Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Cuba-U.S. Rhetoric Timeline: Hope for a Basic Shift in Policy Disintegrates into Continued Polarization

• Obama administration grievously disappoints Latin America and U.S. Latin Americanists by insisting on politicizing U.S.-Cuban and regional policy • What could have proved to be a time for creative policy-making more closely resembles a continuation of the Bush presidency • Commencement of the Clinton-Valenzuela era delivers a shattering blow to rational and coherent U.S. strategy towards Havana Washington severed relations [...]

The Dark Side of Brazil’s Olympic Dreams: The 2016 Olympic Host Battles Poverty, Violent Crime, and Police Brutality

With colorful and scandalous flourishes, in a nation where the bizarre is often normal, Brazil’s Carnaval kicked off throughout the country on February 12th. The celebration is especially exotic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second largest city, where the samba dancers’ elaborate talents draw millions of tourists each year. Given the huge influx of foreign [...]

Winners and Losers of Venezuela’s Coercive Policy for Presidential Addresses

The Venezuelan government has received severe domestic and international criticism for blocking cable television channel Radio Caracas Television International (RCTV) from broadcasting its programming. While the natural immediate reaction for most outside observers is to condemn the action as a violation of Venezuela’s freedom of the press, an analysis of the issues surrounding [...]

Regarding Summer/Fall Internships

Regarding Summer Internships COHA has been oversubscribed by summer internship applications and has now had to close down the acceptance process. Only the applications which previously were being considered for possible acceptance will still be considered and these include just a handful of forms. However, COHA is beginning the process of scrutinizing candidates for 18-week fall [...]

Brazil’s Growing Pains

By now the emergence of Brazil as a major power not only in the Western Hemisphere, but also on the world stage, is an undisputed fact. The country, until recently mentioned outside its borders for seldom more than in reference to the Girl from Ipanema, is now on everybody’s lips. Brazil is possibly one of [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]