Good post from FT Beyond BRICS on the Pacific Alliance

Guest post: the Pacific Alliance and why it matters

High quality global journalism requires investment. FT has asked this article be accessed from their website.  Click here to read the complete article

By Jorge Rosenblut of Endesa Chile

In January I had the honor to attend a summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin-American and Caribbean Nations in Santiago, Chile. As with many such meetings, the 45 heads of state and prime ministers captured the attention of the international media. But what went almost unnoticed was a seismic shift in Latin American integration — a group of four countries that stood together in what promises to be a historic breakthrough for the region.

After meandering for centuries looking for a raison d’être, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are forging a 21st century path to the first world. Though these four nations are competitors in many aspects (in exports, foreign investment, talent mobility, etc), their plan for economic integration under the Pacific Alliance heralds a new kind of economic partnership in Latin America: pragmatic not political, forward-looking not historical.

Click here to read the complete article direct from the Financial Times

LSL – Survey of LatAm Consumer Trends

World Economic Forum on Latin America 2013

Latin America travel news

[Source] : Latin Business Chronicle

New Airline Routes and Route Changes

American Airlines will begin non-stop service between its Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (U.S.) hub and Lima, Peru on April 1, as part of a joint venture with LanPeru.

Mexican low-cost carrier vivaAerobus will launch non-stop service between Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Mexico City’s Toluca International “alternate” airport, on March 25 with three weekly flights.

vivaAerobus will also launch direct service on March 25 between Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico and Mexico City’s Toluca airport, with two weekly flights.

Cal Jet Air has ended all charter flights to Mazatlan, Mexico, which it flew to from U.S. cities in California, Colorado and Texas.

During February only, one of LANChile’s two daily round-trip flights between Santiago, Chile and Rio de Janeiro will be operated by TAM Airlines. LAN is also dropping its Rio to Miami segment.

New Airline Routes and Route Changes

CORRECTION: American Airlines will begin non-stop service between its Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (U.S.) hub and Lima, Peru on April 1, as part of a joint venture with LanPeru.

Mexican low-cost carrier vivaAerobus will launch non-stop service between Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Mexico City’s Toluca International “alternate” airport, on March 25 with three weekly flights.

VivaAerobus will also launch direct service on March 25 between Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico and Mexico City’s Toluca airport, with two weekly flights.

Cal Jet Air has ended all charter flights to Mazatlan, Mexico, which it flew to from U.S. cities in California, Colorado and Texas.

During February only, one of LANChile’s two daily round-trip flights between Santiago, Chile and Rio de Janeiro will be operated by TAM Airlines. LAN is also dropping its Rio to Miami segment.

New Airlines Alliances Noticias de alianzas de aerolíneas

Malaysia Airlines, con sede en Kuala Lumpur, se unió a la Oneworld Alliance, ampliando su alcance al sudeste de Asia. Otros miembros de esta alianza son American Airlines, LAN e Iberia. Los miembros del programa AAdvantage de American pueden obtener el doble de millas volando con tarifas elegibles por Malaysia Airlines entre el 15 de febrero y el 15 de abril (deben registrarse previamente para acceder a la promoción).

American y Malaysia también firmaron un acuerdo de código compartido y esperan trabajar juntas para mejorar los horarios de vuelos y los tiempos de conexión. El código de American se usará en los vuelos sin escalas entre Kuala Lumpur y los destinos del sudeste de Asia, así como en los vuelos a los aeropuertos de acceso a Europa.

Asimismo, American Airlines expandió su acuerdo de código compartido con Alaska Airlines, lo cual aumentará las opciones para las rutas a Alaska, Hawaii y viajes a y desde la costa del Pacífico del noroeste de Estados Unidos. En conjunto, el código de American se usará en 22 rutas adicionales.

