Blog entries

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn are back in the United States after enjoying the hospitality of Fidel and Raúl Castro in Havana and visiting with Alan Gross, an American serving a 15-year sentence for giving away a satellite telephone and a laptop to Cubans. They also met with Cuban dissidents, notably mothers … Read more

Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Patriota, arrived in Santiago, Chile today, where he will meet with his Chilean counterpart, Alfredo Moreno and President Sebastián Piñera as part of annual bilateral talks to promote diplomatic and economic cooperation between the two countries. Although much of the dialogue will focus on economic issues, local media are … Read more

President Obama’s trip one week later:  Did it matter?  It barely made a splash in the U.S. media, but at a regional and personal level it did.  Talk to Brazilians, Chileans or Salvadorans and they appreciate the fact that he went there.  Sure, he couldn’t do it with the festive, family-oriented aura that he had … Read more

With President Barack Obama having returned from Latin America a little over a week ago, Washington has again turned its attention to other world regions. The problem is that, even during the trip, Washington never really focused on our hemisphere. Yes, the timing of the Libya military intervention certainly did not help coverage of Obama’s … Read more

Authors: Brandon Yoder and Aimel Wong Former President Jimmy Carter departed Havana yesterday after a three-day visit that the Carter Center billed as an opportunity “to learn about new economic policies and the upcoming [Communist] Party Congress, and to discuss ways to improve U.S.-Cuba relations.”  However, given that U.S. development contractor Alan Gross was recently … Read more

A first set of artifacts taken from Machu Picchu in the early 1900s made its way back to Peru yesterday, after being housed at Yale University for nearly a century. The set of 363 objects and 1,000 fragments is part of a collection of over 45,000 artifacts that will return to Peru over the next … Read more

Presidential Election Results Delayed in Haiti Haiti’s electoral agency announced that preliminary results from a March 20 runoff election—originally scheduled to be released March 31—won’t be available until April 5, with final results planned for April 16. The council attributes the delay to signs of fraud in vote counts. The results will reveal whether ex-First … Read more

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced yesterday that large voter turnout and a “high incidence of fraud and irregularities” during the March 20 presidential runoff will delay the announcement of preliminary results. Though the results were scheduled for release tomorrow, presidential hopefuls Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly will have to wait until April 4 for … Read more

The recent news published by The New York Times on unmanned drone planes doing reconnaissance flights over Mexican territory has already spurred aggressive reactions by the legislative opposition to Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party, or PAN). Practically in unison, civil society is responding to these reactions and sending a message … Read more

Just a decade ago, most Latin American governments looked to the United States and Europe as examples of how to improve governance, foster sustainable economic growth and institute more just societies. But today, there are some countries in Latin America that serve as case studies worth following—one of which is Uruguay. It may be the … Read more

Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba yesterday afternoon for a three-day visit to the island by invitation of the Cuban government.  Carter’s travel to the island, billed as a private trip, will include meetings with Catholic and Jewish authorities as well as a meeting with Raúl Castro.  The former President is expected to address U.S.-Cuba relations, … Read more

With Peru’s presidential election occurring less than two weeks from today, nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala has taken the lead according to two polls published yesterday. His lead reflects a surging candidacy and a decline in momentum for former President Alejandro Toledo. An Ipsos poll has Humala leading with 21.2 percent of the vote, with early … Read more

On the day before Argentina marked the 35th anniversary of the military coup that installed a seven-year dictatorial regime, an ex-general was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity. Luciano Menendez, 83, was head of the army’s Third Corps during the dictatorship period of 1976-1983. This was his sixth life sentence. According to … Read more

A new change in British law last year extends the retroactive reach of United Kingdom authorities to prosecute for war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. Crimes can now be prosecuted for acts committed all the way back to 1991—10 years earlier than the previous cut-off point. Given this development, a Peruvian man … Read more

Sebastián Piñera, presidente de Chile, propuso al presidente estadounidense Barack Obama una relación 2.0. Piñera hacía así gala de su familiaridad con las redes sociales del Internet. Un gesto de modernidad acorde con la propia imagen de su país, el más yuppie de América Latina. De hecho, el Presidente chileno le recordó a Obama que … Read more