Alas, Hugo Chávez will not live long enough to atone for his abuse of millions of Venezuelans nor to correct the corrupt and destructive policies that have wrecked the country he leaves behind. Moreover, although his cronies and their Cuban handlers are maneuvering to hold on to power, a Chavista succession is neither stable nor sustainable. With more audacious leadership among Venezuela's democrats and intelligent solidarity from abroad, Chávez's legacy might be buried with him....

There is a new deal brewing between Argentina and Iran in order to improve relations between the two counties which have been on shaky ground ever since the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and the Jewish community headquarters (AMIA) in 1994. Though Hezbollah, Iran's proxy, was widely believed to have perpetrated these two attacks no individual has ever been brought to justice. However, Argentina issued arrest warrants and orders of extradition for several high officers in the Iranian...

(Mexico City) - Mexico ’s security forces have participated in widespread enforced disappearances, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Virtually none of the victims have been found or those responsible brought to justice, exacerbating the suffering of families of the disappeared, Human Rights Watch found. The 176-page report, “Mexico’s Disappeared: The Enduring Cost of a Crisis Ignored,” documents nearly 250 “disappearances” during the...

"Little Russsian brainless, we'll kill you and your daughters. Jewish son of a thousand whores, do not you realize you changed your hand? "The brutal threat received by Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor in the case by the AMIA bombing, caused shivers employees Court No. 9 headed Luis Rodriguez, where the complaint was filed. Not only by the text, but some pictures attached style Mexican narco cartels not worth describing to not be functional to the cowards who only seek to intimidate...

President Raúl Castro Ruz Head of Cuba’s Council of State Chairman of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Dear President Castro, When you were sworn in as chairman of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for one year at the end of the recent CELAC summit in the Chilean capital of Santiago, you undertook to act “with total respect for international law, the United Nations charter and the fundamental principles governing...

The killing of protestors last October was a tragedy foretold by those who have long warned against Guatemala’s use of the armed forces to maintain domestic peace. , the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines how using the army for law enforcement and to maintain public order in a country with extensive economic inequalities is especially perilous. The danger became tragically clear on 4 October 2012, when soldiers apparently opened fire on a march protesting high...

China has conducted an economic foreign policy under the slogan of “win-win”. This concept is based on the notion that China’s investments abroad could help China’s growth as well as the infrastructure of the countries where Chinese investments are pursued. As Elizabeth Economy has pointed out, in order to advance its investments, mostly in countries that provide raw materials, China includes broader trade and aid deals to promote the development of the recipient...

A couple of hours ago, Mexico’s Supreme Court accepted an appeal from Florence Cassez, a Frenchwoman, to free her from prison. Parts of the court hearing were carried live on television, a sign of how the case had become a lightning rod in Mexico. Cassez, 38, spent the past seven years in jail, accused of being part of the Zodiacos kidnapping gang. The imminent freeing of Cassez enraged those kidnapped by the Zodiacos, and victims’ rights advocates, too. One of the...

On first read, it might have been a hoax. On International Human Rights Day last month, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Anthony Wayne, “celebrated” Mexico’s human rights achievements. “The United States recognizes the Mexican government, including officials and institutions,” he wrote in the newspaper El Universal, “for its efforts to promote the defense of human rights in Mexico.” It is hard to imagine a less appropriate time for such undeserved...

Iran has strongly slammed the move as an overt intervention. "It is an overt intervention in Latin American affairs... that shows they are not familiar with new world relations. The United States still lives in the Cold War era and considers Latin America as its back yard". Strategically dubbed as ‘Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012’, the act calls for the State Department to develop a plan within 180 days to "address Iran's growing hostile...