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COHA

Chávez’s Blockbuster Proposal: Finally the Right Message for Peace

Chávez should call an immediate ceasefire and offer the FARC a safe haven in Venezuela

President Hugo Chávez’s statement on Sunday regarding the increasingly unproductive and ill-focused guerrilla war being staged by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) could be a hugely positive step towards reframing the terms and goals of hemispheric relations in this era. But the full realization of this development’s potential benefits hinge upon the Bush administration’s willingness to engage in constructive diplomacy. It must not allow itself to be gripped by a radical ideology or drowned by repetitive propaganda that all along has characterized its foreign policy making style. For once, Secretary of State Rice should urge negotiations rather than enflame the two warring sides to seek far-fetched goals thus guaranteeing that the conflict will not be resolved.

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Director Larry Birns and Research Associate Jessica Bryant.

Recent COHA Citations

• A Kinder, Gentler Hugo Chavez?

• Venezuela cheers Chavez call for FARC to make peace

• OAS chief may resign to seek Chile’s presidency

• Candidates Chart Cuba Positions

• Venezuela, Ecuador team up on refinery

A Sampling of Citations from the Period of May 14, 2008 to June 9, 2008

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BrazilOp-EdPress Releases
COHA

Lula’s Growth Acceleration Program: The Best that Brazilian Government Funding Can Buy?

Mexico and the Merida Initiative – A Difficult Call

The Merida Initiative initially would provide US$550 million in aid aimed at countering criminal organizations in Mexico and Central America. It would supply training, equipment and long-term technical support to recipient governments. However, the plan would impose several conditions on the aid, stipulations which Mexico believes threaten its sovereignty. Mexico’s Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa was only one of a number of Mexican Public figures who informed the United States Congress that the Merida Initiative does not represent “genuine cooperation and co-responsibility,” and is unacceptable in its current form.

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Lula’s Brazilian Growth Acceleration Program: The Best that Government Funding Can Buy?

As Brazil’s economy continues to improve, social programs are receiving increased funding and visibility from the government. In particular, many of the region-specific projects of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) aim to improve the country’s infrastructure as Brazil’s overall economic growth further benefits the country, including earning a coveted high investment rating from Standard & Poors (S&P).

The recognition alone has helped to maintain the trend of increasing flows of foreign investment into Brazil and, combined with an ever-increasing demand for food and oil- Brazil’s two strongest exports- the country has a unique opportunity to direct more funding towards social improvement. But are these programs the best vehicles for sustainable social change in the areas of poverty, corruption and racial and sexual inequality? With this economic opportunity comes great responsibility to use government funds in the most effective and equitable way, and it remains to be seen whether the PAC is up to the challenge.

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Op-EdPanamaVenezuela
COHA

Washington Revives the Fourth Fleet: The Return of U.S. Gun Boat Diplomacy to Latin America

• Administration not bothering to conceal implicit threat to the region

• After ignoring Latin America for most of his Presidency, Bush dispatches the Navy

• The steady remilitarization of Panama may provide a safe haven for the revitalized fleet

• FTA with Panama could grant U.S. access to canal zone military facility for Fourth Fleet

• Correa facetiously suggests that Manta be moved to Colombia

The dearth of diplomatic content in the April 24 Pentagon announcement left little mystery regarding the purpose behind Washington’s decision to reestablish the Fourth Fleet to patrol Latin American and Caribbean waters. As Washington shifts its attention back to the Western Hemisphere, it will have to grapple with issues that have been on the back burner for more than a decade. The return of the Fourth Fleet, largely unnoticed by the U.S. press, appears to represent a policy shift that projects an image of Washington once again asserting its military authority on the region, coincidentally coinciding with the announcement that Brazil has just launched a military initiative, the Conselho Sul-Americano de Defesa, embracing two of its neighbors with whom Washington has chilly relations.

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ArgentinaBoliviaBrazilChileEconomicsEcuadorOp-EdParaguayUruguayVenezuela
COHA

Still on the Drawing Board: the Banco del Sur a Half Year Later

COHA and the history of the Argentine human rights situation

COHA Director Larry Birns was recently mentioned in Hugo Alconada Mon’s article, “Piden desclasificar los archivos sobre los desaparecidos,” in La Nación. The article may be accessed by clicking on the following link:

http://www.lanacion.com/ar/politica/nota.asp?nota_id=1013271

• In the wake of the third summit of heads of state for the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the newest development is the creation of a South American Defense Council. One question still in the air, however, is what happened to the Banco del Sur, the South American development bank that was so heavily hyped a half year ago?
• The Banco del Sur may become an important actor throughout the continent, but for this to happen its members first need to agree on the subscribed capital upon which it will be levied.
• Once the bank’s capital subscription is decided, future challenges await: How to allocate the voting shares distribution and how to achieve high quality portfolios and credit ratings.

In December 2007, presidents from seven of the thirteen South American countries met in Argentina to create the Banco del Sur, a development bank originally advocated by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez as a substitute for international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF )and the World Bank. However, as the Banco del Sur is still on the drawing board and its purpose still debated, the only relatively fixed points are the countries which have agreed to be members: the leftists Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, and the moderate left-leaning Mercosur countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The question at hand is whether the newborn Banco del Sur will be able to live up to the challenges of running a successful sub-regional development bank while still making a coherent and strong ideological statement.

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