COHA: Regarding the Work
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt and independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage and broaden the formulation of constructive, pro-democratic U.S. policies that are respectful towards Latin America. In 1982, COHA’s board of trustees voted to expand its mandate to include monitoring Canadian/Latin American relations. Since its inception, COHA has become one of the most active, representative, and largest U.S. private bodies dealing with the entire spectrum of Latin American political, economic and diplomatic issues, as well as energetically responding to the economic and political challenges confronting the nations of this hemisphere. From its early beginnings in 1975, COHA’s board consisted of the leadership of some of this country’s most important trade unions, professional organizations and religious groups, as well as distinguished civic and academic figures, who joined together to advance a common belief in support of representative government and pluralistic institutions throughout the hemisphere.
COHA subscribes to no specific political credo nor does it maintain partisan allegiances. It supports open and democratic political processes just as it consistently has condemned authoritarian regimes of any complexion that fail to provide their populations with even minimal standards of political freedoms, economic and social justice, personal security and civic guarantees. COHA also has consistently worked for recognition of the sovereign rights of all of the region’s nations.
In recent years, COHA has directed a good deal of its research energies to such issues as the unproductive and mischievous U.S. pressure on Haiti’s President Aristide which eventually led to his ouster and Washington’s replacement of him with a hapless interim regime hosted by Gérard Latortue, Washington’s mean-spirited, reflexive, and negative policy towards Cuba and Venezuela, among others, and the harmful impact of its advocacy of neo-liberal reforms on average Latin Americans as well as U.S. workers. COHA was opposed to the adherence of the U.S. to NAFTA on the grounds that it should not have been initiated until basic Mexican institutions were truly appraised as being democratic, its trade unions were found to be free enough to negotiate as equals, and the government purged of endemic corruption. COHA also is a critic of the indiscriminate application of structural adjustment formulas that end up negatively affecting the poorest stratum of Latin America’s population.
COHA is staffed by a small professional volunteer core, which contributes their services to the organization; these are supplemented by as many as 30 graduate and undergraduate interns who often receive academic credit from their home institutions for the highly valued experience gained through their COHA-related work. Over the years, retired government employees and academics on sabbatical have cooperated with COHA on an extramural basis by preparing monographs on such mutually agreed upon topics as regional development, trade policies, and the controversial development strategies promulgated by the international lending agencies. The staff is assisted by more than a score of COHA senior research fellows from the United States, Latin America and elsewhere, who are generally considered to be leaders in their respective fields. The organization itself has been described by the late Senator Kennedy on the floor of the U.S. Senate as “one of our nation’s most respected bodies of scholars and policymakers.”
COHA’s analyses are frequently sought after by the major media, with its long-time director, Larry Birns, as well as other senior personnel and junior scholars regularly being called upon by the major national and international press, along with network radio and TV public affairs outlets, to provide commentary on fast-breaking regional issues. COHA contributors also appear regularly in the opinion columns on editorial pages throughout the country, and its findings frequently have been heard and seen over the BBC, NPR Voice of America, CBC, Radio Marti, Al Jazeera, Radio Havana, and almost every television and radio network throughout the globe. COHA personnel have appeared many times on CNN, C-Span, Firing Line, CrossFire, Nightline, as well as over the CBS, ABC and NBC evening news, as well as the network Larry King and Oliver North programs, “Good Morning America” and the “Today Show.”
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