Chile and Uruguay seem to be on a path to a bilateral free trade deal. With the former in the Pacific Alliance and the latter in the customs union Mercosur, are the two blocs converging, or is Mercosur fracturing?
A group of more than 20 leading scholars, convened by Global Americans, has outlined a series of nonpartisan proposals for the next administration to strengthen and leverage the U.S.’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Latin American and Caribbean states have been astoundingly cheap in supporting the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2013, Chile only contributed $80,000, and the same year Brazil and Venezuela gave nothing to the Commission.
A recent Spanish report by DeJusticia details the modern challenges of the inter-American system of human rights: political consensus; countries refusing to pay their obligations; and countries cutting their contributions when they receive decisions they don’t like.
The net effect of these new bodies has been to create parallel forums more favorable to the interests of autocrats. That may be OK for Venezuela and others, but why are Brazil and other countries going along? And where are the media?
The new majority in the National Assembly has failed in offering economic alternatives and in confronting Venezuela’s political crisis. Despite being a lousy opposition, though, they are still important.
Human rights concerns in the Syria conflict? Not according to some Latin American governments.
Latin America has gone global, but not just in its trade and diplomacy. A growing number of governments are copying from autocrats around the world how to restrict democratic civil society. Sadly, democrats in the region have been slow to react.
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.
In the past decade, Latin America and the Caribbean’s importance in the international system has changed dramatically. A new book examines the constraints and opportunities for this new era of Latin American foreign policy—and implications for U.S. foreign policy.
