De facto, interim or congressionally installed -- no matter the qualifier -- Roberto Micheletti is not the president of Honduras. Manuel Zelaya is, and like him or not, the man who was ousted in a military-civilian coup on June 28 should be returned to Tegucigalpa to finish the last months of his term
In a perfect world former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya would be in jail in his own country right now, awaiting trial. The Honduran attorney general has charged him with deliberately violating Honduran law and the Supreme Court ordered his arrest in Tegucigalpa on June 28.
As the Obama administration and a host of Latin American governments campaigned to reverse the coup in Honduras, another democratically elected Latin leader embarked on a lonely effort to draw attention to the double standard that has lately governed violations of political and human rights in the region.
The best way to defeat deposed president Manuel Zelaya lies in allowing his return.
A few weeks ago, Normando Hernandez Gonzalez got the kind of news that usually prompts cheers and emotion-filled toasts. The Cuban journalist and poet had been awarded the annual Freedom of Expression award by the Norwegian Writers’ Union. A delegation traveled from Oslo to the island nation to present the award, which included a prize of 100,000 kroner (about $15,775).
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recently had a face-to-face debate in Canada to discuss current affairs. The only Latin American nation mentioned in their conversation? Cuba.
The Obama administration has made an excellent first step to eliminate some restrictions on travel to Cuba, to loosen constraints on remittances, and to re-engage in migration talks. Positive, multiple lines of engagement are clearly the way forward. Broader contact and leverage with Cuba through additional commercial and people-to-people contacts will in time help promote a more pluralistic, less impoverished, and more open society.
As the Obama administration slowly inches towards normalizing its relations with Cuba, pressure is mounting on the new president to lift the decades-old, and universally acknowledged, anachronistic embargo
What does Venezuela's Hugo Chavez call a nation that develops peacefully, embraces markets, promotes property rights, pursues free trade and has no use for his revolution? A target. Welcome to Peru.
In all my years as an observer of international affairs, I have seldom seen the Organization of American States (OAS) so energized by a single issue. If only that issue were the humanitarian tragedy of Haiti, or the defense of democracy in those member countries where it is under siege--such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia.
In a post-bubble world that vilifies the private sector and elevates government as humanity's best hope, two events in Latin America last week deserve attention. The first was a meeting of the Organization of American States in Honduras. The OAS voted to lift the 1962 ban on Cuba's membership. The second was the 25th anniversary celebration of the Venezuelan, pro-liberty think-tank Cedice Libertad in Caracas.
THE INVITATION to membership extended to Cuba Wednesday by the Organization of American States was long overdue. The United States' effort to continue Cuba's exclusion from the OAS was at best a historical anomaly, at worst a blunder that isolated not Cuba but the United States.
For 50 years, the Cuban people have suffered under Fidel Castro’s, and now Raúl Castro’s, repressive rule. But Washington’s embargo — a cold war anachronism kept alive by Florida politics — has not lessened that suffering and has given the Castros a far-too-convenient excuse to maintain their iron grip on power.
The Peruvian presidential elections, to be held in 2011, will be very important for the future of that country. The two candidates that are in first and second places in the polls are conservative Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori running for “Fuerza 2011,” and leftist radical, leader of the “Nationalist Party,” Ollanta Humala Tasso.
It’s past time for Cuba to rejoin the Organization of American States. But the U.S., and surprisingly Cuba itself, remain against the move.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the oldest and strongest terrorist group in North or South America, turns 45 this week -- that's 45 years of kidnappings, murders, bombings and drug trafficking.
In seven years Álvaro Uribe has established himself as one of the most successful presidents in modern Colombian history. When he took office, his country was on the verge of failed-state status; under his guidance the government has reestablished control over most of the country, demobilized or defeated guerrillas of the right and left, and revived the economy. Though Colombia remains a major source of cocaine traffic, drug kingpins no longer operate with impunity -- dozens have been captured, killed or shipped to the United States for trial.
While the United States and Venezuela's neighbors silently stand by, Hugo Chávez's campaign to destroy his remaining domestic opposition continues
Much has been made about the claim issued in November by the U.S. Joint Forces Command that Mexico, along with Pakistan, is at risk of becoming a failed state. Yet in a ranking of the Western Hemisphere's most at-risk countries, Mexico might not even make the top 10. Central America and parts of South America are in far worse shape.
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