Council on Hemispheric Affairs

COHA Vulture Fund Research

The linked letter to the just-resigned, upstate New York Congressman Eric Massa was issued on October 16, 2009. Other revised material later was issued on November 10, 2009 in a COHA research memorandum. This material was only directed to one aspect of Massa’s activities—his possible connections with vulture funds that had systematically bought [...]

The Tonton Macoutes: The Central Nervous System of Haiti’s Reign of Terror

A Malediction on Haitian Society Few countries in the hemisphere have suffered through such an extensive run of unqualified repressive regimes and military dictatorships as Haiti. The nearly thirty years of harsh rule under François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, and his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier that ended in 1986, are likely the most infamous epoch in [...]

A Fast-Vanishing Number of Summer 2010 Internships Available at COHA

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs is currently in the final phase of accepting applications for summer volunteer internships with the highly regarded foreign policy and analysis organization in its Washington office. Applications from well-prepared candidates with solid research and writing skills, who are prepared to commit themselves to vigorous standards of investigative journalism, social values [...]

China Eyes Venezuelan and Brazilian Oil

• The burgeoning Chinese/Brazilian relationship • Why is China going after Latin America’s distant commodities? • Should the U.S. be alarmed by China’s poaching in its own “backyard”? As China’s economy soared during the 1980’s, its consumption of foreign oil rose as well, culminating in the country becoming a net importer of oil by 1993. Since this transition, China’s real [...]

Chile: Implications of La Moneda Leadership in the Piñera Era, or Will the New Government Mark a Billionaire’s Flawed Vision in Santiago and a White House Too Prepared to do Business as Usual with a Vastly Changed Latin America?

The interim between Chile’s January 17th election and the inauguration of its victor, Sebastian Piñera, on March 11th, provides a useful opportunity to reflect on the course of recent U.S.-Chile relations, and the future prospects for cooperation, given the stand-pat tendencies of both governments. Piñera will be Chile’s first right-of-center president since 1990, elected [...]

Announcement: Regarding the Public Statements of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela

What could prove to be occurring on a daily basis, COHA systematically will be distributing the key substantive regional policy statements being made by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela to its entire mailing list. Similarly, it will be covering the hemispheric-related statements made by other U.S. policymakers in order to [...]

COHA Director at Brandeis University in mid-March

For those in the Boston area interested in possibly interning at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, the organization’s director, Larry Birns, will be on the Brandeis University campus in Waltham, Massachusetts from March 18 to March 21. All those desiring to set up an appointment to discuss such a prospect for the summer or fall, [...]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Does Latin America

• Argentina squeezed in at the last minute • Why Guatemala? • Brazil phase is rough • Secretary of State Clinton and her Assistant Secretary, on this try, do not seem to perceive that it is a changed world in terms of inter-American relations and that traditional concepts of pan-Americanism may be crumbling. On March 1, United States Secretary of State Hillary [...]

Chile’s Re-opened Human Rights Investigations and Piñera’s Balancing Act

• Earthquake jars Santiago, preceding a turnover in government and anticipating a paradigm shift in the nation’s values • Will Piñera fool us all or is Chile about to be peppered by intensified neo-liberalism? On March 11, less than two weeks following a devastating earthquake that rocked Chile’s south-central region and even reached [...]

COHA Reviews Memoir of Former UN Special Advisor to Haiti

Reginald Dumas has written a detailed, if not an essential, account of his tenure as U.N. Special Adviser on Haiti in order to illuminate some of the events following the forced resignation of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 and his subsequent flight from the country. Appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the wake of [...]