Latin America Will Not Unite

I wrote this piece for Latin America Goes Global about how Latin America won't unite and I'm not particularly nice about it. The region is facing serious threats with regard to Venezuela and to Trump, but no problems seem to have any real unifying force.

I rarely make predictions like this, and I must say I hope I'm hope. I'll be happy to be wrong and explain why I so blithely wrote Latin American leaders off. I don't think that'll happen, though.

By coincidence, David Smilde just wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about trying to get a regional response to Venezuela. So read his piece as a counterpart. He sounds a somewhat hopeful note. I'm the sad trombone.

As a side note, some of the genesis for this comes from my undergraduates. In discussion I'll get questions like "Why don't Latin American countries get together?" It's an excellent question.