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Outside the Base at Guantanamo Bay last week, the US Military and Cuban Frontier Brigade worked together in basic preparation for major disasters. This is not a new collaboration, but the Obama Administration opted to make the exercise public, in contrast to the previous Bush policy of keeping it secret.  According to US Marine Corps General Jack Sheehan, the preparations are yet another sign of an “Incremental process” towards more cooperation.  ''We've never advertised [the exercise]… because it was very controversial,'' he said.  The Administration seems to be sending yet another “trial balloon,” with this announcement, following the talks on migration last week in New York. 

A Good Step, but Let’s Open the Conversation

The two neighbors are back at the negotiating table after a six year hiatus.  Since President Obama pledged to relax travel restrictions for Cuban Americans in April, we’ve all been looking for signs of a next step from the administration.  

These migration talks show a renewed willingness to engage in focused discussions – one issue at a time.  This limited engagement with Cuba is part of a clear signal coming from Washington that diplomacy will again be central to America’s foreign policy.  And as Hillary Clinton delivers a major speech this week at the Council on Foreign Relations to outline her global priorities, Latin America has to be high on the list. 

     “I urge all leaders in the Americas to see the Honduran crisis for what it is: an urgent call for the profound social and institutional changes our region has delayed for far too long.”

This is how Costa Rican President Oscar Arias closed his strongly worded op-ed, which was published in the Washington Post on Thursday, July 9th.

Mauricio Funes was sworn as President of El Salvador last June 1st. As Funes and his wife, Vanda Pignato, arrived at the inaugural ceremony, they were received by a cheering crowd chanting, "Yes, we did!" As the couple reached the stage, the chants turned into the traditional Latin American leftist hymn, "The people, united, will never be defeated." Monday's inauguration marks a turning point in the country's history, since it is the first time El Salvador elected a leftist president. Since colonial times, the smallest Central American country has had a troublesome history characterized by brutal repression of indigenous uprisings, decades of military dictatorship, a bloody twelve-year civil war and more recently, 20 years of right-wing party rule. Therefore, the FMLN victory represents a new era of hope and change for Salvadorans.