Andres Oppenheimer
The country that received the most attention during President
Fifteen years after the end of
According to
During a five-day visit to
According to U.N. figures, there are at least five times more private security guards than police forces in
What is going on, I asked Honduran President
"The cartels are coming our way," Lobo said. "The growing crime rates are affecting us a lot, in many ways. Among other things, they scare away investments."
Lobo reminded me that in over the past two years, members of the Los Zetas armed gang -- originally part of
"They are much bloodier than anything we've seen before," Lobo said. "By comparison, the traditional cocaine barons look like schoolboys."
"We need a coordinated multinational effort that includes
My Opinion: Obama's expected announcement of new aid to help
What should he do? Just as previous U.S. presidents admitted -- after many years of U.S. denial -- that massive U.S. drug consumption is a big part of the drug-trafficking problem, and just as the Obama administration recently conceded that U.S. arms smuggling to
It's clearly not working.
Obama should heed the advice of former Mexican presidents
Further reducing U.S. drug consumption would help more than anything else to weaken the drug cartels, and reducing the bloodshed in increasingly violence-torn
Available at Amazon.com:
At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes
- Obama's Biggest Challenge -- Central America
- Obama's Card in Latin America: Education
- Nicaragua Headed for One-Man Rule -- Again
- Egypt and Tunisia Could Learn From Chile's Transition
- Time for Colombia to Think Big
- Mexico: Cracking Down
- UK - Latin American Relations: Rearranging The Deckchairs
- South American Stock Exchange: The Way to Go
- United States Should Cut Waste in Immigration Budget
- 'Latin American Decade' or Wishful Thinking?
- U.S. Aid Cuts Could Be 'Diplomatic Suicide'
- Peru Faces a New Threat: Complacency
- It Might Be Time to Rebrand It the 'South American Dream'
- Latin America Needs a 'Sputnik Moment'
- 'Egypt Effect' Will Help Chavez -- But Not Much
- Obama's Trip May Lead to United States - Brazil Honeymoon
- Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth
- United Nations Should Play a Bigger Role in Haiti
- Haiti Teaches Us Lessons in Life
- United States Cuba Travel to Shake Caribbean -- a Bit
- New Congress to Push Obama on Latin America
- Terror War We Ignore is Next Door in Mexico
- Latin America's Economic Bonanza May Be Short-Lived
- South America Enters Middle East Quagmire
- What Haiti Really Needs: A Lot More Trees
- Culture Matters: Real Obstacles to Latin American Development
- Argentina Needs to Face Education Debacle
- South American Diary
- Obama's Pending Assignment: Reconnecting With Hispanics and Latin America
- Spanish Classes Thriving in U.S. Colleges
- Colonialism Still at Heart of Africa's Growing Pains
- The Empty Chair
- North Korea: The World's Problem Child
- Save the North Koreans!
- For Middle East Peace, Israel Must Prepare for Nuclear War
- Iran Nuclear Talks: A Widening Chasm
- A Sordid Dance in Afghanistan
- Holding the Course in Afghanistan
- As New START Debate Rages, Quiet Nuclear Progress With Russia
- Colombia Takes a Step Back From United States
- American Colleges See Fewer Latin Americans
- Latin American Militaries Playing With Fire
- How Will Mexico Escape Its Season in Hell?