JetBlue Airways, con sede en Nueva York, y Asiana Airlines, de Seúl, Corea del Sur, firmaron un acuerdo entre aerolíneas que permite a los viajeros reservar viajes de un solo billete combinando vuelos en ambas compañías. El convenio también otorga a los pasajeros con estos billetes la posibilidad de facturar su equipaje en un único mostrador cuando hacen la transferencia entre aerolíneas en el Aeropuerto Internacional John F. Kennedy de la ciudad de Nueva York y el Aeropuerto Internacional de Los Ángeles.

APEC’s supply chain connectivity and its benefit to agro-industry

[Source] : The Jakarta Post

This year, Indonesia will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference in October 2013, and will hold four Senior Officials Meetings (SOMs), 12 Sector Ministerial Meetings, an APEC CEO Summit and the Economic Leaders Meeting. From Jan. 24 to Feb. 8, APEC, SOM I and related meetings are taking place in Jakarta.

APEC is an intergovernmental forum dedicated to promoting free trade, investment and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

As stated earlier this month by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia will include its own national interest issues on the agenda such as economic resilience, improvement of small- and medium-scale business competitiveness, sustainable growth and food security.

Click here to read the complete article

US – Latin America Foreign Policy in Focus: What’s good for you, is good for me…?

As of recent, I have been keeping a close watch on newly published literature, news and essentially whatever catches my attention on how US Foreign Policy in Latin America might evolve over the course of the next decade.

This topic has recently garnered a fair share of attention for multiple reasons. For starters, the world today is a very different place when compared to the world of 1993 when the Western Hemisphere attempted to foster the foundations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).  This foray of attempting to implement a Hemisphere wide free trade zone failed miserably for various reasons.  However, as we kick off the new year, it is clear to many policy experts, it will be necessary for the US, and its counterparts throughout Latin America to adapt and redefine their foreign policy goals within the context of 21st century geopolitics and an ever more increasingly globalized world economy.

Christopher Sabatini, author of the article “In Latin America, Creative Focus Could Pay Off,” published by World Politics Review on January 8, 2012 offers great insight into how the US could make some changes in its Latin America Foreign Policy Agenda for the benefit of not only the US, but the region as a whole. Below are a few excerpts from his article which you can read the full version of by click the link above or at the end of this entry.

For decades, Latin America policy specialists have lamented how the Western Hemisphere is never a priority for U.S. presidents. For all the United States’ economic and cultural ties with the region, however, America’s neighbors to the south do not face the kinds of imminent threats that tend to get a president’s undivided attention — and fortunately so.

But while Latin America may never, and arguably should never, figure on the list of the U.S. executive’s top concerns, several innovative pushes across the U.S. foreign policy apparatus would not only dramatically help advance U.S. relations and leadership in the region, they would also set the tone for relations for decades to come, while making sure the region never gets what many have wrongly longed for: the president’s urgent attention.

…

In 2011, trade between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean totaled $800 billion, with the economies to the south of the Rio Grande consuming more than 20 percent of U.S. exports. The rise of Asian economies notwithstanding, the volume of U.S.-Latin American trade is still greater than that with China for either side. More important for U.S. workers, America’s southern trade partners are buying high-end manufactured American goods. Thirteen countries, including Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela and Mexico, import more from the U.S. than from any other country, much of it in the form of goods like computers, telecommunications equipment, cars and machinery.

…

Though little-known, the negotiations to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be one of the most important institution-building initiatives since the Cold War.

…

To be sure, the next four years will see hemispheric crises that will land on the president’s desk. Among them will likely be some form of political transition in Venezuela and possibly Cuba, and ongoing security concerns in Mexico and Central America. For too long, however, crises and specific issues like security and narcotics have driven U.S. policy in the hemisphere.

In an era of selective cross-hemispheric convergence and greater competition among states in the region, the Obama administration now needs to look for ways to leverage its relations with economic and political allies in Latin America to expand the hemisphere’s global reach, seize the advantages of the region’s global ambitions and break free of the ideological baggage of the past. This requires only that the president send a signal of executive commitment and interest by setting in motion a limited series of initiatives. Doing so will update and remake our relations not only for the next four years, but for the next generation.

