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The European Union and Cuba signed a first-ever agreement on closer ties on Monday, and vowed that the arrival in office of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump would not impact on their future relations. “This is a historic day; we’ve turned a page. Today we’re starting to write together a new chapter,” said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as the 28-nation EU’s top diplomats and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez signed the pact in Brussels. The accord, aimed at supporting economic development and promoting democracy and human rights on the island, will form the legal platform for future ties between...

Francis has sent a message to the Argentinians for the 200th anniversary of their country’s independence. We pray that the country will be defended against all forms of colonisation, he said

Bad ideas take a long time to die Since the start of the 21st Century, the leftward lurch in Latin America has been unmistakable. By early 2008, the nations of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and, to a certain extent, Mexico and Peru, have all embraced center-left political parties or movements. The reason for the tilt is a familiar one: the siren song of government-mandated wealth redistribution and increased levels of social spending have resonated with people with a long history of economic and development troubles. “I think it’s difficult for conservative candidates to...

A $50 billion canal to be built by a Chinese tycoon in Nicaragua would be deep enough to allow submarines to pass through undetected. Billionaire Wang Jing has spearheaded what is one of the biggest engineering projects in the world and is three times the size of any other canal, yet shipping forecasters don’t anticipate a need for such a route in terms of trading. Many believe that Wang, who has not disclosed who his investors are, may be backed by the Chinese Government who hope to get a foothold in the continent where business has traditionally been dominated by...

Venezuela's oil output may double in the coming years, after the government secured US$14 billion in new Russian investment Wednesday. Most of the Russian investment will go towards improving output in the Orinoco Belt: a strip of Venezuela's north east that is believed to hold the world's largest proven oil reserve. The deal is the latest in over 250 bilateral agreements between Russia and Venezuela, mostly in areas including technology, construction and oil. Earlier Wednesday, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov expressed “solidarity” with Venezuela in the face of opposition destabilization. “We have confirmed solidarity with the people of Venezuela and...

Venezuela’s socialist government is struggling to put food on the shelves amid runaway inflation. Brazil’s president is facing calls for impeachment. And even Cuba’s communist government, an iconic touchstone for generations of leftists, is embracing closer ties with the U.S. Whether it’s because of corruption scandals or stagnant growth, the popularity of the crop of leftist Latin American governments that have been running the region since the start of the millennium appears to be waning. Voters that embraced what became known as the pink tide that swept away the pro-Washington, free-market policies dominant in the 1990s are increasingly tuning hostile...

President Barack Obama says Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will visit Washington this summer, nearly two years after she canceled a similar trip to protest U.S. spy programs. Her visit is set for June 30. Rousseff canceled a state visit to the U.S. in the fall of 2013 to protest an American spy program that targeted Brazil's government and citizens.

President Obama officially closed a chapter in U.S. history that has guided presidents since nearly beginning, indicating the United States will no longer act to resist overseas influence in the Hemisphere. Obama, who spoke Friday during a “civil society” forum in Panama City, Panama, disparaged past efforts by the United States to forestall the spread of Communism in Latin America and suggested similar missions would no longer be undertaken. “The days in which our agenda in this hemisphere so often presumed that the United States could meddle with impunity, those days are past,” Obama said.Let’s think about what Obama means...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel assured Brazil on Sunday that she will do her utmost to bring to a successful end the 15-year-old negotiation of a free trade deal between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur trade bloc. Merkel, stopping in the Brazilian capital on her way to see the German soccer team play in the World Cup on Monday, said Germany and Brazil, the two largest economies in Europe and Latin America, had much to gain from more trade and investment. […] Brazil, a regional powerhouse that is seeking more trade to boost its stagnant economy, feels it is...

