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Roque Planas

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Roque Planas is a freelance journalist covering Latin American affairs whose work has appeared in Foreign Policy Magazine, the World Politics Review, and the New Internationalist. He is currently based in New York City, where he studies the future of U.S.-Cuban relations and the politics of race in Brazil as a Henry MacCracken Fellow in the Global Joint Master's program in Journalism and Latin American Studies at New York University.

Articles written by Roque Planas

Brazil's Drug Problem Shaping Foreign Policy

By Roque Planas 20 Jul 2010 | World Politics Review RIO DE JANEIRO -- Two years ago, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso called for a shift in the country's drug policy, from policing to treatment. However, it appears that Brazil not only remains committed to treating drugs as a problem for the police, it is also becoming the first country in Latin America whose drug use is pushing it to adopt a more aggressive foreign policy towards its neighbors.

Brazil's Lula Blocks U.S. Agenda, but with a Smile

By Roque Planas 10 Jun 2010 | World Politics Review RIO DE JANEIRO -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to the 40th Organization of American States General Assembly meeting on Sunday with two priorities, neither of which were published in the meeting's agenda. Clinton's program was designed to confront, without naming, the country that has become the greatest challenge to the Obama administration in Latin America -- Brazil.

In Runoff, Chile Appears Likely to Vote for Change

By Roque Planas 15 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review Chile has not voted a right-wing president into office since Jorge Alessandri campaigned and won as an independent, center-right candidate in March 1958. But Sebastián Piñera may well break that precedent on Jan. 17. With the governing Concertación coalition facing divisions on the left, Piñera's centrism has found a friendly reception among an electorate looking for change.

For Chile's Left, Bachelet's Legacy Not Enough

By Roque Planas 07 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review Chile's left-wing Concertación coalition might very well lose the presidency for the first time since 1990, despite record-high approval ratings for outgoing President Michelle Bachelet. Bachelet will be remembered for her achievements, but she leaves office with several goals unfulfilled, making Concertación vulnerable.

South America Wary of U.S.-Colombia Base Deal

By Roque Planas 02 Sep 2009 | World Politics Review Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's rhetoric may be more provocative than those of other South American leaders, but many of them clearly share his concern about an agreement that could grant the United States military greater access to seven Colombian bases. The polemical debate has pitted the majority of Latin America against the U.S., damaging the Obama administration's hopes for a regional partnership.

Colombia's Uribe Gains Access, Loses Credibility

By Roque Planas 26 Jun 2009 | World Politics Review BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has once again demonstrated his skill at gaining access in Washington. But recent events will compromise his ability to advance his agenda in his meeting next week with President Obama. Colombia's continued human rights violations and an increasingly complicated constitutional bid for re-election promise to undermine Uribe's credibility.

Argentine Farmers Resume Protests with Six-Day Strike

By Roque Planas 08 Oct 2008 | World Politics Review BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's four principle agricultural organizations declared a six-day strike on Friday, Oct. 3. Facing the worst drought in a century and fearful of the potential for contagion from the American financial crisis, agricultural producers are demanding relief from the government, principally in the form of a reduction in export taxes. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, though, shows no signs of bowing to pressure from the countryside.

Argentine Public Dubious of Government Inflation Numbers

By Roque Planas 20 Aug 2008 | World Politics Review Exclusive BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Last week, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, the Argentine government's statistics agency, released the official inflation figure for the month of July: 0.4 percent. Such a report would have caused jubilation among the Argentine public, had they believed it. But the coordinators of the report appear to be the only ones who have failed to notice the recent price increases in Buenos Aires, which have been exacerbated by the economic policies of President Cristina Kirchner.