Michael Shifter
Michael Shifter
Michael Shifter is President of the Inter-American Dialogue and an Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and writes for the Council's journal Foreign Affairs. He is also a member of the Latin American Studies Association, and a contributing editor to Current History...
america care latin needs start washington
There has been a sense that Latin America can take care of itself, but Washington needs to start repairing the tattered relations.
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There is powerful symbolism in what's happening in Costa Rica. Here is a country with enormous affinity with the United States, where there is a tremendous convergence of shared values ... and even they are not convinced that unquestioned support of the United States is in their best interests.
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When you have that amount of concentrated power, bad things tend to happen.
anxious business feared fiercely hit welcome words
Those words must have been welcome to anxious business groups, who feared a fiercely confrontational tone. He hit some conciliatory notes.
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To be frank, it doesn't surprise me. Chavez is a case apart; but if you look at the finance ministers -- Chile, Uruguay, Brazil -- all of them would please Milton Friedman with their fiscal discipline and their closing down of debts. And even those on the left stress 'effectiveness' as the model. It shows that the old labels don't have a lot of meaning in the present context.
benefit specialist washington
Washington is a specialist in doing things that benefit Chavez.
confront create policy question time violence whether
The question is, when it comes time to confront those policy decisions, whether that could create more violence or unrest.
challenge chavez economic model peru represents serious threat
The possibility we'll have another Chavez acolyte in Peru represents a serious challenge to the economic model and a threat to democracy.
player reality oil
He's got lots of money and clearly has grandiose schemes, seeing himself as an important global player. There is a reality to it. Oil is at record prices, and he's willing to spend both in Venezuela and in the region. But the question is, how much influence is he gaining
brazil fields gas military natural ordering otherwise partners risks seize
With this move, he risks alienating natural and otherwise sympathetic partners like Brazil and Spain. Ordering the military to seize the natural gas fields is unnecessarily confrontational and antagonistic.
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Unless Flores embarks on ... social reform aimed at addressing the country's exclusion and inequality, political unrest could mount during her presidency.
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There is a risk that such an idea will be seen as led by the U.S., or if the U.S. was seen as coordinating or directing it, ... That is problematic and could produce a strong reaction in Central America.
credit fact
The fact that he is going is a credit to him, because there was a lot of speculation he wouldn't,