…

Christopher Sabatini is the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, published by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA). He would like to thank Andreina Seijas of the AS/COA for her research.

Click here to read the complete article

 

Investing in Emerging Market via ETF’s in 2013

10 Emerging Markets ETFs For 2013

[Source] : Seeking Alpha

By: The ETF Professor

With 2013 finally here, reflecting back on the year that was for exchange-traded products can provide investors with some clues regarding what themes and trends will be hot this year. This is not a bold prediction, but it is reasonable to expect one of 2012′s hottest asset classes to stand tall again in 2013.

The asset class being referred to is emerging markets ETFs, both bonds and equity-based funds. While the final tally for 2012 ETF inflows has not yet been published, it is worth noting that emerging markets bond ETFs had hauled in $5.4 billion through the end of November.

In November alone, diversified equity-based emerging markets ETFs such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM) raked in $1.8 billion in new capital, according to Morningstar data.

With the outlook, a bullish one at that, for emerging markets debt ETFs in 2013 having been previously highlighted, it is time to focus on which equity-based ETFs could present the best opportunities for investors looking to gain exposure to the developing world in 2013.

There are few things about this list to keep in mind. First, no fixed income funds are featured here. Second, only 10 country-specific ETFs will be featured here, in no particular order, but the universe of emerging markets funds is obviously many times larger. Third, given the sheer size of the emerging markets ETF universe, these are not the only funds that will be worth trading or investing this year.

iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (EWZ): A quick recap of EWZ’s 2012 performance would go like this: The largest ETF tracking Latin America’s largest economy was, quite simply, one of the year’s biggest emerging markets disappointments.

Coming off a year in which the fund tumbled 6.3 percent and was sharply outpaced by its small-cap equivalents, EWZ showed some signs of life in the last month of 2012, gaining 8.5 percent.

Just as EWZ’s 2012 misfortunes are easy to explain, so is the 2013 outlook for this fund. Brazil’s GDP has been paltry in recent quarters. For the third quarter it was just 0.6 percent. That is not what investors are accustomed to emerging markets A smart investor is apt to wonder why it is worth taking the risk on an ETF with a beta of almost 1.8 against the S&P 500 when the U.S. is offering far superior GDP growth.

Bottom line: EWZ can offer investors a positive reversal of fortune in 2013, but the stars need to align properly for that to happen. Economic growth must improve, the Rousseff Administration must show foreign investors that Brazil is not as politically risky as it appeared in 2012 and Petrobras (PBR), EWZ’s largest holding, must cease being the laggard among global integrated oil stocks.

Click here to read the complete article

CSA Analysis – Latin America – China in focus

As the spread of article excerpts below will exhibit, the China – Latin America relationship and its future will be more than simple a complementary exchange of Latin American natural resources for Chinese manufactured goods. Although, as the 4th article indicates below, from China’s State Media Giant Xinhua explains, the corner stone of Sino-Latin American relations still remain within the realm of the “complementary exchange,” the two regions offer one another.  However, as CSA attempts to exhibit in this piece, the growth of Sino-Latin American ties also includes:

1/ Cheap Chinese Loans (especially to countries cut off from borrowing  raising money on international markets), which represent new sources in which Latin American countries can borrow money and raise money instead of traditional means they have been forced to reply upon since independence – Loans from European and US Banks, issuing bonds, shares in companies on international stock markets, and other financial market market vehicles where international investors allocate their money in Latin America.

2/ Beyond new markets for China’s manufactured goods, China has began to aggressively expanded into Latin America’s service sectors — Banking, Telecommunications, Logistics, and more.

