We are pleased to present a summary overview of the Inter-American Dialogue’s work in 2005. As this report makes clear, the Dialogue remains a visible and influential presence, both in Washington and Latin America.
This year, the Dialogue released two important reports. Its comprehensive policy analysis for 2005, A Break in the Clouds, emphasizes that Latin America’s political success and social advance depend squarely on future economic growth—which will only be achieved if the region’s governments narrow income gaps between rich and poor, invest substantially more in education, and reform tax and labor laws. The report of the Dialogue’s U.S. policy task force, Agenda for the Americas 2005, calls on the Bush administration to revitalize U.S. cooperation with the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean in order to advance trade liberalization and economic growth, develop new approaches to migration, combat crime and violence, and reinforce democratic rule. Both reports received unprecedented attention in the U.S. and regional media.
In addition, Dialogue staff published some ten articles in leading policy journals like Foreign Affairs, Current History, Journal of Democracy, SAIS Review, and World Policy Journal, which analyzed U.S. policy, developments in Latin America, trade negotiations in Central America, Haiti’s political upheaval, and the prospects for Cuba after Castro. They also published more than 30 articles in newspapers such as Financial Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The Miami Herald—on topics ranging from U.S. policy and China’s looming presence in the region, to trade, economic policy, democratic governance, remittances, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela. Dialogue staff have testified before Congress and are regularly quoted by U.S. and Latin American newspapers and interviewed on television and radio.
