Press Mentions

[I believe] that measuring Latin America’s leaders on a traditional political axis is outmoded. Instead of the left-right scale [...] it makes more sense to distinguish between democrats and authoritarians.

[Guatemala's decision to host a "Friends of Taiwan" summit] is an important symbolic gesture ... These countries still stand to gain economically speaking and in terms of development from partnership with Taiwan.

[Chinese-funded projects are] not always purely beneficial ... There are challenges associated with carrying out some of the projects that are announced.

There has been a reassessment both on the part of the Chinese government and within the banks themselves of how to do business [in the Latin America and Caribbean region] . . . Latin American and Caribbean nations are managing an increasingly challenging balance between measuring China's geopolitical and economic interests, their own needs and reactions from the United States . . . 

There was this sort of love affair with Lula that I'd never really seen - certainly not with any other Latin American presidents and few others (...) so [Lula's upcoming state visit to China] will be [viewed as] a bit of a homecoming and an effort to demonstrate that [the Sino-Brazilian] relationship is not only alive and well but thriving (...), he will be met with a lot of excitement.

Brazil has a lot of resources that are of interest to China, and soy from Brazil is a major component of China's overall thinking on food security.

We’re already seeing a troubling drift toward authoritarianism and deliberate attacks on democratic institutions in Nicaragua’s neighbors, such as Guatemala and El Salvador.

There are systemic structural problems [in Haiti] – not only are we at a standstill, but we’re moving backwards with the criminal governance system that we have in place.

Considerando o modo como Putin tem buscado aumentar suas posições na guerra agora, acredito que o governo Biden não vê Putin pronto para negociar nada. Há um grau de ceticismo com o que a Rússia está dizendo em relação à sugestão do Brasil de criar um grupo de mediadores mais neutros.

Police teams from countries in the region would be better accepted by the Haitian population.

It’s hard to read Ortega’s mind. Perhaps he acted now because the costs of keeping these prisoners, with the chance that more would die, outweighed the benefits.

The attrition rate [of the Haitian National Police] is not only depleting the ranks but is a reflection of the frustrations and growing distrust with senior leadership and political leadership — that is a very serious problem.

O Brasil atua com destaque nessas áreas e continuará a ser um importante parceiro comercial e destino de investimentos chineses. . . . Com Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, um aliado ideológico, novamente no comando do Brasil, as perspectivas de cooperação na transição energética - uma área de interesse prioritário para a China - podem ter impulso em um nível que nunca tiveram.  

The fact is, there’s enormous polarization, distrust of institutions and just anger, anger because there’s been very little progress made [in Latin America].

Many expect the [China - Latin America] relationship to always stay the same. But this overlooks structural issues in China, such as a domestic property slump and the fallout from a trade war with the United States. There are already signs that China’s engagement with some parts of the region is weakening.