- Latin American Leaders Could Have Learned From South Korea
- Region Ignoring Venezuela Coup Threats
- To Fight Corruption, Start Cutting Red Tape
- New Congress Won't Lead to 'Fortress America'
- Bachelet Faces Uphill Battle at U.N. Women
- A New Global Player: Brazil's Far-Flung Agenda
- Rise in Tourism to Miami May Signal Danger Ahead
- Peru May Be Next Latin American Success Story
- Nobel Winner Right About Risks of e-Books
- Nestor Kirchner's Death May Mark End of an Era
- Chavez a Pain for Spain
- Chavez Lost Ground but Will Fight Back
- Education Too Important to Be Left in Government Hands
- Latin America In Denial About the Quality of Its Schools
- Millennium Development Goals for Women Largely Unmet
- North Korean Succession Plans Are Shrouded in Mystery
- Rogue BFFs North Korea and Iran Make Quite a Pair
- American Role in Israeli-Palestinian Talks Is a Problem
- Iraq Reluctant to Pay Its Fair Share of Security Costs
- Iran's 'Shaky' Ahmadinejad
- United States Could Be Alone as Europe Turns Inward
- Hugo Chavez May Lose Even if He Wins
- Brazil Needs Dose of Constructive Paranoia
- Latin American Commodity Exporters Need to Diversify
- Stoned on Righteousness
- Our Man in Moscow
- Widening Divide in American-Chinese Commercial Interests
- The New Old World Order
- Global Human-Rights Cause Gets a Shot in the Arm
- Obama's Foreign Policy Performance
- New Russia Takes Root in Saint Petersburg and Moscow
- Dismantling Worst-Case Proliferation Scenarios
- A Numbers Game in the Middle East
- Middle East Peace Talks: Here We Go Again
- Obama and Clinton Revive Middle East Peace Talks
- Guess Who's Coming to the Table
- Iraq: Unanswered Policy Questions on U.S. Troops
- Iraq: Implications of a Pointless War
- Iraq: Book Review
- Iraq: No Drums and No Bugles: None Dare Call It Victory
- Pakistan's Leadership Sustains Flood Damage
- A French Leftist Ritual Takes on Sarkozy
- United States Losing Latin America Market Share
- The Power of Being Multilingual
- Chavez's Obsession With Past Turns Creepy and He's Not Alone
- Obama Could Help Stop Mexico's Bloodshed
- Mexico Needs U.S. Help But Not Troops
- Mexico's Narco Problems Are Our Problems, and Vice Versa
- Pro-Arizona Immigration Rhetoric Will Haunt Republicans
- We Are Playing Fidel Castro's Game
- Has the Time Come to Legalize Drugs?
- Venezuela - Colombia Spat to Pass, Return
- Hugo Chavez Might Keep Congress Despite Vote
- Reform Movement in Cuba
- Cuba's Prisoner Release No Sign of New Era
- 'Maradona Syndrome' Bad for Argentina
- Obama Wasting Opportunities in Latin America
- Obama Immigration Speech All Words -- No Action
- Obama Immigration Reform: Tell It to Us Straight
- Obama's Unclear Path to Immigration Reform
- Obama's Border Talk: Little Action
- Mexico: The New Cocaine Cowboys
- Under Santos Colombia Could Rise to the Next Level
- Autocrats' Latest Weapon: Indirect Censorship
- Latin America's Rich Should Be More Generous
- Castrocare in Crisis
- World Cup Soccer Can Have Political Impact
- Gulf Oil Spill Could Bring U.S. and Cuba Closer
- Colombia Vote Showed Social Media's Limits
- New Political Winds in Latin America
- Colombia: Moving Beyond 'Narco-Democracy'
- Is Colombia's Front-runner Too Romantic? Not Really
- Mexico has its own 'Arizona' problem
- Brazil Diplomacy Needed Closer to Home
- Hugo Chavez Ceding too Much Control to Cuba
- Cuban Cardinal Says Too Little Too Late
- The Starving Armenians
- Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law Will Spark Hispanic Exodus
- Open Season on Latinos in Arizona
- Obama Criticism of Arizona Immigration Law Ignores Federal Incompetence
- Mexico's Big Hope: Get 5 Million U.S. Retirees
- U.S. Latin Policy: Big Gestures and Little Substance
- Latin America Must Diversify Trade With China
- Cuba After Fidel and Raul Castro
- Earthquake May Delay Chile's First World Goal
(C) 2011 Andres Oppenheimer, The Miami Herald Distributed by Tribune Media Services