geographical issues and then i want to focus on the need to build a better hemispheric framework for international enforcement cooperation. it is challenging for the new administration because of the campaign discussion of tougher border walls, some of the derogatory remarks about mexicans it also about the need to renegotiate nafta and some of the discussion against free trade. at the beginning of the administration i think it would be good for the new administration to call the leaders together and to sit down to listen to them and have a

dialogue about what is needed in terms of hemispheric security. and and all of the other issues. let me focus on some of the issues starting with arms. we have already heard about the arms problem and the u.s. is clearly the leading source of arms, not only in the hemisphere but in the world. there have been two important treaties, the 1997 inter-american seven inter-american convention against illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms and ammunition explosives and other related materials. twenty-two latin american and caribbean countries have ratified the u.s. signed in 1997 it was sent to the senate and it

has been sitting there. you also also have the un arms trade treaty of april 2013, 20 hemisphere countries have signed that. in that treaty he pertains to trading conventional arms from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft, warships, and entered into force on december 24, 2014. the u.s. signed but again the senate has done nothing. drugs are problem and one initiative of many countries in the region, including the u.s. is to find ways for non- incarceration treatment of people who just used drugs. including the oas itself has had a project.

i think morning to be done hemisphere clean in terms of exploring that initiative in the u.s. needs to do more with respect to the demand side of drugs. in terms of migration, there has been some good initiatives already, there is a reference for the alliance for prosperity. the u.s. and the countries in central america have had a broad public education campaign, also there has been some changes in the laws. for instance know if you want to apply for asylum you do not have to come here to do that. you can do it from those countries. so that is an effort to reduce the amount of migration because that is where a lot of people

are kidnapped, killed but there is also now a lot of interplay between the cartels, first it was drugs, but now there is a lot of trafficking of persons and all kinds of other crimes. one of the initiatives that was useful that was done in the clinton administration was the use of sanctions against both transactional organized crime and against kingpins. one thing that could be tried is more effort to get other countries to go along with those sanctions so that it is not just unilateral. okay let me quickly one thing i

want to say about migration, first of all it is a problem in the hemisphere, the fact that the u.s. has not had comprehensive immigration policy for the longest time. another problem with respect to security has been that there has been a lot of deportation of hardened criminals. it has happened in most cases without any notice and without any planning. when you dump 200 or 1000 hardened criminals on fragile states that have no capacity to deal with them, what happens is these criminals who have not even been in these countries for most of their lives, they end up

doing more violence and then they transfer their know-how to their friends. guess what, and not only does it disable those countries, but because they know the us, they often target their criminality back to the us, whether u.s., whether it is trafficking in humans, stolen or embezzled cars and aircraft, drug trafficking, et cetera. so the u.s. needs to do more what it has done with haiti. with haiti it notifies haiti and it helps haiti to mitigate and to plan for the persons that it to port. looking at a couple of the countries, because this panel is

entitled challenges and opportunities in the post- castro era, thinking need to say a few words about the u.s. relationship with cuba. one of the biggest problems for the u.s. in the region has been that had every regional meeting the number one question has to do with cuba. and the fact that cuba has been isolated. that has changed since december 17, 2014, there have been 11 agreements that have been done between the u.s. and cuba. those deal with everything from narcotics enforcement to migration, to the environment and even before the new

initiative, historically relations between cuba and the u.s. when they have improved or sometimes improvement they have to do with the same issues or they've had to do with exchange of hijackers or spies, exchange of political prisoners. so to very positive developments between the u.s. and cuba is that cuba has been in the forefront of dealing with hemispheric security and that is cuba has sponsored the talks in columbia. in addition, cuba has been very helpful with respect to haiti. with the earthquakes and so forth. cuba has use their doctors to give assistance.

