Libya’s seat at the United Nations is currently vacant. Weeks ago, Muammar Qadhafi fired his U.N. ambassador Mohammed Shalgham after the ambassador denounced the Libyan strongman as a tyrant. In his stead, Qadhafi named another veteran and loyal diplomat, Ali Treki. The U.S. has apparently denied Treki a visa to enter the U.S. Qadhafi’s dear friend and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has stepped in, saying he is sending Nicaragua’s former foreign minister and all-purpose anti-American Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann to U.N. headquarters to act on Qadhafi’s behalf. D’Escoto is no impartial …
On the way to a defense ministerial in Bolivia, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was asked about Iran’s growing presence in South America, particularly in Bolivia and Venezuela. He answered most cautiously: Bolivia, obviously, can have relationships with any country in the world that it wishes to. … But I think Bolivia needs to be mindful of the number of United Nations Security Council resolutions that have been passed with respect to Iran’s behavior. Gates said exactly what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last year. Nevertheless, at the defense …
Almost a year ago, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez told President Obama, “I want to be your friend.” Today the much-photographed handshake at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad has become a cold shoulder. Sadly like much of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy, relations with arch-anti-American Hugo Chavez have fallen well short of expectations. Good intentions, positive gestures, and, a little naïveté has not stopped Hugo Chavez from pursuing his mission to consolidate authoritarian rule in Venezuela and undermine U.S. leadership and influence in the Americas. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir …
The Cold War is supposed to be over, and the murderous ideology of Marxist-Leninist revolution either tempered by capitalism and consumerism in China or Vietnam, or confined behind the grim ramparts of communist throwbacks like Cuba and North Korea. If that’s the case, Bolivian leader Evo Morales must not have gotten the memo. In a sharp contrast with Bolivia’s history – it was in fact Bolivian troops which executed the violently homicidal Cuban Communist leader Che Guevara in 1967 for attempting an ill-fated repeat of Cuba’s communist revolution – the …
After two Presidential debates it’s becomingly increasingly clear there will be little discussion of U.S.-Latin American relations in the final month. How will the next President handle President Hugo Chavez, the deteriorating U.S. – Venezuelan relationship, and growing ties with Russia and Iran? What about Russian warships headed to the Caribbean for joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy or Chavez’s soliciting Russian help with nuclear power? Enriched by Venezuela’s oil revenues, agents of Chavez’s government have conspired with narco-terrorist guerrillas in Colombia, shipped suitcases of cash to Argentina, and worked …
