The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) is proud to announce the completion of the English edition of Dr. Francisco Acosta’s autobiography, Priests, Hookers, and Guns: Tales from Cuscatlán. Acosta, who currently serves as a COHA Senior Research Fellow, is a prominent member of Washington’s metropolitan Latino community. He has served as the President of CASA Maryland and took part in the negotiations in Washington that ultimately terminated the Salvadoran Civil War. In addition...
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe arrives in Washington on Monday to discuss the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) with President Obama. He will attempt to show that his administration is committed to improving the country’s human rights record and that the U.S. is not justified in further delaying the ratification of the CFTA, but the facts suggest otherwise. •“Parapolitics”: Since 2006, over 70 congress members have been investigated for ties to the AUC, a right-wing...
On June 25, 2009, The House of representatives passed an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act which would require the School of the Americas/WHINSEC to release to the public the names, ranks, countries of origin, courses taken and dates of attendance of all the students and instructors at the institute. Opened in 1946 at Fort Gulick in the former U.S. Panama Canal Zone, the School of the Americas (SOA) has, over its lifetime, trained...
The most outspoken Democratic proponent of an ill-deserved Free Trade Agreement with Bogotá has not only reversed his own position on the deal, but has defended and legitimized a corrupt, venal government, heavily tied to political scandals and human rights violations, whose legislative backers are being indicted in droves. Only Colombia’s elite will be the major beneficiaries of an FTA and not the average American or Colombian. Is the Majority Leader sufficiently resolved in...
Felipe Calderon In Washington As recent tradition would have it, Felipe Calderon was the first foreign leader to meet with President-elect Obama since winning the Nov. 4 election. During their often interrupted 90 minute-long conversation, the leaders discussed several topics of shared interest. The deeply troubling security situation in Mexico (which may not have been adequately appreciated until now by the incoming president), a snap-shot of the current status of the immigration imbroglio and...
