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On September 30, 2020, the Inter-American Dialogue hosted “Venezuela’s Humanitarian and Human Rights Crises-The Search for Innovative Responses” to discuss the current humanitarian situation as well as present the findings of the Dialogue’s Rule of Law Program’s report, Corruption and Crisis in Venezuela: Asset Repatriation for Humanitarian Relief.
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Energy Program Director Lisa Viscidi went on CGTN to discuss the latest developments in the increasingly international debate over how to peacefully resolve the crisis in embattled Venezuela.
The newly appointed President and CEO of the Inter-American Dialogue, Rebecca Bill Chavez, spoke with the Washington Diplomat about her new role and the most urgent priorities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prominent among her concerns was the retrogression of democracy across the region, with a pointed focus on Venezuela.
No one should be worried about American military action anywhere in Latin America. The notion is risible. But President Trump’s cavalier remark last week referring to a “possible military option” to deal with the increasingly dictatorial regime led by President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has real consequences.
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Venezuela’s longest-ever blackout, which began on March 7 and lasted until at least March 12 in most of the country, aggravated an already dire humanitarian situation. Lisa Viscidi presented to a special meeting of the OAS Permanent Council about how grave government mismanagement of the power sector debilitated Venezuela’s grid, making electricity rationing a routine and power failures commonplace.
Mientras algunos expertos en Washington consideran que la instalación del Tribunal Supremo opositor venezolano es legítima, otros creen que estos magistrados, no serán objetivos en sus juicios. Michael Shifter comenta.
On March 21, 2019 the Inter-American Dialogue hosted former defense minister and former Colombian ambassador to the United States Juan Carlos Pinzón for a private conversation with dialogue staff, representatives from other think-tanks and news outlets.
President Trump’s trip to the Summit of the Americas in Peru will mark his first visit to Latin America. After Peru, the president will travel to Colombia, where he will meet with outgoing president Juan Manuel Santos. To provide insight and analysis prior to this visit, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center assembled a private press roundtable of leading analysts and journalists on April 4.
The U.S. president needs to keep cooperating closely with Mexico, steer clear of any military action in Venezuela and refrain from bullying his partners and allies in the region.
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In a public event for the Chappaqua Library (NY), Michael Shifter discussed the impact of President Trump’s first year in office upon American foreign policy and relations with Latin America. Shifter outlines three policy issues that have recently heightened tensions between the United States and Latin America: isolationist and protectionist immigration and trade policies, the reversal of the Cuban thaw, and the Trump administration’s return to a more militant War on Drugs.
A lack of transmission-line maintenance may have been the immediate trigger for the power outage that left much of Venezuela in darkness on March 7, but it is a symptom of almost two decades of government mismanagement that has debilitated Venezuela’s power sector, draining its reserves of both human and financial capital and nudging it towards collapse.
Could Venezuela’s oil production decline even more steeply? Three evolving developments will largely determine the answer: whether creditors can seize assets in compensation for default, whether large numbers of oil workers continue to abandon their jobs, and whether the United States and other countries impose additional sanctions.
Over the past two weeks, Spain has become an accidental protagonist in the diplomatic efforts to end Venezuela’s crises. The good news is that Spain is well-positioned to lead the effort to restore democracy in Venezuela. The bad news is that the Spanish government is deeply conflicted about what to do. But there are five clear ways that Spain can demonstrate that the democratic cause in Venezuela is not just a guise for U.S. adventurism.
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Millions of Venezuelans are fleeing the crisis torn country into neighboring Colombia. How dire is the situation and could it get even worse? Dialogue President Michael Shifter discussed these questions on CBC’s Power & Politics with Vassy Kapelos.
In January, the surprising emergence of Juan Guaidó as the opposition’s leader was followed by months of frenetic activity on the Venezuela crisis. Today there seems to be a pause in the high drama. It is in this context that former Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, now the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is making a three-day visit to Venezuela. Although it is hard to predict the final result of the visit, there is little doubt that both sides of this tragic and protracted stalemate will seek to take maximum political advantage.