3/ Defense… A rather sensitive and misunderstood area of cooperation because both China and their counter-parts in Latin America do not go into great detail to explaining very clearly what their ultimate goals for enhancing military cooperation may be.  As the author of this blog who has followed this topic for many years, I am personally of the opinion that is it all about following the money trail. An actual military alliance or very close military ties with a specific country in Latin America would be very difficult for me to imagine.  The US, various countries within Latin America, others and around the world would have serious reasons to prevent such from every being reality. Not to mention, US Presidents throughout history have periodically used the proclamation of the policy outlined in the Monroe Doctrine, signed into being US President Monroe on December 2, 1823 to justify intervention in the hemisphere.

The Monroe Doctrine in short, is a statement made to the world that further efforts by other nation states to colonize land or interfere with independent states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention if deemed necessary. 

U.S. presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan have all fallen back on this proclamation to justify action in one form or another.  I don’t doubt for a second that if China’s expansion in the region, militarily speaking reached a tipping point where the a present day US President would find a means in which to justify intervention.  Perhaps again falling back on the policy outlines by the Monroe Doctrine, and adapted within context of current, present day geopolitics of the world.

Instead, as I mentioned above it’s about the money. The US, Europe, The UK, Russia, and now even Japan (which recently passed legislation allowing it to participate in the ever more lucrative market or arms trade), is where China’s primary interest lies. Just like China wants markets for its manufactured goods and services, there is also a great deal of money to made in selling the arms markets of the world, especially when you consider a region which has oddly enough in recent years began to increase military spending (see this article for more information regarding Latin America’s increase in Military Spending.

 

China Grabs Share in Latin America Wind With Cheap Loans

[Source] : BusinessWeek

By Stephan Nielsen on November 20, 2012

Chinese wind-turbine makers have broken into the South American market, the world’s fastest- growing, by offering government-backed loans at interest rates as much as 50 percent lower than local offerings.

The package deals can get buyers to choose Chinese machines over those of Western manufacturers such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) of Denmark or General Electric Co., much in the way the U.S. government helps American exporters sell everything from cotton to satellites by guaranteeing loans or insurance.

…

Chinese Loan

Geassa, short for Generadora Eolica Argentina del Sur SA, is seeking a 12-year loan with a two-year grace period and an annual interest rate of 6 percent above Libor, the London interbank offered rate. The financing may be complete by June, he said. The company will use Chinese turbines and hasn’t selected a supplier.

Click here to read the complete article

 

Correlation Breakdown as Asia, Latin America Diverge: Currencies

[Source] : BusinessWeek

By Ye Xie on November 20, 2012

Asian currencies that once moved in lockstep with their Latin American peers are diverging by the most ever as China attracts investors to the region without boosting commodities, the main exports for Brazil and Chile.

The four-week correlation between the currencies of the two regions reached minus 1 last month, meaning they always move in the opposite direction, according to index data compiled by Bloomberg and JPMorgan Chase & Co. As recently as May, the correlation was plus 1 as the indexes moved in tandem. The Chinese yuan has climbed to 19-year highs amid gains in retail sales and the South Korean won reached the strongest since 2011, while Brazil’s real and the pesos in Mexico, Chile and Colombia weakened over the past two months.

“Usually when people buy China, it boosts currencies in both Latin America and Asia,” Dirk Willer, the head of Latin American local-markets strategy at Citigroup Inc. in New York, said by phone. “But this time around, given that the commodity link isn’t working, people get bought up on Asia but not on Latin America. There’s a long-term structural story.”

Click here to read the complete article

 

China Construction Bank Still Looking to Expand Into Latin America

[Source] : The Wall Street Journal

By Ryan Dube November 21, 2012, 1:37 p.m. ET

LIMA, Peru–State-run China Construction Bank Corp. (CICHY, 0939.HK, 601939.SH) is still looking to expand to Latin America and could announce plans to open an office in the region “quite soon,” a company executive said.