with respect, i think because of the shortage of time let me turn now the need for better hemispheric framework in terms of enforcement. here, clearly the most important body has been the organization of american states. there has been a group called the inter-american -- committee that meets twice a year to make recommendations on laws and policies. there has been a new group, basically the attorneys general or the ministers of justice meet every other year and they make

recommendations for new agreements and policies and they have done a lot of great work. the problem is it is not inorganic organization. it depends on the permanent council for its marching orders, for the council to draft, for its budget and so it really cannot do much. some of the other entities having to do with enforcement in the oa class are more organic like the inner american drug abuse control commission or the organization for counterterrorism. what is needed is in america's committee on crime problems.

this would be a a committee that would have its own institution and would be composed of lawyers, diplomats, criminologists, and it would meet every day and it would consider all of the threats and some of the solutions, with the baby uniform laws, treaties, different organizations and this is not something out of mars, there's been something like this since 1958, the council of europe has a european committee on problems. and that's what it does, it meets every day and it focuses on the different threats. it has produced over 100 conventions on enforcement. many of of which the u.s. has become a part of. so to be successful, the

enforcement agencies have to be, have to network as well as the criminals. so in order to have successful enforcement regimes and networks we need to do more in terms of hemispheric cooperation. thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> will come back to the issues that you are rose. >> thank you for inviting me and to the institute for letting me speak at the seminar. in an interview by fidel castro they express that he said nothing would happen. that the country, the party

would adapt to the situation saying that all of political mechanisms exist from the situation when it rises. the life of the company was not the stuff for single minute. for many of us the so-called castro revolution the beginning 1959 has been a permanent threat to the cuban democratic institutions and that continues detriment of this country. also, a permanent failure that castro wanted to ask lord to the majority of latin american countries. [inaudible]

's relationship with madero from argentina did not produce any medical results. but contributed that for many years it put depression in the hands of chile. in the same way, he is furthering difficult relations. [inaudible] his support for more political and impractical passing through wasn't beneficial. and his inventors in africa after having lost it significant amount of meta- resources.

castro managed to subsist thanks to the support of the soviet union and subsequently by promising that managed to connect with the left latino america. he left cuba takes laurie venezuela and maintained relations. now things have changed but [inaudible] the extreme left led by chavez. [inaudible] furthermore with the alliances with the state with fidel and with including the colombian in the below. due to these reasons castro would not create any political

turbulence in the atmosphere. fidel -- and nobody is talking about fidel and more. cuba today has limited inference with the united states. the rest as bolivian mccrory walker leave themselves. [inaudible] in relation to bolivia i would like to take this opportunity to denounce the repeated assistance and willful violation of human rights by the national state. they have absolute power and control of the three branches of government whose purpose is to carry out -- and judges of the constitutional court. and even against those who defended it.

sadly the demands submitted before the commission of human rights are rarely studying and not processed through its bureaucracy. [inaudible] in regards to the safety and security, we find ourselves at this point in time with central america and south american countries of the level of a security that is extremely low and with populations increase. i'm referring to specifically to cases in venezuela and . they have not approved the qualification and security and many in argentina suffer from a lack of security and poor police protection. despite the peace peace agreements between the

clumping government -- the safety and security in the country cannot be talked about as positive. [inaudible] considering the relations the case and mexico's by and large organized crime -- despite the staking of additional governments and immersing their political ideas on the world the international community must support an executive actions to effective coronations. furthermore, it is imperative to have the consumption of countries with high illegal -- particularly the united states

and the european union. the social and political companies with immediate consequences such as labors the ability and having well-being are factors that take into account when the countries initial security mechanisms. these can be found through a system that guarantees not only the security of investment, the professional through royalties, technical assistance and general help, but also by minimum of security for the citizens that arose initially. let us now consider the project in specific countries. the atmosphere is changing.

the argentina crew have governments of the center-right and columbia -- china. china became a member of the american investment corporation with full support of the united states and the european union among others and it has increased economic presence. peru, peru needs special attention because often the infrastructure. then he projects to boost the economy. [inaudible] also our exports their second-highest number since october. however this favorable economic situation -- the colombian equalities and the threat of the -- remains.

