Safe Democracy Foundation - Safe Democracy

The annual purchasing power of the Hispanic community in the United States exceeds 830 billion dollars, but only 21 out of the 535 congressmen in both houses of Congress are Latino. The economic crisis, education and the failed immigration reform are among the complaints that Hispanics have for the next president. Their vote counts, and the principal candidates cannot avoid this fact: Latinos could define the elections.

• A breath of fresh air for relations between the U.S. and Latin America?
  por José Luis Martínez

The author says that there is a social democratic left in Latin America that has left behind schools of thought from the Sixties and ancient times in order to join the globalized world, without any messianic speeches. Michelle Bachelet’s Chilean government is exhibiting flexibility and pragmatism, and it has understood that foreign investment, political stability and economic liberalization are necessary for success.

• Success Can Also Be Latin American
  por Joaquín Mirkin
• Chile hopes to overcome its ultra-dependence upon energy
  por Juan Antonio Sacaluga

The Cuban regime, despite the few restrictions that have been lifted by President Raul Castro, remains in violation of the rights of its citizens, says the author. However, bloggers and freelance journalists like Yoani Sanchez, 33, embody a new generation of observers without biases. One should know who they are and what they think of the state of things in Cuba.

Many thought that with the majority election of progressive governments in Latin America (which claimed to be anti-war) the region would see a period of relaxation in tensions. But the reality of the situation indicates that Latin America is submerged in uncountable conflicts that directly parallel Defense spending.

All indications are that, beginning in November, the scale of diplomatic relations between the United States and Latin America will increase. Although each has a different point of view, the three presidential candidates agree that Washington should pay more attention to Latin-American countries if it wants to influence the region.

The Cuban regime will continue what it began after the fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of its principal economic support: a slow and gradual transition, not in the direction of democracy, but towards a State-guided economy more open to the market. In other words, towards policies that are more in line with China and Vietnam’s. A good deal of the Cuban economy already takes the capitalist route. The rupture of the model, however, will not be traumatic; in the end, Cuba will end up being completely integrated into the international community. The problem will be how it will manage to do so.

For the benefit of all of its citizens, Latin America should leave behind the ideas of regressive utopias, and that of the cold war confrontation, in order to search for and take the path which is neither leftist nor rightist, but rather centrist. Progress and modernity are not in the extremes; in reality, they never were.

• The Globalization of Brazil
  por Marcelo Luchino