International News & Analysis - Carin Zissis

AS/COA Online | Secretary Clinton's Latin American Tour

Carin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours Latin America this week for a journey that takes her through the Southern Cone, Brazil, and Central America. Though hers is a trip through the Americas, it involves Middle East policy. “I’m on my way to Latin America next week. And Iran is at the top of my agenda,” said Clinton in February 24 testimony at a Senate Appropriation Committee, hinting at concern over Brazil’s deepening ties with Iran. But that was before an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile, one of the stops on the secretary’s trip. Her trip runs from February 28 through March 5 and she travels to Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | Colombian Court Blocks Third Term for Uribe

Carin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:05:53 +0000

Colombia’s constitutional court ended a two-year-old waiting game on February 26 when it voted against a reelection referendum that could have paved the way for President Álvaro Uribe to seek a third term. In a vote of 7 to 2, the court rejected the referendum as unconstitutional, saying that it was not only laden with irregularities but “substantial violations to democratic principles.” By sounding the referendum’s death knell, the court set off a presidential race previously frozen in limbo and candidates are recalibrating their campaigns for a May 30 election that won’t list Uribe on the ballot. Beforehand, Colombia holds legislative elections on March 14.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | Resource Guide: Earthquake Strikes Chile

Carin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:23:50 +0000

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile on February 27. The disaster left thousands homeless and wreaked havoc on infrastructure while setting off tsunami warnings in dozens of Pacific countries.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | UK-Argentina in Diplomatic Row over Archipelago

Carin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:31:05 +0000

Buenos Aires brought its concerns about the Falkland Islands to the United Nations this week as a dispute with the United Kingdom heated up over the archipelago’s sovereignty. While Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner drew support for her country’s territorial claims from fellow Latin American leaders during the Rio Summit, a British company began drilling operations in the Falkland basin. A Spanish-Argentine partnership announced intentions to explore for oil as well, but in Argentine territory. The prospect of large oil reserves has brought a new twist on a decades-old disagreement over the Falklands—or Malvinas.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | Haiti and the Dominican Republic Mend Fences

Carin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:11:00 +0000

It may seem difficult to find an upshot to the massive natural disaster that hit Haiti last month. Yet the earthquake did lead to mended fences with the Dominican Republic. “The Dominicans were the first to arrive with help, with doctors, food, and aid,” says Alice Blanchet, a special advisor to Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. “They were stellar.” Despite long-running tensions between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, the disaster has drawn the neighbors closer together. As The Economist put it, the result is “[a] break in a history of mistrust.” But how long that break will last could be tested, particularly given recent changes in Dominican immigration policy.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | Vancouver’s Olympic Bet

Carin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:33:00 +0000

A blizzard of bad news hit the start of the Winter Olympics last week. Hours before the opening ceremony, a Georgian athlete died in a tragic accident while practicing on the luge track in an incident that drew safety concerns. The unseasonably warm weather has led some to dub these Games the first “Spring Olympics.” Organizers, faced with a lack of snow, refunded general admission tickets to some events this week, translating to $400,000 in lost-ticket revenue. But even as news reports cast light on the Games’ unwanted hurdles, local officials hope to showcase Vancouver during the Olympics and help shepherd along its economic recovery.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | Opposites Attract: PAN and PRD Align

Carin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:30:00 +0000

Three years ago, in the wake of Mexico's contentious presidential election, few would have predicted an alliance between the race's two rival parties. But the ruling conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are considering just that as they face a resurgent Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). After sustaining losses in last year’s midterm election and with 12 governorships up for grabs this year, the two parties hope a union can undercut the PRI's gains ahead of the 2012 presidential vote. Yet voters might not buy the alliance between two teams with disparate ideologies.

Read the full text.

AS/COA Online | The Haitian Migration Debate

Carin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:20:00 +0000

The question of how to handle Haitian migration looms in the wake of the destructive earthquake. Washington already granted protected status to Haitians who arrived in the United States before January 12, but debate grows over whether to ease immigration rules for refugees as part of recovery efforts.

AS/COA Online | After the Earthquake: Healing Haiti

Carin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:48:00 +0000

L.A. County Fire Department and Rescue team in Port-au-Prince. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Stumberg)In the week since a massive earthquake devastated Haiti, the world has been gripped by tragic news of chaos and death as well as hopeful rescue stories. Donors desperate to support relief efforts text and twitter information and ways to help. Even as a tense delay in food distribution continues while troops and aid workers arrive on the ground, questions arise over Haiti’s future—and who should help the country recover.

“For those who have lost everything, help cannot come soon enough,” wrote UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon in an article penned after he visited Haiti over the weekend. On January 19, the UN Security Council backed his motion to send 3,500 additional UN peacekeepers to Haiti in the wake of the disaster, augmenting the 7,000-strong MINUSTAH forces already on the ground. Brazil has largest number of soldiers among the UN forces and will contribute to the increase by doubling its more than 1,250 troops there. Washington plans to bolster military forces by sending 10,000 U.S. troops within weeks.

AS/COA Online | Piñera Wins Chile's Runoff

Carin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:56:00 +0000

Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s second-round elections on January 17, marking the first loss by the Concertación coalition in two decades. The billionaire emerged as the clear victor by Sunday evening, pulling in nearly 52 percent of the vote in the race against former President Eduardo Frei.