin – is the largest source of foreign capital flowing to LAC today. In 2003, Latin America received $38 billion. The significance of this financial resource is therefore hard to understate. Moreover, the volume and contribution of remittances raises crucial questions regarding the details of the actual contribution to growth, and how the remittance transfers can be maximized through a range of policy options, ranging from lower sending costs to enhancing equity and employment generation.

October 14, 2004: Improve media quality, strengthen governments
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Except for Costa Rica, democracy is fragile in Central America. How could it be otherwise after civil wars, dictatorships and even genocide? Other than the decade-long spring of 1944-1954 that the United States cut short in Guatemala, the region had no meaningful experience of elected government before 1990.

October 3, 2004: Kerry ganó por knockout
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Espectador (Colombia)
Previo a este primer debate presidencial en Estados Unidos, justo seis semanas antes de la elección, las encuestas estaban sugiriendo que el presidente George W. Bush se mantendría de 4 a 6 puntos por encima del senador John Kerry, al menos, entre la mayoría de votantes.

September 30, 2004: The dilemma: confiscated properties
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
It won't be easy going forward. Transitions impose steep costs, and Cuba's will likely be steeper still: The future has been too long postponed.

September 14, 2004: Making political inroads, weakening stereotypes
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Over the past 15 years, Latin American women have made notable political strides. Four have been heads of state and 19 vice presidents.

September 2, 2004: Good-faith national dialogue could ease the impasse
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Democracy produces winners and losers. By most accounts, Hugo Chávez easily deflected the opposition's bid to recall him on Aug. 15.

September 1, 2004: The Future of American Business in Cuba: Realities, Risks, and Rewards (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems
Does Cuba represent a desirable opportunity for American business? Market analysts are deeply divided as to whether Cuba is a land of risks or rewards. On the one hand, Cuba remains a rigid communist state with a centrally controlled economic structure, a workforce with uncertain habits, low per capita income, and high levels of external debt. Nevertheless, an influential school of thought sees Cuba as a diamond in the rough, with the capacity to emerge as a "Latin tiger" of substantial interest to U.S. companies.

August 5, 2004: Some make peace with the past...and then there is Cuba
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
After the Spanish-American War (1898), the United States occupied Cuba and Puerto Rico. In 1902, the Cuban republic was born, albeit under the Platt Amendment where by Washington could intervene in Cuba to protect order and property.

July 22, 2004: Mesa, a political neophyte, leads the country on right path
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
"Productive'' Bolivia -- the crescent-shaped, gas-rich stretch from the eastern lowlands to the southern provinces -- rails against ''unproductive,'' western Bolivia. Secessionist rumbles may get louder still if the 2005 constituent assembly does not include the radical decentralization and autonomy that the ''crescent'' is demanding.

July 8, 2004: What will 'the Americas' really mean?
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Together, the Americas were once the New World. The links of trade, peoples and cultures that Europe forged with the New World slowly crisscrossed all continents.

June 24, 2004: 'Inclusive capitalism' makes good politics
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
''Dependency'' used to be a catch-all shibboleth for explaining Latin America's manifold problems. After 1492, the continent emerged subservient in a system of states and markets that benefited imperial powers.

June 16, 2004: The Remittance Marketplace: Prices, Policy and Financial Institutions (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Over the past several months a growing number of countries, including the United States, have committed themselves to facilitating remittance transfers by immigrants who send money back to their home countries. Leaders of the major industrialized democracies and Russia at the annual summit of the Group of Eight (G8) countries that begins June 8, 2004 are expected to call for efforts to reduce the costs of transfers and to promote a greater role by banks and other financial institutions in an industry currently dominated by wire transfer firms. In January, leaders of the Western Hemisphere meeting at the Special Summit of the Americas in January called for the costs of remittances to be cut in half by 2008.

June 10, 2004: Only dialogue can restore shattered trust
By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
Source: The Miami Herald
Citizenship is democracy's fulcrum. Contemporary Latin America has largely met the minimum standards for citizen rights: universal suffrage, civil liberties and free elections.

March 14, 2004: Crecerá el temor
By Peter Hakim
Source: El Espectador (Colombia)
Los ataques en Madrid fueron una tragedia terrible, particularmente para España, en donde crecerán más el temor y la ansiedad que provocan hechos de este talante.

March 1, 2004: Castro and Latin America: A Second Wind? (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: World Policy Journal
Is Cuba's influence in Latin America on the rise? Washington seems to think so, and the Bush administration, which sees this as a threat to regional stability, has been sounding the alarm.

