Although the Caribbean basin has not always received the attention that it deserves, it continues to play an important role in the strategic environment of the United States.

China has sought a bigger role overseas, seemingly seeking to wean the region off of its relationship with the United States, from trade to language education and culture.

The Venezuelan government’s arrest of former oil minister Eulogio del Pino and former head of PdVSA Nelson Martinez at the end of November 2017, and its sacking of former PdVSA head Rafael Ramirez as Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations suggests that the crisis in Venezuela may be entering a dangerous new stage i…

Last week, Venezuela’s government threatened that if the U.S. did not withdraw its economic sanctions, it might call off the 2018 presidential election. Although such a grossly unconstitutional act would prolong the suffering of the Venezuelan people, it could ironically help limit a turn to the left in Latin America as the region faces one the largest and most significant series of electoral events in recent years.

Macri’s legislative achievements in his first year in office were remarkable. Although his Cambiemos (Change) coalition was a minority in both houses of the Congreso de la Nación Argentina (Argentine National Congress), his government passed approximately ninety laws during the period, working with dissident members of the previously in power Peronist Party and using the national government’s significant financial contribution to provincial budgets as leverage in influencing their senators.

The most important question regarding the unfolding crisis in Venezuela is whether the Venezuelan regime will be able to successfully transition power to a more rationally managed authoritarian government that protects those who have systematically looted the country, while providing a sufficient façade of democratic process and compromise that a weary and distracted international community lends it legitimacy.