China’s second-biggest bank by assets is looking at acquisition targets and expansion opportunities throughout the region but especially in Brazil, said John Weinshank, head of corporate banking and trade finance at China Construction Bank’s U.S. branch.

Chinese companies are investing heavily in Latin America as they look to develop natural resources needed to fuel the Asian country’s rapid growth. One of the biggest Chinese investments in the region was the $7.1 billion deal by state-owned China Petrochemical Corp., or Sinopec, to purchase a 40% stake in Repsol YPF SA’s (REP.MC, REPYY) Brazilian unit.

In Peru, one of the world’s top mineral producers, Chinese companies are developing several copper and iron-ore projects. Together, these projects will require investments of about $11.4 billion, according to figures from Peru’s Mines and Energy Ministry. Chinese-owned projects represent about 20% of the total pipeline of investment projects in Peru’s mining sector.

“The bank is very keen to expand into the region and set up a foothold,” Mr. Weinshank said in an interview during the Latin American Banking Federation’s annual conference in Lima, which ended Tuesday. “Our customers are here and are doing business, so we have to follow our customers.”

Click here to read the complete article

 

Economies of China, Latin America complementary: bank official

[Source] : Xinhua / China People’s Daily

LIMA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) — The economies of China and Latin American countries are highly complementary, and bilateral trade has enjoyed rapid growth, a Chinese bank official told the 46th Annual Meeting of the Latin American Federation of Banks here on Tuesday.

The expansion of China’s domestic demand has been a driving force of Latin American economies, Ma Suhong, deputy division chief of Urban Finance Research Institute at the Industrial and Commercial bank of China said on the last day of the two-day event.

Ma noted that China invested a total of 12 billion U.S. dollars in Latin America in 2011. She attributed the fast development of China-Latin America cooperation partly to China’s large domestic need and economic woes suffered by the United States and European countries.

Click here to read the complete article

 

Chinese defense minister meets with Latin American guests

[Source] : Xinhua / China People’s Daily

BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) — Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met with delegates to the 1st China-Latin America high-level defense forum on Tuesday.

Liang hailed the increasingly close relations between China and Latin American countries in recent years, noting that the two sides have enjoyed frequent high-level visits, deepening political mutual trust, strengthening communication and cooperation, as well as effective coordination on major international affairs.

He said the forum shows that China attaches great importance to developing military relations with Latin American countries.

Click here to read the complete article

The Economist: The expanding middle in Latin America

[Source] : The Economist

The Expanding Middle

Nov 10th 2012

A decade of social progress has created a bigger middle class—but not yet middle-class societies

JAMMED onto a spit of land that juts into the azure Atlantic near the centre of Recife, in Brazil’s north-east, Brasília Teimosa was until a couple of decades ago a favela of wooden fishermen’s huts. Now its streets are lined with brick houses, some of three stories and clad in decorative tiles but others jerry-built. It has seafood restaurants, shops and a couple of bank branches, but also piles of uncollected rubbish. Many marketing types and economists would hail its residents as members of Brazil’s burgeoning “new middle class”, who have become avid consumers.

That is not how Francisco Pinheiro, a community leader who was born in Brasília Teimosa, sees it. “Economically, it’s much better off than it was,” he says. “But a middle-class person is someone who lives in Boa Viagem”—a smart beachfront residential suburb close by—“with a car, an apartment and an income of 3,000 reais ($1,500) a month.” In Brasília Teimosa, he adds, the majority earn less than two minimum wages ($613)—often shared among a family of four or more.

Click here to read the full article direct from The Economist

Latin America on Obama’s re-election – US views of the region – US Latin American Foreign Policy

As many news programs, news papers, bloggers, and commentators of all sorts have mentioned — Latin America (Immigration Reform and the War on Drugs to) where virtually ignored throughout the entire campaign and mentioned only one time during the Presidential Debates by Mitt Romney.