February 7, 2004: “Se acerca un momento decisivo para superar la crisis venezolana”
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Nacional (Venezuela)
Michael Shifter, uno de los especialistas en asuntos latinoamericanos más influyentes de Washington, señaló que el referéndum revocatorio servirá para conocer la decisión de la mayoría de los venezolanos sobre el Gobierno del presidente Chávez

February 1, 2004: The US and Latin America Through the Lens of Empire
By Michael Shifter
Source: Current History
For many Latin Americans, President George W. Bush’s November 6, 2003, speech before the National Endowment for Democracy touched on an all-too-familiar theme. Bush boldly called for a democratic revolution, led by the United States, in Iraq and the Middle East.

January 11, 2004: Summit goal: Get FTAA back on track
By Peter Hakim
On Monday, President Bush will travel to Monterrey, Mexico, for a summit meeting with the Western Hemisphere's 33 other elected heads of state.

January 1, 2004: The Haiti Dilemma (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: Brown Journal of World Affairs
Haiti represents one of the most complex and deeply rooted challenges facing U.S. foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere: a failing state on the doorstep of the world's most powerful nation. By nearly any measure, Haiti ranks among the most difficult places to live, with social indicators rivaling the war-torn countries of sub-Saharan Africa. More than nine years since the United States restored the democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti remains plagued by an ongoing political conflict, growing insecurity, and deteriorating institutions. On the threshold of Haiti's 2004 bicentennial anniversary of independence, the second oldest republic in the America's is gripped by a crisis that threatens to become a permanent feature of the regional landscape.

December 21, 2003: Bush e Irak: una guerra de elección
By Michael Shifter
Source: Semana (Colombia
Contra el parecer del mundo, el presidente George W. Bush invadió Irak, convencido de que era una manera de proyectar su poder y democratizar al Medio Oriente al estilo norteamericano.

December 21, 2003: Bush and Iraq: A War of Choice
By Michael Shifter
Source: Semana (Colombia)
At a meeting in Cartagena in September 2002, Colombian friends asked me one question: Did the United States really plan to go ahead with a military operation in Iraq? I said that I thought Bush had already made the decision to do precisely that. My Colombian friends seemed incredulous.

December 1, 2003: The Power of Arrogance
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
It was not surprising that, as 2003 drew to a close, Vietnam would once again figure prominently in the minds of many Americans. In November, US media were dominated by images marking the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.

December 1, 2003: El poder de la arrogancia
By Michael Shifter
Source: Ideele (Peru)
El fantasma de Vietnam reaparece en la mente de muchos norteamericanos. Lo trae de vuelta la conmemoración del cuadragésimo aniversario del asesinato de John F. Kennedy en Dallas, pero también el que noviembre haya sido el mes más sangriento desde que empezara la invasión de los Estados Unidos a Irak. ¿Ha caído el gigante del Norte en un nuevo laberinto del que no sabe cómo salir?

November 26, 2003: AMERICAS: FTAA future
By Peter Hakim
Source: Oxford Analytica
On November 20, 34 Western Hemisphere trade ministers meeting in Miami announced a watered-down framework for the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations.

November 25, 2003: America and Brazil both lost out in Miami
By Peter Hakim
Source: Financial Times
The outcome of last week's meeting in Miami of 34 western hemisphere trade ministers gave free trade advocates little to cheer about.

November 16, 2003: To Address Inequality, Look Racism in the Face
By Peter Hakim
Source: Los Angeles Times
As much as any country in Latin America, Bolivia faithfully took the medicine of modernity advocated by Washington.

November 16, 2003: It's up to U.S. whether FTAA moves forward
By Peter Hakim
Source: Miami Herald
Last September, global trade talks among 148 countries in Cancún, Mexico collapsed in acrimony. This week, trade negotiators from 34 Western Hemisphere nations will meet in Miami to try their hand at a smaller, regional accord, the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

October 21, 2003: A more positive Brazilian trade policy
By Peter Hakim
Source: Financial Times
In recent weeks, Brazil has amply demonstrated its powerful influence on regional and global trade talks.

October 12, 2003: Add to Our To-Do List: Finishing the Job in Haiti
By Peter Hakim and Dan Erikson
Source: Washington Post
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, declared in talking about U.S. policy in Iraq: "When Americans begin a noble cause, we finish it." Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright echoed Rice's words in Foreign Affairs magazine, writing that Democrats "believe in finishing the jobs we start." The experience in nearby Haiti refutes both of their claims.

