Tag Archives: Latin America

Tom Hayden : Dark-Skinned Democracy Wins in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez celebrates with a crowd of supporters after winning reelection. Photo by Juan Barreto / Getty Images.Chavez’ Bolivarian Revolution: Dark-skinned democracywins in Venezuela Modern liberals see something ominous in the Chavez mandate. They frequently opine that the … Continue reading

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Harry Targ : From the Bay of Pigs to the Missile Crisis / 2

John F. Kennedy and Rómulo Betancourt at Alliance for Progress meeting in La Morita, Venezuela, Dec. 16, 1961. Image from Wikimedia Commons. The Cuba story, Part 2:The Bay of Pigs to the missile crisis The Castros of this world, the … Continue reading

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Harry Targ : From the Bay of Pigs to the Missile Crisis / 1

Fidel and comrades during Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961. Photo by Raul Corrales / AP.The Cuba story, Part 1:The Bay of Pigs to the missile crisis As U.S.-Cuban economic and diplomatic tensions were escalating, President Eisenhower made a decision that … Continue reading

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David P. Hamilton : The Physics of the Drug War

Mexican soldiers at site in Acapulco where three dismembered bodies were found in March 2012. Photo by Pedro Pardo / Agence France-Presse /Getty Images.Drug War futures:The dynamics againstan end to prohibition The reliable physics of the drug war is that … Continue reading

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Philip L. Russell : Who Won the Mexican Election?

Protesters from Yosoy132 hold a mock funeral for “domocracia” during march in Mexico City, Saturday, July 14. Photo by Bernardo Montoya / Reuters.An observers’ manual:Who won the Mexican election? Charges of vote-buying and exceeding campaign spending limits notwithstanding, there are … Continue reading

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Harry Targ : Revisiting the Cuban Revolution

Havana street scene in 2010. Inset below: school kids in Havana, 2010. Photos by Desmond Boylan / Reuters.Revisiting the Cuban revolution Cuban society has been an experimental laboratory… If one set of policies became problematic, the Cubans moved in different … Continue reading

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Philip L. Russell : The PRI and the Mexican Spring

Frontrunner Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico’s PRI on the campaign trail. Image from The Washington Post.The Return of the PRI and the Mexican Spring The big surprise of the first debate was how well Peña Nieto was able to respond … Continue reading

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Harry Targ : The Ideology of U.S. Hegemony in the Hemisphere

Indiana Senator Albert Beveridge articulated what was to become the new ideology of American empire. Image from the Library of Congress.The ideological dimension:U.S. Hegemony in the Western Hemisphere In relations with Latin America, and particularly Cuba, policy has been built … Continue reading

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Philip L. Russell : Mexican Elections: A Veteran, a Smile, and an Image

A figure of PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, at rally kicking off his presidential campaign in Guadalajara, March 30, 2012. Photo by Edgard Garrido / Reuters.The Mexican presidential election:A veteran, a smile, and an image So far a lack of … Continue reading

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Harry Targ : Diplomatic Rejection at Cartagena Summit Reflects U.S. Decline

Is U.S. image fading? President Obama on giant screen at Americas Summit in Cartagena, April 14, 2012. Photo by John Vizcaino / Reuters.Occupy Latin America:Changing relations in the hemisphere Latin America’s rejection of U.S. diplomatic dominance at the Cartagena, Colombia, … Continue reading

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Harry Targ : Culture and the Cuban Experience

The Cuban band Sierra Maestra was formed at the University of Havana in 1976.Economics, politics, and culture:The Cuban experience Culture can be revolutionary when it expresses pain, implies a better life, and extends the experiences of some to others… By … Continue reading

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David P. Hamilton : Guatemala’s Perez Molina Wants to Legalize all Drugs

Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, left, with his Defense Minister Ulises Ansueto Giron, during a ceremony in Guatemala City in January. Photo from AFP / Tico Times.Otto Perez Molina and the Drug War Perez Molina surprised everyone by announcing that … Continue reading

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