Yes there are a great many problems around the world.  Particularly in the Asia-Pacific, North Africa, and Middle East regions.  Not to mention the Eurozone economic crisis, or Hurricane Sandy, but to totally ignore 3/4 of the geographic space in the Western Hemisphere… As your author I say “Shame on you United States of America, and I implore your elected officials to begin paying more attention to your neighbors down South!”

Below CSA presents some articles from different perspectives and sources which are examining this question of why the US has so ignored the region of Latin America.

 

Reuters: Analysis: Obama faces Latin America revolt over drugs, trade

By Brian Winter
SAO PAULO | Fri Nov 9, 2012 9:55am EST
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama will face an unprecedented revolt by Latin American countries against the U.S.-led drug war during his second term and he also may struggle to pass new trade deals as the region once known as “America’s backyard” flexes its muscles like never before.

Washington’s ability to influence events in Latin America has arguably never been lower. The new reality is as much a product of the United States’ economic struggles as a wave of democracy and greater prosperity that has swept much of the region of 580 million people in the past decade or so.

It’s not that the United States is reviled now – far from it. Although a few vocally anti-U.S. leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez tend to grab the media spotlight, Obama has warm or cordial relations with Brazil, Mexico and other big countries in the region.

Most Latin American leaders were rooting, either privately or publicly, for his re-election on Tuesday.

Click here to read the complete article direct from Reuters

 

The Guatemala Times: The US elections: a view from Latin America

It has been this year’s most notable absentee: whatever happened to Latin America as a theme in the presidential campaign?

A great paradox in Tuesday’s United States elections is that of the growing significance of the Hispanic vote and the almost total absence of Latin America on the candidates’ agenda. The Hispanic vote is particularly important in swing states such as Florida and Nevada, although its presence is much wider—in California, Texas, Arizona, New York, New Mexico and Illinois, among other states.

Though the relationship between Hispanic voters and black candidates has been historically a complex one, Hispanics came through for Barack Obama in 2008, with 65% of their votes going to the candidate of “hope and change”. This time, polls indicate as much as 70% of them will vote for the incumbent president. This could make the difference between winning or losing in Nevada (where Obama is ahead, albeit by a small margin) and in Florida (which is essentially tied).

In years to come, the state to watch is Texas. According to many observers, the growing Mexican-American population there, whose most visible up-and-coming leader is Julian Castro, the charismatic mayor of San Antonio, who delivered a rousing keynote at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte last August, will mean that some point in the near future the Hispanic vote will have Texas switch from a Republican to a Democratic majority state. With California and New York already in that camp, flipping Texas may mean relegating the Republican party to a permanent minority condition in the Electoral College, confined to the Deep South and the Rocky Mountain states.

Click here to read the complete article direct from the Guatemala Times

 

World Policy Blog: The U.S. Should Stop Ignoring Latin America

By Robert Valencia

A great share of the world grew disappointed after seeing the last debate between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, where foreign policy rhetoric geared heavily toward Middle East and Chinese affairs. Latin America only received one brief mention by Romney. Given the current domestic gridlock in Washington D.C. and the mounting turmoil in Syria and Afghanistan, Latin America is doomed to be on the back burner once again, but a new White House administration should change this by curbing the War on Drugs and strengthening its bonds with Brazil, the second largest economy in the Americas

Latin Americans should not expect a 180-degree change in U.S. policies after the election. During the first Republican debates this year, three presidential hopefuls—Romney included—talked about Cuba and Venezuela’s possible connections with Al-Qaeda, and expressed their wish to see Fidel Castro dead. Yet no Republican candidate offered concrete steps in fostering democracy, strengthening economic bonds or improving security.

