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Note from the Editor - Welcome Back, Multilateralism
Peter Moore
A return to multilateralism within the Americas is a welcome shift from strident nationalism and worn-out ideas such as the Monroe Doctrine. From the Fifth Summit of the Americas to Cuba to Honduras to the Venezuela-Colombia dispute, a multilateral approach to reducing tensions and resolving difficulties is making some headway. It is a welcome change in the region and one that has reduced tensions, although they are far from being dispelled. In Canada, internal disagreements are absorbing our attention. This country seems to be perched on the eve of its fourth election in five years as politicians read the polls like tea leaves with the earnest and unlikely hope of winning a majority government that would end this run of minority rule. Until then, Canada’s foreign policy is likely to remain on the sidelines as domestic affairs and political survival dominate the political agenda, argues Carlo Dade.
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Canadian Foreign Policy and the Coming Elections
Carlo Dade
With the surprising, given recent poll numbers, announcement by the official opposition in Canada that they will bring down the current minority government at the earliest possible opportunity, Canada is heading for its fourth election in five years. This election will be a test of few things of consequence, but it may offer insights into the staying power of the current focus on the Americas as Canada’s number two foreign policy priority. Outside of sharp debate over Canadian engagement in Afghanistan, the past three elections have, it would be fair to say, pretty much ignored foreign policy issues. In the last election the Conservative government’s focus on the Americas and the Liberal party’s push for Asia went unnoticed and, except for speeches by Liberal candidates to Asian audiences, unnoticed in the public and media discourse.
La Política Exterior Canadiense y las Próximas Elecciones
Carlo Dade
Con el sorprendente anuncio de la oposición oficial de Canadá, dados los resultados de las encuestas más recientes, de que harán caer al actual gobierno minoritario en la primera oportunidad posible, Canadá se encamina hacia su cuarta elección en cinco años.Esta elección no será una prueba para muchos temas de importancia, pero puede ofrecer una oportunidad para valorar si América Latina y el Caribe continuarán siendo la segunda prioridad de política exterior para Canadá después de Afganistán, así como para medir el interés del público canadiense en la política exterior en general, y el valor que le otorga. Con excepción del fuerte debate sobre la participación de Canadá en Afganistán, podría decirse con justa razón que en las tres elecciones anteriores los temas de política exterior fueron ignorados en gran medida. En la última elección, el énfasis del gobierno conservador en América Latina y el del Partido Liberal en Asia pasaron desapercibidos y, excepto por los discursos de candidatos liberales dirigidos a audiencias asiáticas, ni en el debate público ni en los medios recibieron atención.
Haiti Strives to Tackle its Democratic Shortfalls
James R. Morrell
The Haitian democratic sector, notable for both its courage and its disorganization, completed an important act of self-definition August 28–30, 2009 at a hotel meeting in Santo Domingo. This was the Rencontre Patriotique pour une Stratégie de Sauvetage National, uniting leading lights of the Haitian intelligentsia from Port-au-Prince and the diaspora in a marathon brainstorming session about the country’s future. There was also a sprinkling of businesspeople, politicians and former officials, and many Haitian students from the University of Santo Domingo. The participants committed themselves to challenge the “traditional bastions of irresponsibility, incompetence, corruption, nepotism, influence, and inhumanity which have poisoned the evolution of the Haitian nation for the past 50 years.” They set themselves no less a task than to “restore national sovereignty and re-found the nation-state.” Fine rhetoric, and there was plenty more of it, but what does it mean?
Haïti tente de s'attaquer à ses insuffisances démocratiques
James R. Morrell
Le secteur démocratique haïtien, remarquable tant pour son courage que pour sa désorganisation, a effectué un acte important d'auto-détermination lors d'une réunion ayant eu lieu du 28 au 30 août 2009 à Saint-Domingue. Cette Rencontre patriotique pour une stratégie de sauvetage national a réuni les chefs de file de l'intelligentsia haïtienne de Port-au-Prince et de la diaspora au sein d'une session marathon pour une réflexion sur le futur du pays. On y trouvait également quelques hommes d'affaires, des politiciens, d'anciens fonctionnaires et beaucoup d'étudiants haïtiens de l'Université de Saint-Domingue.
The Obama Challenge: Multilateralism in the Americas
Thomas Legler and Anabel López
The Obama administration appears to have gotten its Western Hemisphere policy on the right track. At the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago last April, U.S. President Obama called for a new partnership in the region in which there were no longer junior and senior partners. The question is how to flesh out this partnership and make it a reality.The policy challenge for the Obama administration in the Americas is twofold. Not only must the U.S. government repair the damage done to U.S.-Latin America relations during President George W. Bush’s administration but it must also do so in a way that reinforces the capacity of Latin American and Caribbean governments to assume greater collective responsibility and leadership for resolving the governance problems that plague the region. This calls for nothing short of a dramatic reorientation of U.S. relations with Latin American and Caribbean states. The medium to long-term goal the U.S. ought to have is to let Latin American and Caribbean leadership take the driver’s seat. The Obama government inherited a particularly problematic relationship with its neighbours.
Colombia-U.S. Military Cooperation Agreement Attracts UNASUR Attention
Freddy Osorio-Ramirez
It is time for United States soldiers to dust off their English-Spanish dictionaries and for Colombians to remember their English lessons —they will need them when the two militaries start living together at seven bases under a new military cooperation agreement. The agreement to use three air force, two naval and two army installations has attracted considerable attention from Colombia’s neighbours who discussed it at an extraordinary meeting of the Union of South American Countries (UNASUR) on Aug. 28 in Bariloche, Argentina. According to a U.S. Department of State press release, the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), which is not public, is for technical cooperation in terms of “narcotics production and trafficking, terrorism, illicit smuggling of all types, and humanitarian and natural disasters”. This agreement has sparked concerns about South American sovereignty and concerns about U.S. military intervention in the region. With the agreement, Washington seems to be sending mixed signals regarding its change in foreign policy toward the region.
Cuba’s Bloggers: Is Cuba Relaxing Restrictions on
Freedom of Expression?
Archibald Ritter
For almost half a century, Fidel Castro required the citizens of Cuba to read from the same page and sing the same song. Though Cuba is a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly basically did not exist. The concept of a “Loyal Opposition” as known in Canada, was alien to the Castro regime; disagreement was considered to be essentially disloyal and in the service of the enemy, the United States. Under President Fidel Castro dissidence or even serious disagreement was countered effectively; he used measures such as jailing the five authors of “The Homeland Belongs To Us All”, a paper calling for political and economic reforms in Cuba; firing professors who were out of line (Gloria Leon and Miriam Gras in 1995); and suspending one’s position and party membership (Professor Omar Everleny Perez 1998). The country’s former Minister of Higher Education, Juan Vela, stated that ideology trumps science, and that he who is not a revolutionary “does not belong in their classrooms”.
News Briefs
- Honduras restricts citizen rights
- Peruvian Congress rejects Amazonian decrees that provoked deadly protests
- Canadian government eases Haiti travel rules
- Canada a ‘top priority’ for Mexico, despite visa controversy
Facts & Figures