Tag Archives: Juan Manuel Santos

Colombia on the International Stage

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 7, 2012
Today, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos travels to Havana to meet with Cuban officials and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, currently convalescing in a Havana hospital. This hastily planned visit will last just a few hours,but the main item on the agenda holds broader regional significance. Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua have pledged to boycott the [...]
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The FARC’s announcement to halt kidnapping: why?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 27, 2012
The FARC’s announcement last Sunday that the organization will no longer kidnap civilians was a surprise to most observes and experts of the region. The mainstream media has reported on the event, but has been unsuccessful at explaining why the FARC would do this. In the past 48 hours, online media and blogs have [...]
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On Extraditions and Colombian-Panamanian Ties

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 4, 2012
Much has been made about Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ success at mending relations with his neighbors to the east and south. Rightly so. Given the difficult situation he inherited from his predecessor, this is no small feat. But Santos’ newest diplomatic test may now come from the north. On Jan. 3, Panamanian Foreign Minister Roberto Henriquez [...]
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Ideas, not money, will make Central America safer

By Eliot Brockner | Published: June 24, 2011
Boz has a great point about the fresh funding headed to Central America: I think a lesson is that there is no amount of money that the US could put on the table and no amount of attention the US could give that would guarantee Central America’s success in fighting organized crime. The US is not [...]
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Colombia Elections – Alliances in Numbers

By Eliot Brockner | Published: June 3, 2010
A recent poll in Colombia released on June 3 says Juan Manuel Santos would win 61.6 percent of a vote, whereas Antanas Mockus would win just 29. 8 percent. The results of the first round of elections on May 30 proved that polls are often unreliable. Precise numbers aside, the June 3 poll suggests that Santos [...]
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Colombia Post-Election Analysis – From the Top

By Eliot Brockner | Published: June 1, 2010
I was extremely lucky to be in Bogota last week, meeting with bunch of different people and talking about what have been some of the most unique and exciting elections in Latin America. I could feel the excitement from my desk in Washington. The intensity was exponentially multiplied on the steps of Plaza Bolivar. Debates, campaign [...]
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Scare Tactics in Colombian Presidential Elections

By Eliot Brockner | Published: April 16, 2010
Soft on Terrorism. The well-worn phrase is one that the US public has grown accustomed to. Like nationalism, it is a tactic that political campaigners use in attempts to disparage one candidate while strengthening the other. During the 2008 presidential campaign in the United States, Republican candidate John McCain accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama of being soft [...]
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Why Not Being Disliked is as Powerful as Being Liked

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 6, 2010
I recently wrote an article for the Americas Quarterly blog in which I argued that in Colombia’s second round of elections for the presidency not being disliked may be even more of a deciding factor than being liked by voters.  Campaign Season in Colombia Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and his allies were already taking candidate-like precautions before [...]
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Election Season in Colombia

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 27, 2010
The Constitutional Court’s ruling last night blocking the possibility of President Uribe’s reelection lifted a weight off the country’s shoulders. Even Uribe, who found out about the Court’s decision through his Blackberry at a a press conference about health reform in Barranquilla, reacted with a nervous smile. Many Colombians, who heard the news over television and radio waves [...]
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