On January 8, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lands in Venezuela to start a brief but highly symbolic Latin American visit. The Iranian leader aims to bolster ties with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and some of the region’s most strident anti-American leaders. For the Obama Administration, the Iranian visit reflects a continuing… Read more
It is a safe bet that Daniel Ortega will be Nicaragua’s next president on November 6. As leader of the disciplined Sandinista party, the 65-year-old former Marxist-Leninist rebel faces a fragmented and poorly funded opposition. He has a robust campaign chest thanks to nearly $2 billion dispensed over the past… Read more
On January 27, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo will don the sash of presidential office in Honduras. He becomes the eighth civilian president since military rule ended in 1982. Lobo and a new congress dominated by his National Party take power in one of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest countries—a nation badly scarred… Read more
Abstract: The U.S. officially designates four countries as state sponsors of terrorism--Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Sudan. It is high time to add Venezuela to the list. Far from being merely a populist showman and bully, Hugo Chávez is a reckless leader who collaborates with Colombian narcoterrorists and Islamist terrorists, pals… Read more
For the past nine months, the Obama Administration and Congress have allowed three free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated by the Bush Administration -- Colombia, Panama, and South Korea -- to languish unapproved. This delay hurts American workers, as each of the agreements offers its own unique benefit to… Read more
Since June 28--when the Honduran military placed Manuel Zelaya on an aircraft bound for San Jose, Costa Rica--massive media coverage, diplomatic maneuvering, and political theater have accompanied efforts to restore Zelaya to the presidency of his Central American nation. In the aftermath of his exile, Manuel Zelaya's shift from the political center toward both foreign… Read more
As the Obama Administration settles into the White House and reviews its foreign policy agenda, one significant topic likely to emerge early will be U.S. relations with Venezuela and its radical, anti-American president Hugo Chávez. The orderly transition from a Republican to a Democratic Administration in the U.S. in January 2009 contrasts with the polarizing battle… Read more
In the face of multiple challenges from distant Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, it may be easy to forget that Latin America and the Caribbean are so close at hand. The region may not be America's backyard, but it is certainly very much our neighborhood. The United States… Read more
Latin America and the Caribbean may not sit high on President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy agenda, but geography, trade, investment, migration, and transnational threats draw Western Hemisphere issues inexorably closer to the top of the list. The new Administration will quickly discover opportunities and risks in the region. As a host of appointees and… Read more
Marketing himself as a completely redesigned 2007 model, with sleek new lines and reassuring sound bites, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega persuaded 38 percent of Nicaraguan voters to elect him president in November 2006 on his third try since leaving office in 1990. Ortega, now 62, assumed the presidency for the second time in January 2007.… Read more
When Nicaraguan citizens defeated communist comandantes at the ballot box in February 1990, it was the dawn of democracy in a country that had rarely known it and the triumph of elected civilian rule in a region long plagued by dictators. Yet now, just as Nicaragua is set to receive a Millennium Challenge Account… Read more
Marketing himself as a completely redesigned 2007 model, with sleek new lines and reassuring sound bites, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega persuaded 38 percent of Nicaraguan voters to elect him president in November 2006 on his third try since leaving office in 1990. Ortega, now 62, assumed the presidency for the second time in January 2007.… Read more
[caption id="attachment_88001" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega greets...… Read more
With his win in the November 6 election, Daniel Ortega secured his third presidential term in Nicaragua. While few would...… Read more
Press pundits and many Latin American experts are predicting that Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas will easily win...… Read more
The world continues to watch the unfolding drama of popular revolt in Libya. In recent days we have seen a murderous...… Read more
Efforts by the Obama Administration to work with Russia on Iran, nuclear arms control, and the fight against terrorism...… Read more