Ask The Experts: China’s Global Rise
Congressman Connie Mack Answers: China’s economic expansion is rapidly filling spaces vacated and ignored by the United States. In the Western Hemisphere, the lack of a coherent U.S. foreign policy has left the door wide open for a variety of actors. China hasn’t hesitated. While the U.S. waited five years to pass free-trade agreements with … Read more
Going Places?
Following concerted unilateral, regional and multilateral trade liberalization efforts in the 1990s and 2000s, Latin American countries have seen a significant increase in trade. Latin American exports grew by 9.8 percent annually from 1980 to 2010, compared to a world average of 8.5 percent. And from 1986 to 2010, the region’s share of world exports … Read more
Memo to Washington: China’s Growing Presence in Latin America
What is China doing in the Americas? It’s a good question—and an increasingly important one for policymakers in Washington. According to one U.S. analyst, it’s about “goodwill, good business and strategic position.”1 Perhaps. But the jury is still out, mostly because China’s interest in the Western Hemisphere is barely a decade old. For many years, … Read more
Guatemala’s Military Man, Nicaragua’s Revolutionary
Guatemala and Nicaragua, two Central American nations grappling with uncertain futures, chose starkly different paths in the November 2011 elections. Their presidents, both inaugurated in mid-January, will face challenges—some of their own doing—in an unstable region with scant resources, fragile public institutions, and the constant threat of organized crime. Guatemala swore in a hardline former … Read more
Mexico Ratifies Trade Agreement with Peru
The Mexican Senate on Thursday approved the free-trade agreement (FTA) between Mexico and Peru by a count of 55 votes in favor of the legislation and 47 against. The agreement was signed by the presidents of both countries in April of this year, but stalled in the Senate due to concerns over the potential impact … Read more
Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas
From 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 receive the Weekly Roundup via email. Links Uncovered between LatAm Cartels and Hezbollah ProPublica examines the links uncovered by … Read more
Apple Debuts iTunes Store in Latin America
Apple Inc. launched its iTunes digital multimedia store yesterday in 16 Latin American countries—a move that industry analysts believe will curb music piracy in the region. The primary regional market for the iTunes Store will be Brazil, and Apple will also begin providing the service to 15 Spanish-speaking countries in the hemisphere: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, … Read more
Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas
From 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 receive the Weekly Roundup via email. Peru’s Largest Mining Project Suspended Following Protests In Peru’s Cajamarca province, American company … Read more
Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas
From 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 receive the Weekly Roundup via email. Helicopter Crash Claims Mexico’s Second Most Powerful Official Mexico’s Interior Minister Francisco Blake … Read more
Ortega Poised for Victory in Nicaragua’s Presidential Election
Electoral campaigns for Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections closed on Wednesday night, with polls predicting that incumbent president Daniel Ortega will win another term. According to the latest Cid Gallup poll, Ortega, of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) party, leads with 48 percent of the voting intention. His nearest rival, 79-year-old Fabio Gadea … Read more
2012 Election: U.S. Presidential Candidates on the Hemisphere
As the U.S. presidential campaign intensifies ahead of the general election on November 6, 2012, AQ Online provides continuous updates of candidates’ positions on issues that are critical to U.S. relations with the Americas. Check back here as the Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s Americas-focused policies—as well as related developments from the Obama presidency—unfold. We will … Read more
[i]China Engages Latin America: Tracing the Trajectory[/i] by Adrian H. Hearn and José Luis León-Manríquez
During the early 1990s, many Latin American and U.S. analysts expressed concerns about an Asian giant that was buying Brazilian iron ore and investing in Mexican manufacturing, while at the same time showing signs of out-competing Latin American and U.S. firms in the region. That giant was Japan. Hysteria heightened and academic research accumulated. But … Read more
Diplomacy: Canada’s New Policies Toward Latin America
In August, on his fourth official visit to Latin America, Prime Minister Stephen Harper set out to reboot Canada’s on-and-off-again relationship with the region. In the first stop on a four-country tour that took him to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Honduras, Harper declared in São Paulo that “during too long a time we neglected … Read more
Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas
From 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 receive the Weekly Roundup via email. Petro Wins Mayoralty of Bogota on Anti-Corruption Platform Gustavo Petro, a former presidential … Read more
U.S. Congress Reacts to Security Threats
Peter Smith’s classic text on U.S.-Latin American relations, Talons of the Eagle, posits a basic rule: the greater the perception of extra-hemispheric threat, the greater the attention to Latin America. This is particularly true in the U.S. Congress, where the region’s diversification of relations beyond the Western Hemisphere tends to arouse suspicion and competitive pressure. … Read more
