Solving the Migration Crisis Requires a Shift in Foreign Policy
This Friday, presidents of the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will meet with President Barack Obama in Washington DC to deal with the crisis of unaccompanied minors arriving in the U.S. from Central America. Migration between these countries is not new, and has been high on the multilateral agenda for … Read more
Is the U.S. Missing a Free Kick at the World Cup?
The World Cup offers something of a free kick for soccer diplomacy, which some observers say U.S. President Barack Obama is failing to capitalize on. While many nations, from Germany to Russia, are sending their leaders to Brazil to make a diplomatic appearance, Obama is staying home. So is First Lady Michelle Obama and their … Read more
Now We Have the Santa Barbara Killings
On two previous occasions, I have used the Americas Quarterly blog as a space to talk about gun violence. The incidents in Aurora (July 2012) provoked one, and another surfaced when remembering the events of Montreal’s Polytechnique Engineering School in 1989 where 14 women were gunned down. We can also recall Virginia Tech, Columbine, Sandy … Read more
AQ Slideshow: NYC Immigrants March for Reform on May Day
Immigrant and workers’ rights activists and union members gathered in New York City last week to celebrate International Workers’ Day on May 1—also known as May Day. Representatives from unions like Local 375 NYC Board of Education Employees (AFSCME) and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and immigrant rights groups like New Immigrant Community Empowerment … Read more
While Brazil Sambas with Cuba, the U.S. Dances Alone
Brazil is betting on an eventual opening in Cuba. The bet is more than economic; it’s linked directly to a larger geopolitical project intended to draw Cuba toward its own model of economic and political organization as Cuba wakes up from its 55-year slumber under the Castro regime. The process has already started with a … Read more
Policy Advocacy: U.S. Immigration Reform
Any meaningful comprehensive immigration reform in the United States must establish a pathway for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants to become eligible for legal residence and eventual citizenship. Getting unauthorized immigrants to some form of legal status, however, will require more than just legislative action; the nonprofit sector must mobilize and help them navigate … Read more
Monday Memo: Costa Rican Elections – U.S. Deportations – Venezuela-Spain Spat – FIFA Delays
Unchallenged Costa Rican Candidate Wins Presidency: Luis Guillermo Solís of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (Citizen Action Party—PAC) won Sunday’s presidential election in Costa Rica, claiming 78 percent of the vote. The challenging candidate, Johnny Araya of the Partido Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Party—PLN), dropped out of the running after a March 5 opinion poll ranked … Read more
United Nations Criticizes U.S. on Human Rights
A UN report that was released on Thursday criticizes the United States for a poor performance on 25 human rights issues, ranging from torture and National Security Agency spying, to life sentences for juvenile offenders and the death penalty. The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was critical of … Read more
Diplomacy Isn’t a Tug of War
Diplomacy during the Cold War, wrote Sam Tanenhaus in last Sunday’s New York Times, may have been more of a high wire act than a chess match—but diplomacy, neither then nor now, is a tug of war. Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s being conducted in the U.S.’ delinked Cuba-Venezuela policies—hostages to age-old vendettas, anachronistic policies … Read more
Monday Memo: Nicaraguan Elections – Venezuelan protests – Colombian Peace Talks – Mapuche Leader – Chilean Visas
Support AQ! “Like” our Fall 2013 issue cover here: http://on.fb.me/1kNso1z Likely top stories this week: Nicaraguans vote in local elections; protests continue in Venezuela; the FARC says it will continue peace talks during elections; a Mapuche leader is sentenced to prison; Chileans no longer need visas to enter the United States. Nicaraguan Elections: Nicaraguans overwhelmingly … Read more
Second Member of the “Cuban Five” Freed
The United States released the second member of a group of five Cuban prisoners—known as the “Cuban Five”—from an Arizona prison on Thursday. Fernando González, 54, was convicted in 2001 of spying on military bases and Cuban exiles in South Florida, and is expected to be deported back to Cuba within days. René González, a … Read more
Changing U.S. Policy Toward Cuba: Another View
In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Florida sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul said he is ready to do business with Cuba “under the right circumstances.” The questions are: “what are the right circumstances?” and “who benefits when American companies ‘do business’ with communist Cuba?” The Fanjul family left Cuba in 1959 when Fidel Castro … Read more
Cuba: Wait, Wait, Let Me Guess What Comes Next
I’m not a betting man, but if I were, this is what I’d bet. With a series of statements by leading Cuban-Americans, stories of change inside the island, and growing public pressure and attention to liberalize the U.S. embargo toward Cuba, I’d wager that soon the Cuban government will do something to halt the process. … Read more
Most Americans Support Normalizing Cuba Relations
A new poll by the Atlantic Council released yesterday found that a majority of Americans are now in favor of stabilizing U.S.-Cuba relations. Of those sampled nationwide, six out of 10 said they favor policy changes that would allow more business transactions between the two countries, as well as the lifting of restrictions that don’t … Read more
