The Caribbean – Page 74

November 16, 2007September 3, 2008 COHA

Pluralism Bursts into the Western Hemisphere

* While Russia, Europe and China are wooing Latin America and the Caribbean the Monroe Doctrine now becomes the "Putin, Zapatero and Chinese–Corollary"

*Iran's increased presence in the region may lead to bad press, but for now only shows increased investments

* The "Great Game" of political and economic influence is set to be played in the southern hemisphere

No one is arguing that Latin America and the Caribbean have become a priority matter for international diplomacy, save for the U.S., which has witnessed a massive retreat of Washington's vigilance for what it once insisted were its longtime national interests and influence in the hemisphere. Concentrating on its "War on Terror" has resulted in a detour of the U.S. military and diplomatic corps to a series of sorties, like Afghanistan, Iraq, and now, likely enough, to Iran. The 1823 Monroe Doctrine is no longer relevant as nations like Russia, the People's Republic of China as well as the European Union (and its individual members) increase their influence in the Western Hemisphere. This penetration is due to the fact that numerous hemispheric countries are themselves looking to diversify their pool of allies and trading partners by contracting ties to other nations besides the U.S., with Venezuela being at the core of this movement.

Canada Cuba Press Releases Venezuela

October 19, 2007November 2, 2007 COHA

The Organization of American States: On its Deathbed?

Haiti: Revisiting the Aristide debate – To Our Readers

Unfortunately, an older and unedited version of the COHA piece entitled “The OAS: On its Deathbed?” was inadvertently sent out to a very small cohort of COHA readers on October 17 before an error was discovered and the press run was immediately aborted.

Due to a computer editing error, the author, Sean Bartlett did not catch that two different facts were spliced into one sentence. Jose Miguel Insulza, as a young man in his late twenties, was a political director in the Chilean Foreign Ministry under the Allende administration, eventually rising to the rank of foreign minister decades later under the second Frei Administration after returning from exile abroad during the Pinochet dictatorship. (He, of course, was not Chile’s foreign minister under Allende as stated in the version that was sent in error). The error has been corrected and the author regrets this mistake.

Should the OAS be reconstituted with Canada and the US as observer nations, or can the US revise its role as both a leader and an ally that respects its own limitations?
Sovereign rights are no meager subject
Latin America needs its freedom and autonomy outside the OAS in order for it to grow

Illness is not usually the equivalence of death. This aphorism is being applied by some to the health of the Organization of American States (OAS), the premiere regional organization and forum for the democratic nations of the Western Hemisphere. As the international political landscape has evolved from the Cold War to the Wars on Drugs and Terror, the United States, the OAS’ proverbial elephant, has diverted much of its attention to events occurring outside of the region. Thus, today it almost seems to be a fallacy that as goes the U.S., so goes the OAS. In terms of investment and trade matters this may be a legitimate concern, but the long-term political, economic, and social thrust of the other Western Hemispheric nations does not seem to be adversely affected by a cut-back in U.S. attention to the region. In fact, many of them have thrived, with a number of them welcoming a lesser role for the U.S. because this will allow for pluralism, diversification, and experimentation now that Washington’s often heavy hand has been lightened. However, a lesser role that has translated to the U.S.’ virtual disappearance concerning hemispheric affairs in the last several years was not originally envisaged. The subsequent result has been a growing number of voices inviting inquiry as to the contemporary relevance of the OAS.

Haiti Press Releases

October 16, 2007October 16, 2007 COHA

Préval Goes it Alone, But What About Aristide?

Haiti: Revisiting the Aristide debate – To Our Readers

There has been an intense dispute on the part of outside critics regarding COHA's piece on Haiti – which was issued on September 14, 2007. Its author, Michael Glenwick stands behind his article and the sharp criticism of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which has now been moved from COHA's website and can be found in COHA's Forum. After closely reviewing the Glenwick piece, COHA's senior officials regretfully concluded that much of the criticism of it – notably the September 21, 2007 critique of COHA's Haiti piece by Joe Emersberger for the Narco News Bulletin – was well-founded. It should also be noted that most of the contributions we received on the subject were opposed to our point of view; this is why we decided to submit the Glenwick article to a protracted review. Today we are replacing the Glenwick piece with a substantially revised version which was authored by COHA Director Larry Birns. This is now COHA's official position on the relative roles of Presidents Aristide and Préval and contains some glimpses of the former president's strengths and weaknesses, including his invaluable contribution to Haitian democracy.

Ever since he came into prominence in 1989, COHA has devoted much of its effort to spotlighting the life and times of President Aristide, stressing Washington's persistently radical and hostile rightwing attitude towards him under both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. From 2002-2004, COHA issued scores of analytical pieces on U.S.-Haitian relations written by Larry Birns, often in conjunction with COHA Research Fellow Jessica Leight. This included a co-authored contribution to Dr. Paul Farmer's "The Uses of Haiti" written in 2003: Mr. Emersberger was good enough to take note and praise this long association.

Please feel free to to read Glenwick's original article, and Emersberger's hard-hitting analysis of Glenwick's piece.

Foreign resources scheduled to flood Haiti
Préval cooperates with opposition which essentially has gotten what it wanted
Will Préval be able to maintain his integrity under pressure from Washington, or will the Bush administration insist that he implements a neutered platform?

More than 18 months have passed since René Préval was decisively elected president of Haiti in what many regional analysts considered one of the country's most crucial elections. Within scarcely a handful of years, Haitians had experienced a number of tumultuous events. It started with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's chaotic second term, in which the international community cancelled its aid to the country based on a pretext elaborated by Washington, involving exaggerated accusations of election fraud on Aristide's part involving his party's 2000 victory in legislative and presidential ballots.

Dominican Republic Press Releases

October 9, 2007November 15, 2007 COHA

The Dominican Republic Pursues Modernity and Rectitude

Fernández offer some macro success at the expense of high quality rule
Big obstacles along the way
CAFTA to thunder ahead as Arias' Costa Rica squeezes out a narrow pro-free trade victory

The Dominican Republic (DR) has been undergoing a profound transformation beginning at the end of the last century. With an increasingly prosperous economy, stable political institutions, and a booming tourism industry, it seems that the DR is well prepared to be perceived as one of the most successful modernizing countries in the early years of this century. However, the picture becomes more complicated upon analyzing the country's prevailing social and economic features. Issues ranging from a poor health system, a pattern of ill-treatment of Haitian refugees illegally in the country, energy shortages, and under-performing educational facilities blot its credentials; however, this is not to say that the current administration, headed by Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), has not fulfilled some of its objectives. Yet while economic indicators are favorable, he is losing popularity because he is being viewed by many as being indifferent to the plight of the poor and small farmers, and too allied with foreign multi-nationals, not to mention botching up his controversial metro project.