Has Latin America Become a Foreign Policy Priority for the U.S.?
A Latin America Advisor Q&A featuring experts’ views on the role of U.S. legislators in drafting U.S. policy toward Latin America.
Rebecca Bill Chavez is a non-resident senior fellow with the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. She is also a Senior Advisor at the Center for Naval Analyses and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2013 through 2017. Prior to joining OSD Policy, she was Professor of Political Science with tenure at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Dr. Chavez received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University and her B.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Her research has focused on Western hemisphere security and on comparative politics, with an emphasis on security and defense, the rule of law, and democratization.
Analysis See all
How did Harris’ Central America trip go?
Noah Bierman, from the Los Angeles Times, travelled with Vice President Harris to the region and interviewed Rebecca Bill Chavez, non-resident senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, to assess the trip and the bigger questions it raises about the Biden administration’s strategy for reducing migration.
Vice President Harris’ Trip to Mexico & Guatemala
The upcoming trip of Vice President Kamala Harris to Mexico and Guatemala will focus on a wide range of challenges, including corruption, violence, organized crime, lack of economic development, investment, job opportunities, and climate change. Our experts discuss the issues that are likely to be raised during this trip, possible points of contention, concerns around the rule of law and regional security, and the current and expected migration trends from Central America, among other topics.
Press Mentions See all
We’ve had a tendency to neglect Latin America. It’s a region that’s far too often overlooked and as a result, we’re always reacting. I think we need a coherent long-term strategy toward the region that goes beyond the Northern Triangle.
US military intervention in Haiti or Cuba would be a huge mistake. Instead, the Pentagon should dedicate more resources to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the region, and to countering China’s predatory economics and illegal fishing.