Blog entries

As if President Barack Obama didn’t have enough on his plate—the Mexico drug war has really come up and brought the administration’s focus back into this hemisphere.  Besides grappling with a global financial meltdown, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the stunning severity of narcoviolence—and the “spillover” into the U.S.—is demanding immediate attention from the U.S. government, … Read more

The folding of several important newspapers throughout the U.S. has caused many to lament the “end of journalism” as we know it, and has left many would-be journalists to pursue other career paths. Jenny Manrique is not one of those would-be journalists. Her fearless, investigative reporting on topics such as post-traumatic stress disorder among political … Read more

Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín, primer presidente de la democracia Argentina, murió el 31 de marzo a los 82 años. Apenas estoy llegando a Buenos Aires después de casi 5 años en Estados Unidos y este es mi primer blog desde aquí. Hoy vaya mi homenaje para el Dr. Alfonsín. Con él se va una parte importante … Read more

This Thursday, for a second time, the G-20 leaders in London will embrace free trade and commit themselves to avoiding protectionist measures, just as they did four months ago in Washington. Their efforts will likely fail. Not that they haven’t failed already, mind you. According to a report by the World Bank, several countries implemented … Read more

Hoy en día las palabras “nueva relación” se dispersan por Washington con más facilidad que el viento. Después del triunfo y las celebraciones, la fuerza de cambio que el presidente Barack Obama proyectó en su campaña, ha comenzado a ponerse a prueba minuto a minuto, y América Latina no está exenta de este escenario. Hay … Read more

For Hispanic immigrants living in the United States, the obstacles to receiving adequate health care are many: lack of health insurance and language and cultural barriers in addition to immigration status are among the most important. One example of the cultural differences is the home remedies that many immigrant groups use to treat health complications. … Read more

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa and its Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhán were at Mexico City’s airport at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning to great the arrival of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration’s new era of bilateral relations. Both Clinton and Espinosa were ready to discuss areas of cooperation and … Read more

There’s a lot on the agendas of the three cabinet members and President Obama when they travel to Mexico this month to meet with Mexican officials, including President Felipe Calderon.  First it’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (March 25-26), then Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (April 1 and 2), … Read more

On both the left and the right a lot has been made of Mauricio Funes’ victory in the March 15 presidential elections in El Salvador. Those on the left say this is yet another vindication of the failure of the neo-liberal model—another in a string of left-leaning leaders that have come to power through the … Read more

El 7 de marzo, un grupo de pobladores aymaras del cantón paceño Huatajata tomó y saqueó la casa de Víctor Hugo Cárdenas, ex vicepresidente de Bolivia. Bajo la consigna de que se estaba escarmentando a un traidor del pueblo, los campesinos expulsaron a la familia, no sin antes apalear a la esposa de Cárdenas y … Read more

When 4,000 foreign visitors, top bankers, and member heads of state of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) descend on Medellín next week for the bank’s annual meeting and 50th anniversary, they will encounter a city very different to the one it was two decades ago. Medellín, Colombia’s second city and industrial hub, has transformed in … Read more

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and President Barack Obama met in the Oval Office on Saturday morning. The White House said Larry Summers, head of the White House’s National Economic Council, General Jim Jones, head of the National Security Council (NSC), Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg and Dan Restrepo, the NSC’s director for … Read more

The State Department is in full gear preparing for the Summit of the Americas in mid-April. And I got a good look at those preparations at the Inter-American Dialogue’s discussion with Tom Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow—who I can now FINALLY say is the White House Adviser … Read more

Who’d have guessed it? When Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Barack Obama meet on March 14th, one of the top items on their agenda will be free trade—pushed by the former labor leader President Lula.  This is the same President that, when elected, roiled markets due to investor fears that … Read more

Cuba’s Raúl Castro shook up his Cabinet big time this week—the largest change in decades—when he ousted, promoted or shifted around more than 20 officials. Most prominent—and surprising to many here in the United States—was the dismissal of Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and Vice President Carlos Lage, known as the brains of recent economic … Read more