Since 1960, Washington has been seeking ways to punish Cuba for its transgressions, real and imagined. The embargo was also meant to force the Cuban leadership, as well as the island’s population to repent for worshipping their communist canons. Fifty years later, the U.S. has yet to see any sign that its embargo, with which Washington almost alone complies, has never been powerful enough to oust Havana, only to wound it. Today, there is...
After a July 7th, 2010 meeting that included President Raúl Castro, Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, and Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, a representative of the Catholic Church announced that the regime would release 52 “prisoners of conscience” over the next several months. The anti-Castro, island-based Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation also released its semi-annual report this month which listed a total of 167 prisoners of conscience who were being incarcerated...
The Brazilian authorities have portrayed a complex issue of huge significance as a simplistic contest between nationalists and sell-outs. On Wednesday, June 9th, the Brazilian Senate passed a bill that alters regulations governing the exploitation of the offshore “pre-salt” oil fields. Discovered in 2007, these are potentially extensive deposits of oil and gas, trapped several miles under the sea bed beneath a hard layer of salt. The regulations’ model will soon change from concessions...
President Felipe Calderón’s visit to Washington last month carried high expectations for those who hoped for a resolution of the cross-border trade dispute between the United States and Mexico. The Mexican president was expected to address the U.S.’ failure to comply with NAFTA regulations providing for an open border policy regarding ground transportation of goods across the U.S.-Mexican border. However, Calderón chose to focus his May 20 remarks to Congress primarily on U.S. immigration...
• The indigenous have little to celebrate “Los pueblos originarios están acá; están presente,” an indigenous woman shouted to the camera of Argentina’s Canal 7 news program on May 18th. She was surrounded by fellow protestors from across Argentina. In a period of eight days this group had marched to Buenos Aires in an event called the “Marcha de los pueblos originarios; Camino por la verdad, hacia un estado plurinacional” (March of Native Peoples;...
