Ecuador Reacts to U.S. Watch List of Intellectual Property Rights
The government of Ecuador released a statement on Thursday dismissing the headline of an earlier article by the Spanish international wire service EFE that Ecuador is on a United States “black list” of countries in violation of intellectual property rights. The EFE story was an interpretation of an annual report, also released on Thursday, issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative … Read more
Monday Memo: U.S.-Colombia Talks—Guatemala Protests—Buenos Aires Primaries—Puerto Rico Downgrade—Texas Delegation in Cuba
This week’s likely top stories: U.S.-Colombia Fifth Annual Bilateral Meeting; Protesters denounce corruption in Guatemala; Primaries for local elections held in Buenos Aires; S&P downgrades Puerto Rico; and Texas trade delegation visits Havana. High-level Colombia-U.S. Talks on Mutual Cooperation: The U.S. and Colombia will hold high-level bilateral talks today in Bogotá, Colombia at the office … Read more
Monday Memo: U.S. Delegation in Cuba—Venezuela Loan—Caribbean Fiber Optic Cable—Activist Murders in Honduras—Argentina-Falklands Oil
This week’s likely top stories: U.S. trade delegation arrives in Cuba; Venezuela receives a $5 billion Chinese loan; Caribbean’s longest fiber optic cable nearly complete; NGO says Honduras leads the world in per capita murders of environmental activists; Argentina sues five companies over Falklands oil exploration. Governor Cuomo and U.S. Companies Visit Cuba: New York … Read more
U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Three Members of MS-13 Gang
On Thursday, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on three leaders of Mara Salvatrucha (“MS-13”), a gang of 30,000 members spread throughout El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States. The gang, whose leadership is concentrated in El Salvador, has been listed as a Transnational Criminal Organization since 2012 by the U.S. Department of Treasury … Read more
Policy Updates
A snapshot of policy trends and successes in the region.
U.S. Decision to Remove Cuba from Terror List Receives Mixed Reactions
On Tuesday, President Obama’s announcement of his intention to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism (SSOT) was received with both praise and dissent from Cuban and U.S. politicians. Despite the controversy, the announcement marks a significant change in not only U.S.-Cuba relations, but also U.S.-Latin America relations. The announcement followed President … Read more
A New Era for U.S.-Cuba Relations, with an Old Ideological Divide
Before it even began, the 7th triennial Summit of the Americas was considered a success by many, based simply on the invitation list. Cuba, attending for the first time, did not disappoint as the star of the show. On day one of the Summit, Presidents Raúl Castro and Barack Obama gave us the historic handshake … Read more
Monday Memo: Brazil Protests—Colombian Generals Investigation—Obama-Castro Meeting—Puerto Rico Debt—Chilean Mining
This week’s likely top stories: Brazilians demonstrate against corruption; Colombian generals investigated; Obama and Castro hold meeting; Puerto Rico seeks debt help; Chilean communities fight mining companies over water. Hundreds of Thousands Protest Corruption in Brazil: Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets on Sunday to protest government corruption. Estimates of participants vary, but police say … Read more
Hard Talk: Police Accountability
Will police body cameras improve accountability? Yes: Shira A. Scheindlin; No: Peter K. Manning
Mounting Tensions Between the U.K. and Argentina Over Falkland Islands
Argentina and the U.K. summoned each others’ ambassadors this week as tension between the two countries escalated over the territorial dispute involving the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas in Argentina. Yesterday, the Argentine government announced that Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo Zuain had called in British ambassador John Freeman to demand an explanation over media reports that the U.K. had … Read more
Is the Iranian Nuclear Deal a Good Deal?
In the past week, politicians and various experts have been weighing in on the negotiated framework between Iran and the permanent members of the UN Security Council (plus Germany) in Lausanne, Switzerland. While the Iranian nuclear deal appears on the surface to be quite an accomplishment, getting to a final agreement is no sure thing. … Read more
Monday Memo: Summit of the Americas—Venezuela–U.S. relations—Citibank Inspection—Bolivian Missile Trial—Canada-Venezuela Oil
This week’s likely top stories: The Summit of the Americas commences in Panama; petition criticizes U.S. action against Venezuela; Argentine Central Bank inspects Citibank; TSJ initiates missiles trial in Bolivia; Canada and Venezuela discuss investment in Venezuelan oil. Americas Summit Begins This Week in Panama: The seventh Summit of the Americas will take place this … Read more
Mil maneras de ¨hackear” el Congreso
La pregunta que el cofundador y director de Personal Democracy Media, Micah L. Sifry, se hizo en su libro, “The Big Disconnect: Why the Internet Hasn’t Transformed Politics (Yet)” (“La gran desconexión: Por qué Internet no ha transformado la política (aún)”), ocupa desde hace años la mente de activistas, politólogos, hackers, periodistas y todos aquellos … Read more
Broken DREAMs in Albany’s Budget
When my mother decided to bring my brothers and me to this country from Mexico six years ago, she did it because she wanted us to have a better future. My mom is a single mother with five children, and she always explained to us that the educational system here was much better than in … Read more
Russian Foreign Minister Concludes Tour of Latin America
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov culminated a four-country tour of Latin America on Thursday in what was widely seen as Moscow’s latest bid to counteract Western sanctions over Russia’s policies in Ukraine and Crimea. Earlier this week, Lavrov met with heads of state Raúl Castro in Cuba, Juan Manual Santos in Colombia and Daniel Ortega … Read more