October 3, 2003: Uribe: The Price of an Outburst
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
As if any further evidence were actually needed, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has shown that the politics of human rights and democracy have become increasingly globalized.

October 3, 2003: Uribe: El precio de un Exabrupto
By Michael Shifter
Source: Ideele (Peru)
Por si se necesitara alguna evidencia adicional, el presidente colombiano Álvaro Uribe ha mostrado como los temas de democracia y derechos humanos están crecientemente globalizados.

September 29, 2003: ¿Solo contra el mundo?
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
A lo largo de las semanas pasadas, tanto la imagen como la estatura de Uribe en Washington, han sufrido, sin duda alguna en cierta medida, pero el daño no debería exagerarse. Sus comentarios respecto a algunos grupos de derechos humanos fueron mal aconsejados y le dieron munición a sus críticos que desde hacia rato habían advertido sobre sus tendencias autoritarias.

September 15, 2003: Hometown Associations and their Present and Future Partnerships: New Development Opportunities (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
Transnational migration and globalization have transformed the relationship between the United States and Latin America. New players have emerged, expanding the scope of international interaction. One player promoting local development is the hometown association (HTA) formed by immigrants who seek to support their places of origin, maintain relationships with local communities, and retain a sense of community as they adjust to life in the United States (Orozco 2000).

September 9, 2003: The truth isn't enough for Peru
By Michael Shifter
Source: The Miami Herald
Salomon Lerner could barely contain his emotions. His voice cracking at various points, the president of Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission delivered the panel's final report on Aug. 28.

September 1, 2003: US Security Policy Speech Presented at the Consejo Empresario de América Latina (CEAL) Conference and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Hemispheric Security Conference
By Peter Hakim
This essay seeks to answer three questions. What are the main elements of the US post-9/11 security agenda worldwide? What does Washington expect of Latin America nations regarding security matters? How does the US security agenda affect US policy toward Latin America generally?

August 6, 2003: Colombia's New Hope
By Michael Shifter
Source: The New York Times
Effective political leadership is in short supply these days, so when it emerges, it tends to exert a gravitational pull. That is what is happening with Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's enormously popular president, who this week completes his first year in office.

July 23, 2003: Kirchner deserves US goodwill
By Peter Hakim
Source: Financial Times
Néstor Kirchner's visit to Washington this week has to be mainly a fence-mending exercise. Badly frayed relations between Argentina and the US are damaging both countries' interests and have set back inter-American co-operation generally.

July 17, 2003: A Policy for the Neighbors
By Michael Shifter
Source: New York Times
Relations between Latin America and the United States are increasingly marked by irritation and distrust. Yet this tension has passed almost unnoticed by the United States press and unaddressed by the United States government. Such indifference has grave consequences not only for diplomacy but also for human rights.

July 16, 2003: Why Venezuela Matters
By Michael Shifter
Source: The National Interest
One of the major puzzles in U.S. foreign policy has been the relative indifference with which the United States has dealt with the unprecedented political crisis in Venezuela. The policy question has been relegated to a second tier, due in part, no doubt, to the distraction of senior U.S. officials after 9/11. What is the nature of the crisis, and what are the stakes for the United States?

July 1, 2003: The Future of Democracy in Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: Freedom House Freedom of the World Report
In Latin America, perhaps more so than in other regions, there remains an acute, gnawing sense of a missed opportunity. After all, the fall of the Berlin Wall coincided not only with the culmination of a vigorous process toward democratic, constitutional government, but also with a growing support for deepening economic ties throughout the Americas.

July 1, 2003: Estados Unidos fuera de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
Por primera vez un candidato norteamericano no logró los votos necesarios para integrar la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Michael Shifter nos ofrece un lúcido análisis de las razones que llevaron a América Latina a expresar por esta vía su descontento con el vecino del norte.

June 28, 2003: Washington wary of Kirchner
By Peter Hakim
Source: Buenos Aires Herald
Though the first contacts between the Kirchner administration and US officials have been reasonably friendly, there are still doubts in the Bush administration about the new Argentine government’s commitment to reform and a productive bilateral relationship, according to a leading expert on hemispheric affairs.

June 24, 2003: Lula visits Washington
By Peter Hakim
Source: Oxford Analytica
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met President George Bush at the White House on June 20, for the second time since his election last October and the first time since taking office in January.

