A-list
mailing list archive
[ Other Periods  | Other mailing lists  | Search  ]
Date:  [ Previous  | Next  ]      Thread:  [ Previous  | Next  ]      Index:  [ Author  | Date  | Thread  ]

[A-List] Obama's Latin America Policy; US-Colombia Military Bases

Title: A Council on Hemispheric Affairs Press Release
A Council on Hemispheric Affairs Press Release

A Constructive Engagement with Cuba

In the coming days, President Obama must decide whether to renew the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWTEA), which is set to expire on September 14th. TWTEA is the original legislation that was used to implement and sustain the embargo on trade with Cuba, the longest interdiction of its kind in human history. Due to the flood of more recent laws widening and reinforcing the scope of the embargo (most notably the Helms-Burton Act of 1996), allowing TWTEA to expire would not have any tangible effect on existing restrictive sanctions. However, the symbolic nature of such a gesture should not be underestimated. Abrogating a mere symbol of the embargo would represent a significant step towards developing a constructive relationship with Havana, and in a broader context, the opportunity provides the Obama administration one more occasion to establish positive momentum in its engagement with Latin America.

TWTEA, enac ted in anticipation of World War I in 1917, grants the president wide-reaching economic authority in times of war. In 1933, the act was extended to apply to national emergencies, only to be returned to an exclusively war-time power in 1977. It currently allows for the continuation of sanctions initiated in the 44 years between, as is the case with Cuba, which was declared an â??international emergencyâ?? by President Kennedy in 1963, through annual renewal by the president. Cuba now stands as the only country subject to TWTEA, after the Bush administration declined to renew U.S. sanctions against North Korea in 2008 in exchange for Pyongyang’s agreement to release details of its nuclear program, and sanctions against Havana have been renewed annually by every president since Jimmy Carter.

For full article click here

This analysis was prepared by Research Associate Ethan Katz

Letter to the President: US-Colombia Military Bases

Dear Colleague:


In accordance with our organization’s underlying mission to promote rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs has been asked by the esteemed Colombian Support Network (CSN), as well as by the offices of several members of Congress, to distribute the following letter to the President. This letter concerns negotiations now underway between the U.S. and Colombia, which have resulted in an agreement awaiting ratification by the U.S. Congress. Presidents Uribe and Obama have agreed to increase their collaboration in order to improve their anti-narcotics and anti-insurgency efforts in Colombia. Should the agreement pass, the U.S. will have access to several Colombian military bases. However, increased military presence in Colombia can only exacerbate Plan Colombia’s failure in the interdiction campaign against cocaine cultivation. We are c oncerned that it will also foster additional human rights abuses in Colombia committed by the illegal paramilitary forces that traditionally have worked with the Uribe administration.

We encourage you to consider adding your signature. To view the letter addressed to President Obama, please follow this link: http://colombiasupport.net/2009/Baldwin-on-Bases9-3-09.pdf.

If it meets your approval, please print, sign, and mail to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500


Thank you,

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs Staff

For full article click here

This analysis was prepared by COHA Staff on behalf of the Colombian Support Network

The Gangs of El Salvador: A Growing Industry

September 6, 2009
Carmen Gentile
Time Magazine

The two most famous exports of El Salvador are rivals. Unfortunately, they are also ferocious gangs: Mara 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha. They have exported their gang culture â?? learned by expatriates returned from undocumented existence in the big cities of the United States â?? to other countries in Central and South America, re-exporting their influence back to the U.S., moving beyond petty thievery, flashy tattoos and thuggish violence, to drug-trafficking and large-scale extortion.

For the last three decades, successive Salvadoran governments have tried to curtail the two Maras. In the 1990s the Salvadoran government instituted a policy that became known as the Mano Duro (Strong Hand), that saw thousands of gang members jailed. But Mano Duro has not stopped the gangs. Corruption at the highest levels of government has allowed many leaders to go free or conduct business from behind bars. Saul Turcios Angel, also known as the "Pitbull," ran a kidnapp ing and extortion ring as part of Mara Salvatrucha. He escaped from a Salvadoran prison last year and was apprehended in Nicaragua earlier this week. Turcios faces possible extradition to the U.S. to face charges that, while behind bars, he phoned fellow gang members in a Maryland suburb, ordering them to commit murders and other crimes. (See pictures of the gangs of El Salvador.)

For full article click here

This analysis was prepared by Times Magazine

Wednesday, September 09, 2009 | Press release 09.221

[ Other Periods  | Other mailing lists  | Search  ]