they have the recent peruvian government decided to enhance its forces for security and to confront -- we suppose that the prime regional economics the value we contribute to peru's plan of building a more dimensional -- by 2050. chile and colombia has expressed. mexico, the perfectionism are brewing. but they seem to disrupt the passage of what has been happening in america. [inaudible] in relation to mexico we will it expect a pragmatic position. it this going to be challenging to look at the relationship between

the mexico and the u.s. after the north american relations we can detect a proximity between the two countries that is not foreign. what happens in america affects economic press buried it in the stability of the united states as well as spain. given its investment in the region. ultimately -- with usb and the source of 65% of its imports. [inaudible] 17% of the is speculation. it's something that we have many contractual -- but they would never be with fluidity, without the insurance and legal security. the european union has just signed the value of policies and cooperation agreement with the

republic of cuba. substitute the nominated procedure in 1996. this removal and serious negotiations to create a stable political relationships. [inaudible] with mutual respect and the respect of the states. the relationships will be to sustain the process of modernization of the economy and society and international foreign's with strengthening human rights and democracy, the fight against discrimination and a achieving the objective. the united states, it is to be expected that the initial between cuba and the united states continues to advance and allows them to be instruments of cooperation and development of

seriously -- and to ensure that cuban society be part of the political institutions. it is possible that new forms of socialism inches we must be sure that the only thing that we allow with the government is due diligence in accordance with the rule of law. they reported that they say the beginning of my speech concluding an interview with castro. [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] he said yet you see what happens when you have too many rectors, lunches lunches and dinners, it is not help. [applause] thank you very much. >> thank you for your words. the last speaker, of course i asked to call now on our fourth colleague, a lawyer and a professor of law. >> i'm not going to say anything about my colleagues but i'll say

something about what they said. once again you've given us an extraordinary bridge, variety of speakers. i will say that with respect to latin america which include central america, there's a variety of conditions and its overwhelming. every country is different with different prospects, often depending on personalities. other countries have not had such leaders but you see the change in argentina and again things change. one thing that was not mentioned was the fact of the growing minority in the united states of lessons from different countries, you went confuse a cuban with a mexican with the guatemalan. but i'm sure that's relevant to how the united states will proceed in the future. the title relates to challenges. we tend to think of challenges at the national security love,

terrorism, fidel's hope for export of revolution. but i think he was brought by professor hayes the real issue that strikes me or the human security issues. i'm involved with the university for peace in costa. annually we run a conference in europe on human security. so i've learned a little bit about it. essentially what it means is the things which national security types is gray they probably think about but which is really the conditions in the countries. it seems reasonably clear to me that so much of the difficulties in latin america and elsewhere are the failures of countries to get a grip on themselves. another person i knew was the general counsel of the world bank who persuaded the board,

the executive board that governments was relevant to economic development. lawyers know that. we think of legal institutions and the rule of law, etc. clearly this is a problem a very to greenland countries. problem of erring to greenland countries. three difficult for an american and rolling about cuba, cuba's cuba's whale is that what you called it? i think this is a real problem. bruce mentioned in national organization in the european he proposed that the american committee and problems but i think you put your finger on away on what is the problem. latin america is not europe. there's no organization comparable for to the e.u., although its institutions are in trouble. i think this is a challenge and has been a problem. as a professor supervise papers. he said the number of regional agreements lacking into each

other, it is dizzying and most of them come to nothing, even the stronger once, but don't but don't come to very much at all. is abiding in spanish-speaking except for brazil, government once from refer to the investor of brazil and he said now i want to introduce a great spanish-speaking neighbor of the south. and again he lost the election. finally, word about the incoming administration. undoubtedly, donald trump is but in the cast among the pigeons. it will be interesting to see what cat he selects and how this cat looks at the latin american pigeons. i think we have to wait and see what happens. thank you thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] if i may as a moderator begin with one question and then we

will turn it to the audience. they always think about the latin american rush. democracy and for example and obviously this will continue not only the question of venezuela but maybe bolivian some of the others, but the other issue that we mentioned in terms of trafficking topics, arms, our human trafficking in terms of women in this is very bad news. the question is to be of good news in terms of women or ignorance of the country.