June 18, 2003: 'La ayuda depende de los resultados', señala presidente del Diálogo Interamericano
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: El Tiempo
La guerra contra las drogas cayó en el escalafón de prioridades de E.U., dice Peter Hakim.

June 16, 2003: “Colombia no puede ser torpe”
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: El Espectador
Ahora que hay tantas dudas sobre las razones que motivaron el ataque contra Iraq, las preguntas que surgen en el país es si fue conveniente para Colombia la decisión de apoyar a Estados Unidos.

June 8, 2003: Ayudar a Colombia: razones y sinrazones
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
Unos pocos titulares recientes sobre América Latina han despertado tanta curiosidad e interés como el que apareció en la edición del 9 de marzo de The Washington Post: "Estados Unidos busca evitar un papel más profundo en Colombia. El envolvimiento tiende a disminuir después de que termine la búsqueda de los americanos".

June 8, 2003: Helping Colombia: Reasons and Irrationalities
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
Few recent headlines on Latin America have aroused as much curiosity and interest as the one that appeared in the March 9 edition of The Washington Post: “US Seeks to Avoid Deeper Role in Colombia. Involvement Likely to Decline after Hunt Ends for Americans.”

May 11, 2003: Bush's Game of Revenge
By Peter Hakim
Source: Los Angeles Times
The first President Bush envisioned the United States and Latin America as a hemisphere-wide economic community. The second President Bush seems to have abandoned his father's vision and substituted a winners-losers game based on the question: Did you support me in my quest to oust Saddam Hussein?

May 5, 2003: LATIN AMERICA/US: Defining policy
By Peter Hakim
Source: Oxford Analytica
On May 1, the US Senate held a confirmation hearing for Roger Noriega, the proposed new Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

April 1, 2003: Venezuela off the Radar
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs en Español
In Washington, Hugo Chavez does not command the attention of Saddam Hussein or Kim Jung II. The Venezuelan president has been accused of many things, but never of possessing weapons of mass destruction.

April 1, 2003: Venezuela fuera del radar
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs en Español
En Washington, el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez no recibe la misma atención que Saddam Hussein o Kim Jong Il. Se le ha acusado de muchas cosas, pero nunca de poseer armas de destrucción masiva. Cabe resaltar, además, que Chávez tiene la legalidad de su lado: la mayoría de los venezolanos lo eligió por vías democráticas, dos veces.

March 31, 2003: Alca em 2005 é quase impossível, diz analista dos EUA
By Peter Hakim
Source: Agencia Estado
Será "quase impossível" que a Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (Alca) seja criada na data programada, janeiro de 2005, na opinião de Peter Hakim, presidente do Inter-American Dialogue, um dos principais centros de análise de políticas norte-americanas e de assuntos do Hemisfério Ocidental, com sede em Washington.

March 30, 2003: O impacto da guerra ao Iraque na América Latina
By Peter Hakim
Source: O Estado de Sao Paolo
Em que pesem seus dois votos no Conselho de Segurança da ONU, a América Latina não é relevante para a guerra contra o Iraque.

March 28, 2003: LATIN AMERICA/US: War strains ties and harms growth
By Peter Hakim
Source: Oxford Analytica
Negative consequences arising from the war in Iraq.

March 24, 2003: The Impact of Migration in the Caribbean and Central American Region (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Canadian Foundation for the Americas
Central America and the Caribbean are experiencing the economic and social effects of new transnational actors, namely an emerging diaspora. These diasporas constitute important factors integrating their countries of origin in the hemisphere’s economy. This paper offers an analysis of these changes,with particular attention to the impact of migration on Central America and the Caribbean and addresses the development of migration from this region to the changes of the economies from agro-exporting to labour exporting societies. An important focus of this paper is on worker remittances as a major source of economic impact. It will also stress the importance of growing linkages beyond the family at the communal, social and political levels. The economic and business contributions of Central American and Caribbean citizens living in Canada and the United States are immense and signal a new type of relationship, not only in labour mobility, but also in trade and investment.

March 1, 2003: The US and Iraq: Your french fries aren't what they used to be
By Michael Shifter
Source: Published in ideele (Peru)
At first, I was sure it was a joke (and not a very good joke, either). A friend told me that “French Fries” no longer existed and was now replaced by a new name, “Freedom Fries.” This was in protest of the French government’s aggressive stance against the United States on the Iraq question.

