With corruption scandals, popular protests and the revelations in the Panama Papers, it’s easy to think that corruption in Latin America has suddenly increased. It hasn’t, but Latin American institutions are better prepared to deal with the fallout.
Está claro que América Latina no es un solo país. Asimismo, a Estados Unidos no le ha quedado otra opción que muchas veces mirar la región como una misma masa de países. Porque si bien los que siguen “gritando contra el imperio” son cada vez menos, los que callan ante esos gritos son cada vez más. Nadie se atreve, en la región, a frenar la ola de discursos vacíos de mea culpa.
It was a cringingly awkward moment. After their press conference, Cuban President Raul Castro clumsily grabbed Obama’s arm and attempted to lift it into the classic raised fist of revolutionary struggle. Embedded in the viral image is the difference between what each leader needed to get and convey from the historic visit.
The Brooklyn-based research and advocacy group Global Americans welcomes the new round of U.S.-Cuba regulatory changes announced by the Departments of Commerce and Treasury today.
With few concrete human rights improvements since he announced his embargo changes over a year ago, President Obama’s decision to travel to Cuba could be a surrender of U.S. principles or a master stroke of democratic diplomacy. It all depends how he plays it.
One of the legacies President Barack Obama will leave to his successor is increased foreign policy leverage in Latin America. Nowhere is this more evident than in U.S. policy toward Cuba and Venezuela—and because of those two countries with the rest of the hemisphere.
The reason why some want to “visit Cuba before it’s ruined,” is because they expect that the “charm” of crumbling facades, cheap rum and cigars, old American cars and low prices won’t survive a transition toward a more open economic system. Some fear that as Cuba attracts foreign investment and continues reforming its economy, development and economic growth will fundamentally change what makes Cuba alluring.
Si Cuba efectivamente fuera un país en el cual sus habitantes gozaran de beneficios sociales y buena calidad de vida, como muchos lo afirman, incluyendo el gobierno Cubano y muchos gobiernos en la region, ¿cuál sería entonces la razón por la cual sus ciudadanos desean emigrar?
Even in Latin America, a region often thought to share the same democratic orientation and values of the U.S. and Europe, there are some striking differences among groups of countries regarding supporting norms and practices on human rights internationally, with some countries lining up more with autocratic countries of the Global South.
Despite legal setbacks in Peru and El Salvador and retrograde rhetoric from the newly-elected President of Guatemala and the Catholic cardinal of the Dominican Republic, overall LGBT civil, human and political rights continued to make gains across the region.
