There has of recent been a flurry of reports suggesting that Obama change course in Latin America. This is generally a good thing. The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) wrote an insightful analysis. They say that we have a “unique window of opportunity” and note that Obama’s positions on Latin America range from the [...] read more »

In his weekly Saturday radio address, Correa contradicted his Foreign Ministry, saying that Ecuador would not pursue a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Euroepan Union outside of the Andean Community (CAN) framework. It is not clear why the Ministry initially said that Ecuador would seek a bilateral FTA with the EU. The earlier announcement [...] read more »

The political aftershocks of Colombia’s March 1st attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador continue to reverberate. On the Thursday November 6th, Ecuador filed a formal note of protest after  Colombian paramilitaries allegedly crossed the border and attacked the village of Borbón, killing 1 and injuring two. While Colombia grabbed headlines worldwide for its charges of [...] read more »

Both candidates in last night’s debate pledged to eliminate U.S. dependence on Venezuelan oil. I would have loved a follow up question why exactly Venezuela poses a security threat to the United States. I guess that they assumed that the answer was obvious enough to the American people–but I’m not quite sure that I got [...] read more »

U.S. drug policy, of course, has never had much to do with protecting Americans’ health. The so-called Drug War has always been more effective at criminalizing youth of color, feeding a politics of fear and advancing wrongheaded U.S. foreign policy objectives. But Bush’s recent decision to deny trade preferences to Bolivia is a pretty crude [...] read more »

A quick note: Hi, I’m new to this blog. I’m an independent journalist in Quito, Ecuador. I write about Latin American politics, US foreign policy, trade, social movements and other issues. You can find out more about my work at www.danieldenvir.com. Thanks to The Indypendent for this opportunity to collaborate. ————————— Colombia has once again blocked efforts [...] read more »