Be sure to listen to our Heritage Libertad Radio Show. Click here to listen in Spanish. Click here to listen in English. The Spanish segment kicks off with a discussion of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s recent trip to South America. We continue with an interview with Heritage expert Jim Roberts, to discuss the recent release of the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom. The segment ends with a look at what Libertad fans have to say about policy, politics, and pop-culture. The English segment begins with a discussion with Congressman Frank Wolf …
With economic issues dominating the domestic political agenda and much of our foreign policy focused on combating terrorism, systematic violations of political and religious rights by some of the world’s most tyrannical regimes receive less attention than perhaps they should. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican representing Virginia’s 5th District, is out to rectify that shortcoming. His new book, “Prisoner of Conscience: One Man’s Crusade for Global Human and Religious Rights,” discusses his work to champion human rights across the world, and expose the gross violations he has come across in …
Today, the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom launches. For 17 years, The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal have reported on the status of economic freedom around the world, measuring 184 nations across the globe according to rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. Globally, the 2012 Index noted a general decline in economic freedom across the board, with nations throughout the world unsuccessfully trying to “spend their way out of recession.” The United States itself dropped from ninth to 10th, continuing a slide that last …
As he readied for the visit of a close ally, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez undertook a cabinet shuffle in the fashion of the defunct Soviet politburo. Before Christmas, he announced a pending reassignment of his Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Vice President Elias Jaua, and Interior Minister Tareck El-Assami to state governor candidate status. He elevated Congressman Diosdado Cabello, an influential former soldier, to head the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV. On January 6, Chavez named Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva, former director of Venezuela’s …
In an infamous and vulgar U.N. speech delivered in September 2006, Venezuela’s populist authoritarian President Hugo Chavez likened President George W. Bush to “the devil.” On December 20, Chavez lashed out at President Barack Obama after the U.S. President opined on the worsening situation in Venezuela. “Mr. Obama decided to attack us,” Chavez cried. “Now you want to win votes by attacking Venezuela. Don’t be irresponsible. You are a clown, a clown. Leave us in peace.” Chavez added that he considered President Obama to be an “embarrassment.” Chavez’s outburst followed …
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez will host what is billed as the founding conference of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) December 2–3 on the grounds of Venezuela’s largest military base. The ailing Chavez, whose very public battle with an undisclosed form of cancer has given rise to a mountain of speculation about his survival and whose reelection in October 2012 remains in doubt, hopes to demonstrate he will dominate the Latin American scene for months and years to come. In the run-up to the gathering, Chavez is billing …
Now that Congress has passed free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea, it’s a good time to ask why the United States should support and expand free trade. The chart below shows that the benefits of free trade are hard to deny. Countries that have more trade freedom also enjoy stronger economies, less hunger, and better care of the environment. Opponents of free trade complain that it leads to “unfair” foreign competition and that it destroys jobs, but the truth is a much different story. “Countries with the …
Free trade agreements (FTAs) have economically benefited nations the world over since their inception. Poverty rates in countries with low trade barriers are significantly lower, and data in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom demonstrate that free trade also leads to higher incomes, more jobs, and greater equality. That’s why it’s vitally important to quickly enact the three pending U.S. trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. These FTAs have been sitting on the President’s desk since 2007 for no good reason. President Obama has finally made them …
Milton Friedman once said that “there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.” For most people in the world, this is a convincing argument. Not, however, for the Peronists who have dominated Argentina’s politics for the past 70 years. Ranked 138th out of 179 countries in The Heritage Foundation’s 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, Argentina’s economy continues to head in the wrong direction. The government’s …
Is open trade and investment good for China but bad for the U.S.? The Heritage Foundation’s China Global Investment Tracker has just been updated. Through June 30, it shows over $60 billion in Chinese investment in Latin America. This worries some people. They think that China is gaining economic benefits and cementing strategic ties in our backyard. At the same time, the U.S. has had a clear and powerful opportunity for years to expand our own links to the region through free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia and Panama. Those …