March 1, 2003: EEUU después de Irak: Sus Papas fritas no son las de antes
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
Al comienzo estuve seguro que era una broma (y, por cierto, no una muy buena). Un amigo me había dicho que las “French Fries” (papas fritas) ya no iban a existir y que iban a ser cambiadas por las “Freedom Fries” (papas fritas de la libertad). Esto en protesta por la agresiva posición del gobierno francés contra los Estados Unidos en el asunto Iraquí.

February 17, 2003: Worker Remittances in an International Scope
By Manuel Orozco
Source: Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank
This study looked at the impact of remittances on nine countries in Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa, and at the cost of transferring money from six major sending countries. It also compared these costs with sending remittances to Latin America. The report is based on interviews with experts and businesses, a review of the literature on remittances, and data gathering and analysis of pricing, sending methods, and technologies employed by more than fifty money transfer businesses including banks, ethnic stores, and international money transfer corporations.

February 7, 2003: Family remittances to Nicaragua: Opportunities to increase the economic contributions of Nicaraguans living abroad (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
At least $500 million dollars in remittances are going to Nicaragua from the United States and Costa Rica, where ninety percent of Nicaraguan immigrants reside. The impact of these flows on development and economic growth represents at least one quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. Therefore, remittances have become a key source of income for the country, opening a window of development opportunities.

February 1, 2003: Latin America's New Political Leaders: Walking in a Wire
By Michael Shifter
Source: Current History
Today’s underlying political currents in Latin America are less about ideology and more about a public desire to find leaders who can effectively address everyday problems, and who do so honestly. The formulas of the past—whether ‘socialism’ in the 1970s or ‘neoliberalism’ in the 1990s—have been widely questioned, and largely dismissed. With traditional ideas and structures breaking apart, new leaders are being called on to produce results.

January 15, 2003: Remitting Back Home and Supporting the Homeland: The Guyanese Community in the U.S. (PDF)
By Manuel Orozco
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development
Guyana represents an important illustration of the effects that migration can have on a country’s economy. This report looks at the extent to which the Guyanese diaspora is connected with its home country and the level of remittances and contributions made to its country’s economy.

January 12, 2003: How Free Trade Will Alter a Hemisphere
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: New York Times
Last week, the Bush administration opened negotiations to create a free-trade agreement similar to Nafta with five Central American countries, a large step in the administration's plans for a free-trade zone throughout the Western Hemisphere.

November 24, 2002: The New Crop of Leaders Is No Cause for U.S. Worry
By Peter Hakim
Source: Los Angeles Times
After nearly five years of deepening economic despair and growing political disorder, Latin Americans may be tempted to abandon market economics, democratic politics and their decade-long effort to hook their economic future to the United States.

November 19, 2002: Rescuing Venezuela from the Brink
By Michael Shifter
Source: Washington Post
Venezuela's political crisis, already the most volatile in the hemisphere, grows deeper by the day as protests mount and opposing forces battle for control of the capital's police force. The polarization between the government of Hugo Chavez and opposition elements has brought the country to the edge of paralysis, chaos and, conceivably, civil war.

October 8, 2002: Which Lula For Brazil?
By PeterHakim
Source: Washington Post
After polling 47 percent of first-round votes on Sunday, opposition leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva—Lula to every Brazilian—seems a sure bet to be elected president of Brazil in the Oct. 27 runoff against government candidate Jose Serra, the runner-up with 24 percent.

April 24, 2002: Fora do mapa
By Interview with Peter Hakim
Source: Veja
Especialista em América Latina diz que só o comércio e o eleitorado hispânico podem tornar a região mais visível para os Estados Unidos.

April 21, 2002: Democracy and U.S. Credibility
By Peter Hakim
Source: New York Times
For nearly 20 years, successive American governments have worked hard to persuade Latin Americans that Washington cares about democracy in the region and is prepared to use its power to support and defend democratic governments.

April 21, 2002: Democracy in Venezuela, Unsettling as Ever
By Michael Shifter
Source: Washington Post
For Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Sept. 11, 2001, turned out to be a decisive day in ways few could have imagined. Just moments after the terrorist attackson the United States, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, speaking at a special session of the Organization of American States in Lima, Peru, eloquently defended a new democratic charter -- which called for hemispheric responses to interruptions of constitutional rule.

