Executive Summary Introduction On January 17th, 2026, Mercosur—a South American customs union comprising Argentina, Bolivia (partial-member), Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay—signed a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union. The deal is slated to remove around $4.8 billion in tariffs between the two economic blocs, leading to an estimated 39 percent annual growth in EU exports to Mercosur (from $72 billion in 2024 goods export) and the elimination of EU duties … Continue reading
All is fair in love, war and international politics. Today, some countries are flirting their way to the top of hemispheric dynamics and Iran is becoming extremely appealing for this purpose. This is the case for some of Latin America’s most polemic leaders. Cristina, Hugo, Evo and even Fidel have identified a strategic opportunity to … Continue reading
Almost two weeks ago the president delivered the State of the Union and talked about many of the domestic issues affecting us today and how he intends to solve them. The president only talked about foreign policy towards the end of his speech and mentioned every single region of the world, except Latin America. Sadly, … Continue reading
The Dominican Republic just had the opportunity to show its citizens and its neighbors in the region the beauty of democracy during its 2012 presidential election. In an election-heavy year across the globe, I have been monitoring those occurring in the Americas. Many Latin American elections end in allegations of voter fraud, corruption or foreign … Continue reading
According to reports from a ceremony in Quito, Ecuador, the 12 countries that make up the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) are moving forward with their plans to create an alternative to the “Organization of American States and any other group lobbied from North America.” One of the main goals of UNASUR is to … Continue reading
In Melissa Pitts’ recent Huffington Post article “Here Are Five Ways to Turn Off Latinos,” regarding the recently announced partnership between ABC News and Univision to create a news channel targeting Hispanics, the author outlines her thoughts on what would make for a successful English language television channel for Latinos. I believe her opinions are … Continue reading
Since taking office in 2010, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has sought to fill the regional leadership role left vacant by Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva when the latter left his post in the same year. Many analysts believe that the days of US hemispheric hegemony are over. I would go a step further … Continue reading
When it comes to Latin America, the United States and its citizens do not need a full history lesson. It might be easier to skip over the history of US military interventionism and economic imperialism, and focus on more recent events. Rather, I believe, the United States needs to take a good long look at … Continue reading
True to form, the American media has continued its focus on domestic politics leading up to the November presidential election. So far, the GOP primary and the fallout from Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke have dominated this week’s media attention. Lost in this news coverage were Vice President Joe Biden’s … Continue reading
Policy Interns 