The Americas Archive

Of the 10 countries with the highest homicide rates, eight are in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region is likewise home to 34 of the world’s 50 most violent cities. The social and economic impacts of those levels of crime are massive, and, as a result, governments and private sectors in Mexico, Brazil and, more recently, Guatemala and El Salvador are looking for new solutions. They have sought advice from two familiar sources in American policing: former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton. Giuliani, and even more so Bratton, are […]

On Monday, 47 GOP senators published an open letter warning Iran’s leadership that any deal on Tehran’s nuclear program concluded solely on the basis of U.S. President Barack Obama’s executive authority would remain vulnerable to being reversed by future congressional and presidential action. While impolitic and a breach of the long-standing protocol that the White House is the primary American interlocutor with foreign governments, the letter starkly and bluntly lays out a series of constitutional and political arguments to make its case. What impact will the letter have on the down-to-the-wire negotiations to reach a substantive political accord with Iran […]

Peru recently recalled its ambassador to Chile for consultations over allegations of Chilean spying. In an email interview, Christopher Sabatini, adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, discussed the ongoing diplomatic spat between Peru and Chile. WPR: What are the reasons behind the current diplomatic tensions between Peru and Chile? Christopher Sabatini: The specific event that led to the tensions was the sale of information from Peruvian surveillance of Chilean fishing vessels to officers from the Chilean navy. As a result, both countries—at least temporarily—recalled their ambassadors. In truth, neither side comes out looking good on […]

Anyone trying to understand Latin American politics should pay close attention to urban areas. Of the 600 million people in the southern part of the Americas, 80 percent now live in cities. However, old narratives die hard, which explains why English-speaking articles about Latin America still disproportionately focus on rural issues, peasant struggles, land reform and related topics. Of course, these issues remain relevant, because land ownership, rural or urban, is still a major source of conflict. But it is clear that urban issues will increasingly dominate the region’s political future. Take for instance Venezuela, the most polarized—not to say […]

The Ninth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which begins next month, promises to be much more contentious than the previous 5-year review conference held in 2010. However, with a good game plan both before and during the conference, U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration can limit the damage to U.S. interests and the nonproliferation regime. Such a game plan should include reaffirming Washington’s commitment to eventual nuclear disarmament; highlighting the United States’ NPT-related achievements in some areas, even if admittedly limited; focusing attention on long-term future possibilities rather than past failures; blaming the relevant responsible actors for missed […]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the U.S. Congress this week slammed U.S. President Barack Obama’s quest for a nuclear agreement with Iran, unleashing a political firestorm in Washington. While the speech did not compel anyone to shift their position on the Obama policy, it dramatically amplified the debate, with each side fully convinced that Netanyahu made his case or failed to do so. That the United States has been unable to manage its conflict with Iran, or even implement a coherent policy, reflects the intricate complexity of the issue—with its multiple components, clashing priorities and impassioned domestic political […]

After a string of scandals throughout 2014, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s corruption-related troubles haven’t let up this year. A high-profile former governor with close ties to Pena Nieto’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has had his vast collection of luxury real estate in the United States revealed, prompting accusations of impropriety, while another former governor is under investigation for embezzling millions of dollars of public funds. The latest examples of graft and perceived conflicts of interest help explain why Mexico still lags behind Chile, Colombia and Brazil, three of Latin America’s most developed economies, in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption […]

When the idea first emerged of giving a speech before the U.S. Congress on the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political advisers must have thought the platform would give him a strong boost in Israel’s upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 17. The hero’s welcome they expected Netanyahu to receive would all but ensure success in his quest for another term in the prime minister’s office. Electoral politics, to be sure, were not the only or even the principal reason for Netanyahu’s decision to deliver his controversial address. Netanyahu genuinely sees himself […]

Diplomacy has always had a long, hard slog in the effort to find a settlement of the Iranian nuclear question. That slog hit its latest obstacle yesterday: With the U.S. and its negotiating partners in the final stretch of trying to hammer out an agreement with Tehran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress in an attempt to derail the deal. That there is even the possibility of a deal for Netanyahu to derail is itself something of a testament to the negotiators’ Herculean efforts, given the initially diametrically opposed preferences of the two main interlocutors, the Islamic […]