March 5, 2002: Aid to Argentina: Strings Attached
By Peter Hakim
Source: Washington Post
Argentina is an economic mess. Its banks are broke, surviving by not paying depositors. Its federal and state governments cannot pay employees and suppliers; foreign debt payments are suspended; economic activity has slowed to a crawl; unemployment is heading toward 30 percent; and the nation's health and education systems are reeling.

March 1, 2002: The New Cuba Divide (PDF)
By Daniel P. Erikson
Source: The National Interest
The U.S. embargo of Cuba has been an extraordinarily resilient foreign policy, able to weather diverse political trends and even historical eras without substantial challenge. Change is afoot, however, and the best evidence of that change may be found in Congress.

February 1, 2002: Colombia: Proceso de paz entre la agonía y la esperanza
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
La reciente alza de Álvaro Uribe en las encuestas a solo cuatro meses de las cruciales elecciones presidenciales colombianas es, antes que cualquier otra cosa, una muestra muy elocuente de la extendida frustración ciudadana con los esfuerzos del presidente Pastrana por poner fin al conflicto interno que asola el país por cuatro décadas.

February 1, 2002: Peace process: between agony and hope
By Michael Shifter
Source: Published in ideele (Peru)
Alvaro Uribe’s recent surge in the polls, less than four months before Colombia’s critical presidential elections, is, more than anything else, an eloquent measure of the widespread public frustration with President Andres Pastrana’s efforts to end that country’s four-decade long conflict.

January 28, 2002: Tentaciones y lecciones del proceso de paz
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
El vicepresidente del Diálogo Interamericano considera que para salir de la crisis, el proceso de paz necesita un catalizador para que las partes avancen y que Estados Unidos debería jugar ese papel respaldando los esfuerzos de la ONU y de los países amigos.

January 5, 2002: Una Agenda Agitada
By Michael Shifter
Source: Peru Económico
Quienes veían con optimismo, a comienzos de la década del noventa, las perspectivas del hemisferio, modificaron sus proyecciones para mediados de la misma: los signos de mayores complicaciones políticas y económicas, además de las mayores tensiones en las relaciones interamericanas obligaron a replantear el análisis.

November 20, 2001: Farc no son una amenaza para los EU
By Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: El Espectador (Colombia)
Invitado por la Fundación Buen Gobierno, estuvo de visita en Colombia el vicepresidente de la organización Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter. Por más de 25 años estudioso y seguidor de la problemática colombiana, dialogó con El Espectador sobre las perspectivas de la relación Colombia-EU y la lucha mundial contra el terrorismo.

November 11, 2001: Colombia Policy Should Not Be Terror's Next Victim
By Michael Shifter
Source: Los Angeles Times
On the morning of Sept. 11, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was in Lima, Peru, when he got word of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington. He was set to fly to Colombia that afternoon, a South American country that has experienced more than its share of terrorism. Instead, he returned to Washington.

October 8, 2001: Strike to the Heart
By Michael Shifter
Published in Que Hacer For another generation, innocence was utterly lost on September 11, 2001. “US ATTACKED” The New York Times headline the next day said it all. Everyone, everywhere, was shaken and numbed by what happened.

October 2, 2001: Don't forget Latin America
By Peter Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Things have not been going well in Latin America for some time. The events of Sept. 11 are making the situation worse.

October 1, 2001: ¿Cómo cambiará América Latina en la agenda de Estados Unidos?
By Michael Shifter
Source: Peru Economico
América Latina, región que nunca fue de la más alta prioridad en la agenda de Washington, podría quedar aún más rezagada, especialmente en el corto plazo, como consecuencia del nuevo contexto internacional suscitado por los acontecimientos del 11 de setiembre.

September 19, 2001: The Deepening Tragedy Demands Better U.S. Engagement
By Michael Shifter and Victoria Wigodzky
Source: Crimes of War Magazine
On May 16, the Bush administration announced the Andean Regional Initiative, requesting some $882 million for the 2002 budget to assist Colombia and six neighboring countries - Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. The State Department's public statement spelled out the rationale behind the new effort: "In contrast to last year's Plan Colombia supplemental, less than half of the assistance will be for Colombia and only half will be for law enforcement and security assistance. We have already briefed this initiative in general terms both to other donors and the recipient nations, and it has been well received."

September 19, 2001: La Profundización de la Tragedia Requiere un Compromiso Más Acertado de los EE.UU.
By Michael Shifter y Victoria Wigodzky
Source: Crimes of War Magazine
El 16 de Mayo, la administración de Bush anuncia La Iniciativa Regional Andina, requiriendo alrededor de $882 millones de presupuesto para dar asistencia a Colombia y seis países vecinos – Ecuador, Venezuela, Panamá, Perú, Bolivia y Brasil.

