The Shoe Drops in Venezuela
On the morning of January 3, the world woke up to the successful US operation to seize Nicolás Maduro, head of the regime ruling Venezuela. No one should mourn his departure. But it remains uncertain whether the US move will trigger regime change and a democratic transition or alternatively a deal with regime successors. Latin […]
The Roller Coaster Ride of Argentina’s Jews
Argentina’s Jewish community, the largest in Latin America and the sixth largest in the world, shared in the country’s rise to prosperity in the late nineteenth and first part of the twentieth century, giving rise to the image of horse-riding Jewish gauchos on Argentina’s central grasslands. But the other seminal image of Argentina’s Jews comes […]
Lessons Learned From Fighting Narcoterrorism in South America
The fight against narcoterrorism has returned to the vocabulary of American policymakers. The Trump administration has deployed Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps assets to the Caribbean and destroyed several drug-carrying vessels, just the beginning of a campaign according to the President. This time the US effort is centered on Venezuela, but it is nevertheless […]
America’s Latin America Problem
Twenty years of US neglect have created space for adversaries to build permanent footholds in the Western Hemisphere. Iran and other adversaries are quietly building an operational network in America’s backyard, one that sanctions alone cannot dismantle. The Venezuela Nexus Recent testimony from Hugo “Pollo” Carvajal, Venezuela’s former intelligence chief, reveals the depth of Iran-Venezuela […]
Trump and the Latin American Right: Ideology and Interest
Three leading right-wing politicians in Latin America, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Argentine President Javier Milei, and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, have made much of their relationships with President Trump. Bukele’s Prisons at Trump’s Disposal Of the three, Bukele has established the closest rapport with Trump, a major shift from the suspicion with which he […]
The Woes of Argentina’s Peronist Icon, Former President Cristina Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was the charismatic leader of Argentina’s populist left for decades, elected twice as president, serving from 2007-2015, and again as vice president from 2019-2023. A fierce critic of Argentina’s current libertarian president Javier Milei, she was planning a comeback. Her plan to run for a seat in the legislature would have […]
Argentina Builds a Judicial Record Against Iran
The 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires left 85 dead. While the prospect of bringing Iranian suspects to face justice in Argentina remains remote, there have been important judicial developments over the past 18 months. This could lay the groundwork for further international pressure on Iran. Background: A Building Bombed, […]
Colombia Risks Losing Hard-Won Ground
Colombia was once seen as a success story. Threatened by violent insurgents, the country regained stability and, in 2016, reached a peace agreement with the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Spanish initials FARC). All this was accomplished with sustained US security and economic support. Lately, Colombia seems to be moving backwards. […]
Milei Races Against Time to Remake Argentina
For decades, Argentina has been a cautionary tale of a once prosperous nation undergoing slow multi-decade collapse, proof of what happens when a society persistently ignores all the warning signs of prolonged mismanagement. In November 2023, Argentina’s voters broke with the past and elected Javier Milei, an economist with a wild haircut, the rhetorical style […]
A Break in the Argentina Murder Case Tied to Iran
Ten years ago, on January 18, 2015, an Argentinian prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was murdered for investigating the 1994 terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. That 1994 attack killed 85 and wounded some 300, the largest single mass murder of Jews between the Holocaust of World War Two and October 7, […]
