CIP Americas

The uprising in Ecuador that occurred on September 30 shook the world and sparked a debate about the reason for the unrest. Groups of police and members of the armed forces, disgruntled over a law that, among other aspects, eliminates police bonuses, took to the streets in protest. When President Rafael Correa went out to talk to the police, he was attacked with tear gas and later held captive in the police hospital as police officers continued to attack unarmed citizens.

The accusations of harboring guerrilla forces leveled by the outgoing government of Alvaro Uribe against the Venezuelan government in a special session of the Organization of American States has led to the rupture of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and Colombia. Uribe’s parting shot is an attempt to lock in hostilities between the neighboring countries and discourage attempts to seek a political solution to the conflict through peace talks.

The elections of July 4, in fourteen Mexican states can be seen as a struggle for Mexican territories by diverse power groups, including the drug cartels. And in the case of Oaxaca, it is, furthermore, the exercise of its citizenship by an aggrieved population whose movement was defeated in 2006, and which has subsequently turned to voting as a manifestation of their rejection of Ulises Ruiz and the political group that he represents.

The Americas Program has published numerous critiques of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, as well as articles reviewing general U.S. policy towards Cuba. Contributors to the program will carry on and deepen such critiques. In the interests of sparking strategic dialogue and thinking about the future of U.S.-Cuba relations, we offer several summaries of recent essays and reports, followed by specific points of discussion.

After a year in office, we can no longer base our responses to Obama’s foreign policy on expectations. Although the administration is still in the process of consolidating its team, this year provided some key challenges that serve to define the new government’s positions. To assess the pace of promised change in our part of [...]

I have been a political analyst and writer in Mexico for the past two decades. I’m also a mother faced with the challenge of raising children there. As a human rights advocate and a mother, today I speak to you, frankly, with a great sense of urgency. Mexico is the United States’ closest Latin American [...]

This is the third policy report on related themes of immigration enforcement. Also see: Immigrant Crackdown Joins Failed Wars on Crime and Drugs, and Restoring Integrity to the Immigration System.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a bad case of mission creep. Created in the wake of Sept. 11 to better protect the country against attacks by foreign terrorists, DHS now believes it is also responsible for community security.