August 30, 2001: US passivity in Argentine crisis sends a bad signal
By Peter Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Argentina's economic crisis - not hemispheric free trade or US-Mexican relations, as expected - has been the first test of President Bush's often-proclaimed commitment to enhancing US-Latin American ties.

July 26, 2001: Bush's bold pledge to help the world's poor
By Peter Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Speaking at the World Bank last week, just before attending the summit of the world's richest countries, George Bush took on the most significant foreign- policy challenge of his young presidency: He made the alleviation of global poverty a top priority.

July 22, 2001: The Angst of Democracy
By Michael Shifter
Source: Los Angeles Times
Even the most upbeat observers of Latin America are struggling to maintain their optimism these days. Up to now, these analysts have remained relatively sanguine by concentrating on the political and economic winds in major countries, which are more positive. That is precisely why Argentina's current economic distress is so significant--and troubling.

June 28, 2001: Two cheers for the prosecution of Latin American strongmen
By Pater Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Argentina’s former President Carlos Menem has time and again showed an extraordinary talent to shock and surprise.

June 24, 2001: América Latina mitificó a Estados Unidos
By Entrevista para El Comercio (Ecuador)
Publicado en El Comercio Las relaciones entre EE.UU. y América Latina tienen que ser multilaterales. Michael Shifter, experto de Diálogo Inter Americano, cree que ya no se puede pensar en políticas unilaterales ni imposiciones. Las políticas para combatir problemas comunes deben resolverse en consensos.

May 24, 2001: Time to embrace Central America with free trade
By Pater Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has called for consideration of a free trade agreement with the nations of Central America.

May 21, 2001: Populism and Latin America
By Pater Hakim
Source: The Washington Post
Jackson Diehl has it wrong [op-ed, May 14]: Populist leaders are not challenging for power or threatening to uproot the market economic policies in Latin America.

April 25, 2001: Clearing the Air in Quebec
By Peter Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
At the recent Summit of 34 Western Hemisphere heads of states in Quebec City, the sizeable and sometimes violent protests gained most of the headlines and television time. But other business got done as well.

April 17, 2001: In need of undivided attention
By Peter Hakim
Source: Financial Times
When 34 western hemisphere heads of state assemble in Canada this week the mood of the Latin American participants will be somber.

April 15, 2001: A Blast From the Past Riles Presidential Politics
By Michael Shifter
Source: Los Angeles Times
On July 28, 1985, Alan Garcia became Peru's youngest-ever president at 35 and promised an era of social progress and democratic renewal. Instead, he left the country in near-ruin, with both inflation and political violence reaching unprecedented levels. Yet, despite this shameful record, it is conceivable that Garcia, now 51, may get another chance to lead Peru on July 28, 2001.

April 5, 2001: CUBA/US: Policy Pressures
By Peter Hakim
Source: Oxford Analytica
The prospects for US-Cuba relations under the Bush administration.

April 2, 2001: Can an Anti-Narcotics Effort be Multilateralized? (PDF)
By Viron P. Vaky and Jorge I. Domínguez
Source: Inter-American Dialogue Policy Brief

April 1, 2001: A Friend the U.S. Can't Afford to Lose
By Peter Hakim
Source: Los Angeles Times
After his meeting with Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President George W. Bush should realize that the United States cannot achieve its most important Western Hemisphere objectives without Brazilian cooperation.

April 1, 2001: Un primer paso - El reto de George W. Bush: ampliarlo
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Affairs en Español
Tal vez lo mejor que pueda decirse sobre el Plan Colombia es que existe. Al fin y al cabo, Colombia necesita un plan, un marco de gran alcance que intente atacar los múltiples problemas del país, que cada vez se hacen más profundos.

March 28, 2001: Five ways Bush can brighten Latin America's mood
By Pater Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
The mood of Latin American leaders was downbeat in Chile last week at the Inter-American Development Bank's annual meeting.

March 7, 2001: Adios Fujimori
By Michael Shifter
Source: El Tiempo (Colombia)
Vivimos en otro país, escribe el abogado peruano Ernesto de la Jara. Todo cambió de un momento a otro. Se está refiriendo, por supuesto, al increíble desmoronamiento del régimen del presidente Alberto Fujimori, ocurrido en noviembre pasado luego de una década de vida.

