Nicaragua

Russia’s destabilizing foreign policy in Latin America

September 20, 2011

Stephen Blank (professor of national security affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College) in an opinion piece entitled “Russia’s Second Wind in Latin America,” which was published last month, assesses Russia’s foreign policy in Latin America focused on profit, influence, destabilization and anti-Americanism: Russian policy is not driven by Latin America’s views, but by [...]

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Nicaragua Army CINC in Havana

September 10, 2011

Sandinista Army General Julio Cesar Aviles (Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army) is in Havana this week. He was welcomed by Army Corps General Joaquín Quinta Solas, Vice-Minister of the FAR. AG Aviles said he came Cuba to strengthen historic ties of friendship and cooperation between respective armed forces.  The Nicaragua Army CINC was a student [...]

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Regional armed forces

June 9, 2011

Cuba and Venezuela are pushing for the formation of a military academy with a “Latin Americanist doctrine” for ALBA, affirmed Venezuelan foreign minister Nicolas Maduro, who accompanied Hugo Chavez in his trip to Havana this week. [El Universal] ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas) was organized by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez in 2004 as [...]

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Calm before the storm

June 22, 2010

Jorge Castañeda’s (former Mexican foreign minister and NYU professor) piece on geopolitics in Latin America and the two competing regional blocs: “Americas-1″—nations neutral to the conflict between the United States and Venezuela/Cuba or are openly opposed to the “Bolivariano” governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela; and “Americas-2″—radical left nations moderately retreating but able [...]

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Cuban ambassador to Nicaragua ordered back

December 5, 2009

Luis Hernández Ojeda, Cuba’s ambassador to Nicaragua, was ordered back by Havana because of a “serious incident” with Nicaraguan First Lady Rosario Murillo (who is also the official spokesperson for President Daniel Ortega). According to El Nuevo Diario, Murillo mistreated Hernández with disdain, having used off-color language. This is the third incident (the other two [...]

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True function of Russian civil defense ministry

November 16, 2009

AFCEA Intelligence’s NightWatch assesses the true function of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and its ties with Cuba and Nicaragua: Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Havana, Cuba, late 10 November to sign an agreement on cooperation for “information exchange and training” for Cuban emergency specialists, RIA Novosti reported 11 November. Shoigu, who [...]

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