Argentina and the G20: In, out or shake it all about?

John Paul Rathbone

John Paul Rathbone is the FT's Latin American editor, having previously edited the Lex column. He is the author of "The Sugar King of Havana: the rise and fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's last tycoon" (The Penguin Press, 2010).

Argentina and the G20: In, out or shake it all about?

May 21, 2012 2:21 pm by John Paul Rathbone

Should Argentina, with its cavalier approach to economic policy, still have a place in the G20?

The debate is starting to generate heat, if not yet light. On May 11, Richard Lugar, the most senior Republican member of the US Senate foreign relations committee, introduced a non-binding “sense of Congress” resolution that calls on the US to suspend Argentina given its “outlaw behaviour”. This behaviour includes, most recently, Buenos Aires’ nationalisation of Spanish oil company Repsol’s stake in YPF, manipulation of inflation statistics, refusal to submit to an IMF review, and failure to comply with dozens of World Bank international settlement disputes.

Continue reading: “Argentina and the G20: In, out or shake it all about?”

Tags: Argentina, G20, Richard Lugar
Posted in Global economy, Latin America | Permalink

Might Mexico get the “best cop in the world”?

May 9, 2012 12:58 pm by John Paul Rathbone

General Óscar Naranjo is known as the world’s “best policeman”, or at least that is what the Canadian mounties have called Colombia’s top cop. Gen Naranjo, profiled here by the FT, is also looking for a job.

The unassuming Jesuit-schooled 56-year old, who has shaped and led Colombia’s pretty successful two-decade-long fight against organised crime, said last month that he would step down in July as head of Colombia’s 160,000-strong police force. After leading the institution for five years it was time, he said, for somebody else to take charge.

Continue reading: “Might Mexico get the “best cop in the world”?”

Tags: Colombia, Mexico
Posted in Latin America | Permalink

Latin American nationalisation dominoes

May 2, 2012 12:16 pm by John Paul Rathbone

President Evo Morales of Bolivia - following in Argentina's nationalisation footsteps? Reuters

There seems to be a domino effect in Latin America. Two weeks after President Cristina Fernández nationalised Spanish oil company Repsol’s stake in Argentina’s YPF, President Evo Morales has nationalised Spanish electricity grid operator Red Eléctrica’s business in neighbouring Bolivia.

In both cases, troops were sent in to underline the glorious nationalism of the occasion. But does this mark a new wave of populism and nationalisations in the region? Almost certainly not.

Continue reading: “Latin American nationalisation dominoes”

Tags: Argentina, Bolivia, Repsol, Venezuela, YPF
Posted in Latin America | Permalink

When sex doesn’t sell

April 19, 2012 12:31 pm by John Paul Rathbone

The scandal of the 20 US secret service agents who cavorted with prostitutes in Cartagena before Barack Obama’s visit to the Summit of the Americas last weekend has become a national issue in the United States. Republican presumptive nominee Mitt Romney is the latest to weigh in on the topic.

Continue reading: “When sex doesn’t sell”

Tags: Summit of the Americas, US secret service
Posted in Latin America, US politics | Permalink

Americas summit defies discord

April 16, 2012 9:56 am by John Paul Rathbone

There may not be another Summit of the Americas – at least as we know it. Would that matter? Maybe not. The sixth summit, which ended on Sunday, was supposedly riven by intractable issues. Cuba’s absence was one. The Falklands another. But that was pretty much it, despite the many headlines about inter-American discord.

Elsewhere, the US and Canada saw eye-to-eye with most of Latin America. The region’s biggest and fastest-growing economies – Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru to name just four – all agreed on their desire for more cooperation and closer integration with North America, not less.

Continue reading: “Americas summit defies discord”

Posted in Development, Foreign affairs, Global economy, Latin America, US foreign policy, World affairs | Permalink

Doth the US fret too much when looking south?

April 13, 2012 4:25 pm by John Paul Rathbone

For many years Latin America complained the United States never paid it much attention. Worse, when it did, it never cared for long. Instead, Latin America suffered the respect usually devoted to a “back yard”; at best, benign neglect.

Today the boot is on the other foot. Latin America, which over the past decade has enjoyed its best economic performance in a generation, no longer seems to care much about the US. When Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff’s travelled to Washington to meet US president Barack Obama this week, the tone of her remarks were cordial but aloof.

Continue reading: “Doth the US fret too much when looking south?”

Tags: Barack Obama, China, Colombia, Dilma Rousseff, General Electric, Hugo Chavez, Quantitative Easing, Summit of the Americas
Posted in Foreign affairs, Latin America, US foreign policy | Permalink

The “guayabera wars”

April 10, 2012 6:06 pm by John Paul Rathbone

Cuba's one-time richest man, Julio Lobo, wearing a bow tie and guayabera. Havana c.1955

Fidel Castro may be old and infirm, but he hasn’t lost his ability to provoke and amuse. The Cuban caudillo’s latest sally is against Barack Obama and his plans to wear a guayabera – a tropical shirt that is Cuba’s official garment – during this weekend’s Summit of the Americas in Colombia. The irony is that the Communist-ruled island will not be represented at the meeting as it does not meet the democratic requirements of the Organisation of American States. Ecuador is skipping the meeting in protest.

“The curious thing, dear readers, is that Cuba is prohibited in that meeting; but the guayaberas, no. Who can stop laughing?” the 85-year old former president wrote in the latest of his rambling “Reflections”, which are published in Cuba’s official media.

The item has been picked up by several news wires. What none of them mention however (although it may be implicit) is that this time the joke is on Mr Castro.

Continue reading: “The “guayabera wars””

Tags: Barack Obama, Cuba, Fidel Castro, Grau San Martin, Julio Lobo
Posted in Latin America | Permalink

Between some rocks and a hard people

April 3, 2012 10:39 am by John Paul Rathbone

More words have been written about the Falklands/Malvinas than the islands probably deserve. Sadly, almost a thousand service personnel died there too, in the months after Argentina invaded 30 years ago this week. Why is the problem so intractable? The answer to that question can perhaps be boiled down to less than 70 words.

Continue reading: “Between some rocks and a hard people”

Tags: Falklands
Posted in Britain, Latin America | Permalink

Crocodile diplomacy

March 23, 2012 2:06 pm by John Paul Rathbone

One of the more charming anecdotes that I’ve heard in connection with the Pope’s visit to Cuba next week is that of the crocodile who preceded the pontiff on the journey from Rome to Havana.

The hapless caiman was apparently exported illegally to Italy, and was returned as part of the Pope’s official reason for the visit, which has been dubbed as one of “reconciliation among Cubans”.

Continue reading: “Crocodile diplomacy”

Posted in Latin America, World affairs | Permalink

Chávez, his friends and life after death

February 28, 2012 8:56 am by John Paul Rathbone

Cuban President Raul Castro (left) welcomes Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to Cuba last Friday for cancer treatment. Photo: AP

One of the more interesting lines of speculation about Hugo Chávez’s deteriorating health and possible death is what it might mean for the socialist Venezuelan president’s many foreign allies. These include Cuba and Nicaragua in the Venezuelan near abroad, to further-flung friends in Syria and even China.

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Tags: Cuba, Farc, Hugo Chavez, Syria
Posted in Latin America | Permalink

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John Paul Rathbone