Both Obama and Romney have vowed to continue the U.S. War on Drugs. At the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, President Obama emphasized that he would not change the draconian policy, despite its dire consequences for those both north and south of Rio Grande. Likewise, Romney made clear on U.S. Hispanic TV channel Univision that he would continue the same drug policies as the current administration. No, the White House will not change its position, despite the outrageous death toll in Mexico, the new routes for smuggling narcotics onto U.S. streets, the indiscriminate incarceration of U.S. citizens of color for possessing small amounts of drugs, and the disastrous effects on Central American villages of military raids against drug kingpins.

Click here to read the complete article direct from the World Policy Blog

 

NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America): Obama’s Election and the Caribbean: What Does it Mean?

Kevin Edmonds
The Other Side of Paradise
November 8, 2012

Early Wednesday morning the Caribbean breathed a sigh of relief with the re-election of Barack Obama. A Romney victory would have ushered in a period of uncertainty, as it was expected that he would pursue a more aggressive stance towards Cuba and other left leaning governments in the region. During the debates however, it became apparent that Latin America and the Caribbean was not an area of deep concern for either candidate as the foreign policy discussion was intensely focused on matters relating to the potential conflict with Iran, security in post-Gaddafi Libya, Israel/Palestine, Syria and the trade imbalance with China.

While Caribbean Prime Ministers immediately extended their congratulations to Obama, their expressions of cautious optimism also came with calls for more meaningful engagement with the region. For example, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit sent his congratulations to Obama, remarking that “The relationship between the United States and Dominica continues to be strong, based on mutual respect…we work very diligently on matters relating to regional security and we look forward to advancing those efforts. Clearly, the U.S. focus is on anti-terrorism matters and they moved away from issues relating to development in the region. But I am hoping that the new term of President Obama there would be some kind of re-direction towards developmental issues.”

Click here to read the complete article direct from NACLA

 

The Huffington Post: Latin America 2013: A Look Ahead

By Eric FarnsworthVice President, Council of the Americas

Assuming that the world does not end, according to the Mayan calendar in December, 2013 will be an important year south of the U.S. border. There are a number of issues to watch in determining the hemisphere’s direction, although most depend less on the Nov. 6 election results and more on factors that are out of White House control. Savvy observers of the region will watch the 10 “C’s” as the real policy drivers.

The first of these is Castro, as in Raul and Fidel. The U.S. election may bring a moderate tightening or loosening of U.S. restrictions on engagement with the island. The Cuban regime may or may not continue its episodic policy liberalization — Cuban perestroika — as a means to extend rather than overturn the Cuban system. But the real driver of change will be the death of one or both of the Castros. While it’s true that no one has yet won a bet predicting their death, even the Castro brothers will succumb at some point to nature. Each passing year makes that more likely. When they do, there will be a power struggle on the island, and the United States will be faced with the critical decision of how to respond. This will be a game-changer, with historic implications, sucking the oxygen out of other hemispheric policy matters at least for a time. It is the one issue above all others that has the potential to scramble hemispheric policy, putting bilateral relations on the road to normalization and removing an irritant in the broader hemispheric agenda. Or not. The truth is that nobody knows what will come after the Castros, but the U.S. response must be nuanced and appropriate so as to encourage, rather than discourage, the advent of true democracy on the island.

The second “C” is related: Chavez. Having been re-elected Oct. 7 to another presidential term, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez nonetheless is battling cancer, which some say is quite serious; others give a more optimistic prognosis. Whatever the truth, it appears that Chavez is taking steps to position his supporters to continue the Bolivarian Revolution after he passes, most notably with the elevation of Nicolás Maduro to the vice presidency. Still, nobody in Venezuela appears to have the same charisma as Chavez, whose margin of victory in October was much less than in previous elections. Chavez won; Chavismo apparently took it on the chin. A power struggle is a strong possibility after Chavez passes away. Here, again, if Chavez dies, the United States will face an immediate challenge, working with others in the hemispheric including Brazil and Colombia to midwife a peaceful transition with a hoped for institution of the transparent social democratic model that has worked wonders in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, and elsewhere in the Americas.

Click here to read the complete article direct from The Huffington Post