Recent Commentary

  • Obama Should Shelve Monroe Doctrine on its 185th Anniversary

    The Progressive, Dec 03, 2008

    President-elect Barack Obama should rescind the Monroe Doctrine, which is 185 years old this week. In just three short paragraphs buried deep into his State of the Union speech on Dec. 2, 1823, President James Monroe proclaimed one of the most enduring tenets of U.S. foreign policy.

  • 35 years ago, Latin America experienced its own Sept. 11

    The Progressive, Sep 09, 2008

    On Sept. 11, 1973, the Chilean military, supported by Washington, overthrew the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. It was a day that was burned in the memories of millions of people across the continent.

  • McCain Stays the Course in Latin America

    mcain and bush

    The Progressive, Jul 12, 2008

    On a recent trip to Colombia, Republican presidential candidate John McCain revealed he would be impelled by the same stubborn — and militarized — “stay the course” mantra that has driven the Bush administration’s foreign policy blunders.

  • Bush Makes Colombia 'Free Trade' National Security Issue

    Buribe

    NACLA, Mar 27, 2008

    The Bush administration is attempting to use the recent Andean standoff to ram Colombia’s pending “Free Trade Agreement” (FTA) through Congress.

  • Argentina's Catholic Backlash

    NACLA Report on the Americas, Mar 03, 2005

    I went home to Argentina last December for the holidays, and upon my return to New York, most people I know greeted me with, “Things have gotten better there, right?”—a fair question, but one to which a typically cynical Argentine would respond: “Of course things are better, they couldn’t have gotten any worse!” But while I was in the country a story caught my eye that convinced me that things, at least in one aspect, might be changing for the better. It was not a story about the supposed upswing in the economy, but rather about a controversial art exhibit.