March 1, 2001: Adiós, Fujimori (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Policy
“We live in another country,” writes Peruvian lawyer Ernesto de la Jara. “Everything changed from one moment to the next.” He’s talking, of course, about last November’s astonishing meltdown of President Alberto Fujimori’s decade-long regime.

March 1, 2001: The Uneasy Americas
By Peter Hakim
Source: Foreing Affairs
This April, President George W. Bush will travel to Quebec City for a summit meeting of the western hemisphere's heads of state.

February 1, 2001: Message from Latin America: Start—but Don’t Stop—with Mexico
By Peter Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Most Latin Americans were pleased that President Bush made his first foreign trip to Mexico—seeing it as the necessary forerunner of enhanced US attention to the entire region.

February 1, 2001: Drugs, Democracy and Latin America
By Michael Shifter
Source: Foreign Service Journal
Despite the rhetoric, promoting democracy is not always a top U.S. priority in Latin America.

February 1, 2001: United States–Latin American Relations: Preparing for the Handover
By Michael Shifter
Source: Current History
Whether the United States can resist the unilateral temptation and respond more constructively to the concerns of Mexico and other Latin American countries—and to the practical challenges of working with its neighbors—may be the defining question for inter-American relations in the early part of the new century.

January 21, 2001: A Risky Policy Unfolds - and No One Is Paying Attention
By Michael Shifter
Source: Los Angeles Times
Nothing evokes Vietnam more these days than U.S. policy toward Colombia. Many worry that the $1.3-billion anti-drug, mostly military aid package approved last summer by Congress--and the placement of several hundred U.S. trainers in the Andean country--could be the first steps on a slippery slope to a Vietnam-style quagmire.

January 11, 2001: Cómo nos va a ir con Bush
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
¿Más intervencionismo? ¿Más ayuda? ¿Más militarismo? Desde Washington, Michael Shifter, especialista en Colombia del Diálogo Interamericano, responde a estos interrogantes en artículo para CAMBIO.

January 11, 2001: How are we going to do with Bush?
By Michael Shifter
Source: Cambio (Colombia)
In Washington, just weeks before the inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd president of the United States, the favorite sport is to guess and speculate how the new administration is likely to handle a wide variety of issues once it is in place. This exercise, though fraught with risks, is nearly irresistible.

January 1, 2001: Chile Free Trade Talks Will Test Bush
By Pater Hakim
Source: Christian Science Monitor
When, at the end of November 2000, the Clinton Administration announced it would begin negotiating a free trade arrangement with Chile, it was carrying out a six-year old promise made at the 1994 Miami summit of Western Hemisphere heads of state.

December 10, 2000: This Plan Isn’t Working
By Michael Shifter
Source: Washington Post
"Plan Colombia" has become a policy many people and governments love to hate. The $7.5 billion aid program was conceived jointly by U.S. and Colombian officials in September 1999 to deal with Colombia's deterioration into a lawless state fueled by the drug trade. Recently the plan has generated a strong backlash among some of the very governments and private groups whose support is critical if the Colombian government is to regain control of the country.

November 1, 2000: ¡Cómo extrañaba todo esto!
By Michael Shifter
Source: ideele (Peru)
El 7 de noviembre voté muy cerca de mi casa en Washington D.C. Lo hice muy temprano, a las 7 de la mañana, cuando las mesas de votación recién se abrían.

September 4, 2000: U.S. needs a long-range strategy for Colombia
By Michael Shifter
Source: The Miami Herald
When President Bill Clinton traveled to Colombia last week, he should have taken a cue from his boyhood idol, John F. Kennedy. In 1961, President Kennedy toured South America to launch the Alliance for Progress for social reform and development.

March 1, 1996: EEUU en la posguerra fría (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: QueHacer
Hace más de un cuarto de siglo, antes de que la Guerra fría terminara, Lenny Bruce, el perspicaz y controvertido actor estadounidense de finales de los 50 y principios de los 60, pronostico todo lo que iba a suceder.

November 2, 1992: Un Brindis por Lima (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Debate
Precariedad. Esa fue la primera sensación que tuve cuando llegue a Lima -seis meses después de los famosos sucesos penales y seis meses antes de la famosa estratificación de la banca.

November 2, 1992: Un Cherry por Lima (PDF)
By Michael Shifter
Source: Debate
Precarious. That is the first sensation I had when I arrived in Lima in January, 1987 -six months after the famous "penales" and six months before the also famous bank nationalization.