Last night, US President Barack Obama delivered a much anticipated speech in front of cadets at West Point outlining his strategy for moving forward in the Afghan theatre of war.  The president surprised some audiences by announcing, along with a 30,000 troop increase (and its $30 billion price tag), an eighteen month roadmap for withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan.  The move appeared to be an attempt to mollify the president's critics on both right and left, and-it's worth noting-tipped...

An eventful weekend is underway in Latin America.  In Uruguay, a former Marxist guerilla looks poised to capture that country's presidency in national elections.  In Brazil, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is meeting with the rising superpower's president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.  In Colombia, a former military general accused of sponsoring death squad paramilitary activity was convicted of his crimes.  And in Ecuador, regional leaders gathered for a UNASUR summit to try and cool...

I've been receiving updates from my friends at the SHARE Foundation on the excellent work they've been doing on the ground in storm-ravaged El Salvador, information that I hope moves readers to donate funds -- however small -- to support their necessary work.  From the organization's executive officer, this report:

Looking at the photos and reading the stories that reach us via our office in San Salvador, we find ourselves "con el corazón partido" - which, literally translated, means with our...

Forget Hillary, Jim DeMint is the "winner" of the crisis racking Honduran democracy.  The South Carolina Republican senator, who had held key State Department nominees hostage since the start of summer over the Barack Obama administration's stance toward the coup, finally seems to have gotten his way.  This past week, after supposedly brokering a deal that would have returned Honduran president Manuel Zelaya back to power, the Obama administration reversed its insistence on restoring Zelaya as...

Devastating flood rains from Hurricane Ida pounded El Salvador this past weekend, taking the lives of over a hundred Salvadorans, causing the disappearance of scores more, and the dislocation of nearly 14,000 people nationwide.  On top of the sickening human toll exacted by the storms, over 60 percent of the country suffered significant property and infrastructure damage as well. 

El Salvador's president, Mauricio Funes, declared a state of emergency and ordered the military to assist relief...

First, my thanks to Alyson Zureick for sending along Francisco Toro and Juan Nagel's op-ed, first published on their Caracas Chronicles blog, then later reposted on The New Republic's website. In sum, the chroniclers from Caracas argue that the deal brokered by the United States -- and which has since seemingly unraveled -- made losers of just about every actor involved save Hillary Clinton's State Department. My preliminary reactions follow below.  Feel free to tell me where I'm wrong!

Toro and...

About six weeks ago, I argued that resolution of the Honduran crisis would depend in large part on the actions of leading candidates in the country's presidential election slated for later this month. At the time, international super-negotiator Oscar Arias began strong-arming the candidates to back his peace proposal which they largely did.  It seemed to me then as it continues to now that the presidential hopefuls would find it in their best interest to bring Zelaya back sp to avoid inheriting...

Michelle Pierre-Louis: Being Pushed Out of Power?

Just over three weeks ago, the internet was set abuzz by cautiously optimistic chatter that Haiti had finally achieved a level of stability that would pay dividends to its most vulnerable citizens.  Hopes were sparked as former US president Bill Clinton hosted an international trade mission in Port-Au-Prince.  The get-together served as a platform for Clinton to plug the country's investment potential, highlight its continuing needs (such as a...

Daniel Ortega's no dummy.  Having witnessed what's recently transpired in neighboring Honduras -- where President Manuel Zelaya was forced from power after trying to override constitutional limits preventing him from seeking reelection -- the Nicaraguan leader has acted more shrewdly in the hunt to extend his own power indefinitely.   According to the Nicaraguan constitution, presidents are prohibited from seeking consecutive terms, and are allowed a maximum of two terms no consecutively. 

Instea...

Just two weeks ago, the world's honeymoon with US president Barack Obama appeared to have ended in heartbreak.  After Obama made a last-minute decision to lobby the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen on behalf of his hometown Chicago, the body gave the windy city -- and by extension, the president, it appeared -- a resounding back-handed slap across the face by voting it out of contention in the very first round.  While liberal Chicken Littles scurried frantically to avoid the...