Kerry: Pro-Democracy Efforts Do More Harm than Good
Mon, 04/04/2011 - 11:08 — AFAdmin
By Alana Goodman
Sen. John Kerry announced on Friday that he would seek to delay additional funding to the USAID democracy-promotion program in Cuba, because he believes that it has been doing more harm than good.
Kerry asks for a review of the program before funding is continued. Fair enough. But then the senator goes on to blame the pro-democracy program for the arrest of U.S. contractor Alan Gross in 2009: “There is no evidence . . . that the ‘democracy promotion’ programs, which have cost the U.S. taxpayer more than $150 million so far, are helping the Cuban people,” he said in a press statement. “Nor have they achieved much more than provoking the Cuban government to arrest a U.S. government contractor who was distributing satellite communication sets to Cuban contacts.”
Lugar Urges Colombian President Santos to Extradite Suspected Drug Kingpin Walid Makled to the United States
Thu, 03/31/2011 - 15:26 — AFAdmin
What We're Reading
Wed, 03/30/2011 - 16:22 — AFAdmin
Obama, Iran and Latin America
A week before President Obama began his Latin American tour that took him to El Salvador, Brazil and Chile, the region received another, less visible visit but of significant strategic relevance.
Latin America -- No Drama, Obama (Real Clear Politics)
SAO PAULO -- Many Latin Americans are bemoaning the fact that President Obama's trip to the region was overshadowed by events in Libya and Japan, and that the visitor made no announcement of a major policy initiative. They are wrong.
Chavez Hosts Terrorist Summit in Venezuela
Tue, 03/29/2011 - 09:07 — AFAdmin
President Hugo Chavez hosted a terrorist summit in Caracas in which the leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were present, said Roger Noriega, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
"All indications we have show that Chavez served as host for this summit,” Noriega said in a telephone interview." We don’t have a picture of him [Chavez] in the meeting, but our sources tell us that the main purpose of the trip was to meet him.''
At the meeting held on August 22, 2010 at the headquarters of Military Intelligence at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, "the supreme leader'' of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, the Hezbollah operations chief and the secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad allegedly attended, Noriega said.
The three organizations, or branches of them are considered terrorists by the U.S. and other Western countries.
Venezuela Human Rights Press Conference
Mon, 03/28/2011 - 13:02 — AFAdmin
March 28, 2011
Contact: americasforum@gmail.com
www.americasforum.com
Media Advisory
Venezuela Human Rights Press Conference
Four wives whose husbands are currently jailed in Venezuels under politically motivated charges by the Hugo Chávez governmnet will hold a press conference in Washington, D.C., this Wednesday, March 30th, at the National Press Club at 9:30 a.m. The Press conference will be held in the Fourth Estate Restaurant.
The four women are traveling to Washington to testify on their husbands' cases before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American State. The women will discuss their testimony and appeal for Justice on behalf of their husbands.
Those attending the press conference are:
President Obama’s weak message to Latin America
Fri, 03/25/2011 - 09:45 — AFAdmin
THOUGH IT was inevitable that it would be overshadowed by events elsewhere in the world, we thought President Obama was right to go ahead with his tour of Latin America. To cancel the trip only would have strengthened the view that, as Mr. Obama put it, “there have been times when the United States took this region for granted.” And there is, in fact, much to be done in and with Latin American nations, from strengthening U.S. partnerships with some key countries to standing up to the dismantling of democracy and violations of human rights in others.
Unfortunately, while Mr. Obama took the time to travel to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador, his effort to advance this agenda ranged from weak to nonexistent. In Brazil and Chile, the president rightly heaped praise on those countries’ democratic and economic development. He made a strong public pitch for partnership between the United States and South America’s emerging power, saying “the United States doesn’t simply recognize Brazil’s rise, we suppport it enthusiastically.”
What We're Reading
Mon, 03/14/2011 - 17:01 — AFAdmin
Venezuela's Exclusion of anti-Chavez Candidates Faces a Challenge (TIME)
Leopoldo López was once touted as a future leader of Venezuela, a young and appealing opposition figure who could have challenged President Hugo Chávez in next year's presidential election.
Democrats vs. Obama on Trade (The Wall Street Journal)
The pressure on the White House to drop its passive-aggressive opposition to the Colombia and Panama free trade agreements is now officially bipartisan. That news came last week when Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus announced that "The time is here. The time is now. In fact, the time has passed to ratify the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. It's long passed. We're losing market share hand over fist."
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