Is It Time to End the Cold War in Latin America?

On April 14th the New America Foundation hosted an event discussing U.S. interests in Latin America and the future of U.S.–Cuba relations, looking forward to the Summit of the Americas. Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation and Washington Staff Writer for The New Yorker, gave opening remarks and introduced the panel. The panel included Carl Meacham, Senior Policy Advisor for Senator Richard Lugar, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (USA, Ret), Former Chief of Staff for the Department of State, Michael Lind, Whitehead Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, Julia Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director of Latin Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, David Rothkopf, President & CEO of Garten Rothkopf and Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Tom Omestead, Senior Writer & Diplomatic Correspondent at the US News & World Report, and William Reinsch, President of the National Foreign Trade Council. Steve Clemons, Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, moderated the questions from the audience and the debate between panelists.

The primary topic of discussion was whether recent decisions by the Obama administration toward Cuba, including allowing relatives to visit more often and increasing the limits of remittances sent to the country, have been substantively beneficial. Additionally the panelists spoke on topics from China’s increasing influence in the region to the emerging regional leaders such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, pushing for change in the U.S.-Cuba policy.

 --Event summary by William Monroe, Intern, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation

Agenda

8:30am
Registration and Coffee

9:00am
Welcoming Remarks

Steve Coll
President, New America Foundation
Former Managing Editor, Washington Post
Washington Staff Writer, The New Yorker

9:10 am
What Would an Interest-Driven Relationship Between the U.S. and Latin America Look Like if It Existed? Where do US-Cuba Relations Fit In?

Carl Meacham
Senior Policy Advisor for Latin America to Senator Richard Lugar
Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson (USA, Ret)
Former Chief of Staff, Department of State
Chairman, US-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative, New America Foundation
Pamela Harriman Visiting Professor, College of William & Mary

Michael Lind
Whitehead Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Author, The American Way of Strategy: US Foreign Policy and the American Way of Life
Former Executive Editor, The National Interest

Julia Sweig
Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies
and Director of Latin Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Author, Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century

David Rothkopf
President & CEO, Garten Rothkopf
Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Author, Running the World: The Inside Story of the NSC and the Architects of American Power
National Security Blogger, Foreign Policy

Tom Omestead
Senior Writer & Diplomatic Correspondent, US News & World Report
Former Associate Editor, Foreign Policy

William A. Reinsch
President, National Foreign Trade Council

moderator and provocateur
Steve Clemons
Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation
Publisher, The Washington Note

10:30 am
Adjournment