TAMARINDO, COSTA RICA – I’m not about to pretend that spending a few days in this rather funky little surfing village on the Pacific has given me great insights into Latin America’s current political, economic and social reality. On the other hand, if one keeps an open mind -- and a not excessively open mouth -- one generally learns something. Based on the evidence I’ve been able to gather, Costa Ricans – or Ticans as they refer to themselves – deserve the reputation they enjoy as friendly, good-natured and peaceable. The national slogan here is pura vida, literally "pure life,"...

n Venezuela, a popular uprising threatens to sweep Nicolas Maduro, the heir to Hugo Chavez, from power, along with his brutal, corrupt, viciously anti-American socialist regime. The magnitude of anti-Maduro demonstrations in Venezuela has not been adequately or consistently reported in the American press. Millions have taken part. To take just one example, this aerial photograph of an anti-government demonstration in Chacao last week, conveys some sense of the magnitude of the pro-freedom movement. When Miss Fernandez won the Miss Universe title in 2009, she was the second consecutive winner from Venezuela. I liked her predecessor Dayana Mendoza, who was...

While everyone is focused on the Ukraine and eastern Europe, Vladimir Putin has also been projecting Russian power into our own backyard: Away from the conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is quietly seeking a foothold in Latin America, military officials warn.To the alarm of lawmakers and Pentagon officials, Putin has begun sending navy ships and long-range bombers to the region for the first time in years.Russia’s defense minister says the country is planning bases in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and just last week, Putin’s national security team met to discuss increasing military ties in the region.“They’re on the...

Latin America, long considered off-limits for Russian military outposts because of its proximity to Washington, is rapidly becoming the latest region targeted for Moscow’s expanding reach. As the Kremlin was secretly planning its invasion of Ukraine in late February, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Moscow’s plan to establish a permanent military presence in Latin America, including naval visits to ports in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Russia is also asking those countries to allow long-range bombers to refuel at their air bases.

At the same time that Russia was denying having blockaded Ukrainian naval facilities in Crimea, little-noticed reports came out of Moscow saying that Vladimir Putin’s government had ongoing conversations with eight foreign countries with the objective of building overseas military facilities, including in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. “We need bases for refueling near the equator and in other places,” Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, was quoted as saying by news agency ITAR-Tass. […] Attempts to reach spokespeople at the U.S. State and Defense Departments went unanswered Monday due to weather concerns, but analysts were split about how ominously to take...

(AFP)—A Russian warship was docked in Havana Wednesday, without explanation from Communist Cuba or its state media. The Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, measuring 91.5 meters (300 feet) long and 14.5 meters wide, was docked at the port of Havana's cruise ship area, near the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The ship is reportedly armed with 30mm guns and anti-aircraft missiles.

A proposal to lay an undersea cable between Portugal and Brazil to circumvent US snooping has been praised by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Rousseff on Monday (25 February) in Brussels at the annual EU-Brazil summit told reporters that privacy, human rights, and the sovereignty of nations must be respected. “The internet is one of the best things man has ever invented. So we agreed for the need to guarantee … the neutrality of the network, a democratic area where we can protect freedom of expression,” she said. Brazilian state-owned telecom provider Telebra is reported to have cut a deal last...

Just when you think it can’t get worse, Obama does something even more treasonous. What scares the literal crap out of me is that no one seems to care. John Kerry announced on the 18th that the Monroe Doctrine was officially dead, throwing the doors open on this continent to Russia, China and Iran. This move will massively ramp up terrorist and communist infiltration. I look at the puzzle pieces of Obama’s moves lately and a very cold chill runs down my spine. From Chinese troops in Hawaii for the Grid X II drill, to the purging of our military....

On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry told the Organization for American States that “The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” After the assembled delegates applauded, Kerry proceeded to misquote the doctrine as “a United States declaration about how and when it will intervene in the affairs of other American states.” In fact, the Monroe Doctrine declared that the U.S. would oppose European intervention in the Americas. In other words, the plain meaning of the Monroe Doctrine was exactly the opposite of that which Kerry ascribed to it. The Monroe Doctrine protected the new Latin American states from intervention...

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday declared that a nearly 200-year-old policy which had governed Washington's relations with Latin America was finally dead. Known as the Monroe Doctrine after it was adopted in 1823 by former US president James Monroe, the policy had stated that any efforts by European countries to colonize land in North or South America would be views as aggressive acts and could require US intervention. “The doctrine that bears (Monroe’s) name asserted our authority to step in and oppose the influence of European powers in Latin America,” Kerry told an audience at the Organization...

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones. The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region. “The Chinese are deftly parrying our ‘Pivot...