Is it another sign of Washington’s withering clout in Latin America? Or does it indicate the rule of law’s rising stature in the region? Or will it just let Venezuelan officials who are allegedly in the pockets of drug lords off the hook? When it comes to Colombia’s final decision to extradite alleged narco-kingpin Walid Makled to …
Latin America
Why Posada Carriles Should Still Be Tried For Terrorism
Now that an El Paso, Texas, jury has acquitted Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles of perjury, the buzz back in Miami is that at least he got the fair trial that people in communist Cuba are usually denied. Now, say Cuban exile leaders, it’s time to put the whole ugly Posada drama to rest. But Friday’s verdict only throws into sharper …
Out of Ecuador: Another U.S. Ambassador Bites the WikiDust
Updated: April 7, 2011
Another U.S. Ambassador in Latin America bit the WikiDust this week. This time it was a leftist rather than a conservative government pushing the yanqui envoy out, but the reason was similar – and similarly lame. WikiLeaks recently released a confidential U.S. diplomatic cable from 2009 – which the Spanish …
‘Sweet Micky’: Is Haiti’s Next President Democrat or Demagogue?
When Haiti’s presidential election got under way last summer, the big question was how large a role the nation’s large and disaffected youth vote would play. We now know the answer: Huge. Half of Haiti’s population of 9 million is under the age of 25, and Monday evening, April 4, that cohort’s candidate, flamboyant former …
Mexico’s New Top Cop Pick: Can Its First Female Attorney General Rein In the Narcos?
Mexican President Felipe Calderón could stand to build a few bridges with Washington at the moment. Last month saw the resignation of the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, who many believe was forced out by Calderon’s unusually public complaints about confidential U.S. diplomatic cables, released last December by WikiLeaks, …
Carter in Cuba: The Long Road to Freeing a U.S. Prisoner – and Thawing U.S.-Cuba Relations
Question: If former U.S. President Jimmy Carter didn’t go to Cuba this week to win the freedom of jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross, what was he there for? Answer: To win the freedom of jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross – but down the road. And that road could be a long one.
Gross, 61, a Maryland lawyer, was arrested in Cuba in …
Chile Goes Atomic? Why the Japan of the Americas Still Wants Nuclear Energy
This article was written by Tim Padgett with Aaron Nelsen in Santiago
During President Obama’s visit to Chile this week, he and President Sebastián Piñera were supposed to have ceremoniously signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement. Instead, the pact, under which Chile would gain U.S. nuclear technology and training, was …
Rebuilding Chile: Harder Than Rescuing Miners?
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera was riding high in the polls last October when he led the globally celebrated rescue of 33 trapped miners. But since then, his 63% approval rating has dropped below 50% as the glow of the rescue fades and Chileans ponder the harder task before them: rebuilding the central swath of the country hit by …
Can Obama and Calderon Solve Mexico’s Bloodshed — and the Bad Blood?
Are the U.S. and Mexico in “distant neighbors” mode again?
In the wake of last month’s murder of a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, by narco-criminals on a Mexican highway, the façade of U.S.-Mexico drug-war camaraderie appears to be cracking. Already irked by recently WikiLeaked cables between U.S. diplomats …
That Venezuela Rumor: Why Gaddafi Could Flee to Chavez
The big rumor wafting out of the bloody unrest in Libya over the weekend – that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had taken refuge in Venezuela – had become so widespread that when Gaddafi appeared on state television on Tuesday, one of his first messages was: “I am here in Tripoli and not in Venezuela.”
The global media had been …