I have an article up at the World Politics Review examining the successes, failures, and challenges of Michelle Bachelet´s presidency in Chile.
Chile’s left-wing Concertación coalition might very well lose the presidency for the first time since the country’s return to democracy in 1990. But don’t blame outgoing President Michelle Bachelet.
With record-high approval ratings, Bachelet would be a shoe-in for a second term, if not for the constitutional prohibition on consecutive re-election. Instead, as the country’s first woman president and, before that, its first woman defense minister, Bachelet will undoubtedly be remembered for breaking the gender barrier to Chile’s most powerful positions. She also appointed equal numbers of men and women to her cabinet when she took office in 2005. Subsequent cabinet restructuring reduced the proportion of women slightly, but the strong presence of women in Chile’s cabinet remains notable…
Keep reading…
Andrew O’Reilly, Rachel Brooks-Ames, Mari Hayman and I have launched the Latin America News Dispatch (LAND), a new site producing original reporting on Latin America, the Caribbean, U.S. foreign policy, and Hispanics in the United States. We have already begun publishing, with the multimedia project on Dame Pa’ Matala I promised and a couple of other articles. We are expecting to post four articles within the next week or so–including coverage of the Chilean elections. We also have a blog, which is already up and running but will really get going in January. Enjoy the site, check back frequently, and tell your friends!
Foreign Policy Magazine has put together a one-year report card for president Obama. They invited me to contribute a grade on his Cuba policy, for which I gave him a “C,” just shy of the B- average. Find out why by clicking here.
I’ve just begun a Flickr account with the username RoqPlanas where I’ll be posting my photography. The first batch of photos comes from the Dame Pa’ Matala concert put on by the Venezuelan Consulate on Oct. 3. Dama Pa’ Matala is a Venezuelan music collective that blends hip hop with national rhythms and delivers a strong social message. I am preparing a multimedia presentation of the event, which I will post to my notebook when it’s ready.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos were shot with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS.
I’ve got an article up at Foreign Policy Magazine’s website this week about the U.N. Resolution to condemn the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. By a vote of 187 to 3 on Oct. 28, the U.N. condemned the embargo for the 18th consecutive year–but don’t expect that to prod either the Obama administration or Congress into changing the Cold War-era policy. Learn more about the U.N.’s futile ritual by clicking here.
 I’ve got a new article about the Aug. 28 extraordinary meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), in which South America’s heads of state discussed the U.S.-Colombia Defense Pact. The Pact would allow the U.S. greater access to seven of Colombia’s military bases, which has caused a stir among the regions leaders, many of whom view the U.S. military with trepidation because of the long history of U.S. covert intervention.
I’m now in New York, and there is a possibility that Obama will meet with UNASUR to discuss the deal when the UN is in session this month (September). If so, I plan to cover it, so keep an eye out.
Here’s the link to the article.
The new issue of the Austin-based Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, where I copy edit, has been published on the journal’s website. The issue contains original research on the application of virtual worlds technology, such as Second Life, to the field of health care. Click here to check it out.
U.S.-Cuba relations have been slowly but surely thawing since Barack Obama’s innauguration. Another small step toward the elusive diplomatic opening occurred recently, when the Obama administration ordered the State Department to remove a “pro-democracy” billboard erected by the Bush administration in 2006. The billboard featured a news ticker relaying statements critical of Cuba’s human rights record and political system.
The Cuban government had erected it’s own, equally tasteful billboards in the area. According to a report published in The Telegraph, the Cuban government “had in 2005 erected billboards outside the mission emblazoned with photographs of US. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika overlaid with a ‘Made in the USA’ stamp.”
Professor of International Relations Robert Pastor told the New York Times that “Taking down the billboard has permitted both sides to act like mature adults…That’s the most hopeful thing we’ve seen.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I eat since arriving in Colombia. Food is an increasingly important topic here, with the country’s agriculture being diverted to biofuel production and with an onslaught of cheap food imports expected to result if the pending Free Trade Agreements with Europe, Canda, and the United States are ever ratified. Increasing food prices and declining national production were brought into sharp relief for me on a recent roadtrip from Bogotá to Cartagena, where I saw perhaps as many fields of populated with African palm as with cattle. African palm is used to make biofuel and before it grows to maturity it looks like the botanical incarnation of Sideshow Bob. Here’s a couple of pictures that don’t really do justice to the comparison.
 
It’s also hard not to think more about your food when it still resembles a living animal. I say this not because I’m on the verge of conversion to vegetarianism, but just to point out how rare it has become in the States for us to look our food in the face. I took the following pictures in the town of Tenjo in the Department of Cundimarca, not far from Bogotá.
The butcher got a kick out of my curiosity, and cheerfully volunteered to tilt the heads up so that they would face the camera. Here’s the result–you can just see her through the spaces between the heads and the trays containing the meat.
* Note: The African palm images were lifted from here and here.
Uribe and Obama met on Monday, June 29, and Obama, once again, openly endorsed the bilateral trade agreement and congratulated Uribe on his administration´s “progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there.”
The Obama administration´s public posture of support, however, was not accompanied by actions indicating a renewed commitment to passing the stalled trade deal. Obama did not set a time table, saying he must consult with Congress in order to do so, and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has yet to announce the specific “outstanding issues” that must be resolved for the FTA to receive the administration´s full support.
Perhaps the most unexpected result of the meeting was Obama´s statement of disapproval for Uribe´s bid for a controversial third consecutive term. When asked if Obama has “a message” for hemispheric leaders seeking re-election, he said:
You know, I related to President Uribe the fact that our most revered president, or at least one of our two most revered presidents, George Washington, part of what made him so great was not just being the founder of our country, but also the fact that at a time when he could have stayed president for life, he made a decision that after service he was able to step aside and return to civilian life. And that set a precedent then for the future.
But as I said, each country, I think, has to make these decisions on their own. And I think what’s ultimately most important is that the people feel a sense of legitimacy and ownership, and that this is not something imposed on them from the top, that it’s not — does not involve manipulations of the electorate or, you know, rigging of the electoral process or repression of opposition voices, but that whatever is determined is done in an open, transparent way so that people feel confident that whoever’s in power represents their voices and their interests.
Obama´s statement was a hard blow for Uribe, who has shown great hostility to criticism of his re-election bid. Although Uribe’s supporters have mounted a controversial campaign to alter the Constitution to allow him to run for a third consecutive term, Uribe has refrained thus far from formally announcing his intention to run in 2010 and has reacted defensively to reporters who question him about it. In an interview last May with the BBC, Uribe repeatedly demanded another question when asked if would run in 2010 and told the Argentine interviewer to “study the history of your own country and leave Colombian democracy in peace.”
Photo: Secretaría de Prensa, Presidencia de Colombia
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