Blog entries

For many aspiring baseball players in the Dominican Republic, the sport is often seen as the ticket out of poverty. Young men live and breathe the successes of players such as Pedro Martínez and Sammy Sosa, seeing them as testaments to the promise that baseball holds—the chance to shape a life different from the one … Read more

Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe can’t seem to decide if he’s going to run for a third term.  His most recent pronouncement, following a conversation with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, is that he is “convincing his soul” not to run for re-election and that he considers the issue a “personal dillema.” In January, it was … Read more

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online’s news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup. Sign up to get the Weekly Roundup in your email box each Wednesday. After the Summit The Summit of the Americas … Read more

Facing corruption charges in Venezuela, Manuel Rosales—prominent opposition leader and mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city—is seeking political asylum in Peru. The application was filed yesterday after he entered Peru on a tourist visa. He has called the charges politically motivated, and expressed concern over his ability to receive a fair trial. Last month, after … Read more

Lost among all the buzz surrounding the widely publicized handshakes between President Obama and President Chávez in Trinidad and Tobago is yet another conciliatory gesture the U.S. President made this weekend—this time toward Bolivia. President Evo Morales, who was recently a victim of an alleged assassination plot that left three dead in Santa Cruz last … Read more

La huelga de hambre que protagonizó Evo Morales hace algunos días puede haber asombrado a los que no conocen su trayectoria política. Pero no es una novedad para los que han seguido de cerca su carrera sindical. Evo se ha mostrado siempre muy hábil para jugar dentro y fuera de la ley al mismo tiempo. … Read more

Whether term limits are essential for democracy is a matter of opinion. Whether certain Latin American politicians are pushing that debate front and center is not a matter of debate.   Recent constitutional assemblies in Ecuador and Bolivia have limited presidential re-election to two terms. In Venezuela, voters cast ballots in a February 15 referendum … Read more

As the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago recedes, several impressions dominate.  The first is that most of the hemisphere remains enthralled by Obama-mania and his message to the hemisphere of inclusion, social justice and the more humble exercise of U.S. power and influence.  There is a real electricity there, and on balance, … Read more

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa announced yesterday a controversial move to buy back the country’s 2012 and 2030 bonds at only 30 cents on the dollar. Investors are less than pleased, though probably not surprised. Last December, Correa’s government failed to make a scheduled interest payment on its 2012 bonds. At that point, the government’s two … Read more

Indeed, as some feared and others hoped, the Obama administration does like its czars and special envoys.  We’ve already got the war czar, climate czar, health czar, urban affairs czar, drug czar, and a special envoy for the Summit of the Americas, to name a few. And as of April 15, we now have a … Read more

The Carnival Victory and Caribbean Princess cruise ships have sailed into Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to provide an additional 3,000 hotel rooms as delegations and guests get ready for Friday’s arrival of the hemisphere’s 34 democratically elected heads of state for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Expectations are high as U.S. President … Read more

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online’s news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup. Thirty-Four Leaders to Gather for Fifth Summit Trinidad and Tobago hosts leaders for the Fifth Summit of the Americas this weekend. … Read more

It should come as no surprise that it happened, nor should the timing. President Barack Obama’s lifting of the restrictions on Cuban-Americans’ travel and remittances to the island was a campaign promise and presented an easy way to set the tone for the Summit of the Americas from April 17 to 19 in Trinidad and … Read more

Alberto Fujimori kept his head down, studiously taking notes, as a panel of three Peruvian judges found him guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 25 years in prison on Tuesday. It took three hours to read out the verdict and sentence Peru’s former president for offences the court deemed “crimes against humanity.” … Read more

On April 17-19, President Barack Obama will travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the fifth Summit of the Americas that will convene all 34 democratically elected heads of state from the hemisphere.  To see a U.S. president focus so much attention on the region so early in his administration (in only his third international forum) … Read more