. . a day are exemplary. it is the case however that in their very slowly, gradually more women are running for political office in the legislative branch and so forth. and i think that's very positive

certainly in most of the university systems there are a large number of women who are preparing but there is still a barrier as there is in this country and there will be slow progress, but i think the women's organizations are gradually exerting themselves, particularly in the more developed countries, in the southern cone countries and so forth, not perhaps in central america, bolivia etc. where i think the increasing rights for women are probably a sign of higher degrees of development and therefore the latin americans are following that

standard. >> i'm not going to focus on the leadership because the key leaders you have mentioned are all very unpopular in their own country. i wanted to focus on, i want to focus on the younger generation. i want to focus on the women who are trained in the s.t.e.m. subjects and who are showing their leadership in forming their own companies, and joining other national companies and assuring that skill set which will enable them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their male colleagues. that's the future. >> any comment on that? >> no. >> no? okay. i think the statistics are one point but the reality is the other.

we can see things that leaders in latin american countries, women have come present the comedy leaders and america are in this country? you know statistics talking about men and women is not the right thing. the right thing is to see if they have equal opportunities to obtain leaderships, to lead companies but not because of that, because they have the ability to achieve these goals. this is my position and my family we have no decisions. everybody has men and women but things are coming and we will see a different world opinions.

>> all right, we have discussion pat murphy. >> maybe it's just a mathematical prejudice, i'm 78 years old and i was bored before the beginning of world war ii. europe rebuild itself and japan did to max. china has gradually industrialized and it's probably a little bit freer also. india is finally making rules like that. i even heard there are parts of africa where the middle class are developing but in latin america it seems like the same old mess. you know i've heard it's developing a slightly different middle class and test in the past e-mails to remember reading many years ago that argentina was one of the top three or four best of countries in the world

and tell the 1930s and since then i wouldn't say it's downhill, it's stabilized at a level. i can't even say it's national character. in spain and pork in -- portugal are doing reasonably well economically and in terms of both of them launching bureaucracies in europe so what is it about latin america that makes it different? >> i must respond. if you see african countries and you see latin american countries of course there are leaders. but the former vices of the connie fight corruption like

inequality still we find it there. but i don't see the population is responsible for that. they have improved a lot. i visited latin american countries frequently from 1986 and they change. it's astonishing. i'm not going to get give figures now because i don't have the figures and there is some middle-class. there is a government. of course sometimes it's -- but you see this as is the situation. that is the situation. everybody is trying to help. a wreck -- the russian organizations are donating money but there are countries like the

french colony that is one of the worst not colonized by spain or portugal. >> i think some of the countries are doing quite well. chilly, good middle-class, a lot of stability and even brazil until the problems recently was doing very well and i think brazil is a very good case right now because of the operation. there have been so many prosecutions in brazil and he continues, so i mean i think things are changing in terms of accountability in the government. they still have a ways to go but i think the arab way has done well so i don't think it's all

all. >> i would say the prosecution of the petro gas owes many thanks to harvard law school where some of the prosecutors trained and took back some of the practices that create plea bargaining and other practices that didn't exist in brazil at the time. i often have come in to students and others that we north americans don't appreciate how lucky we were in our founding and that is with the traditions of democratic and participatory government became particularly from great britain but then the implodes by the french

revolution and others, those tendencies, those traditions, that history wasn't, it wasn't a part of the founding of latin american states and so for a very long -- they waited a longer time before grasping the importance of institutions, education and so forth for building eight democratic participatory government and i go back to the question i so often asked, what do you learn in school in brazil argentina chilly columbia about how government should perform and so forth and i have never seen anyone focus on the answer to that question.

we need to understand that more. >> and i say something because you mentioned loss. lots of fingers upon -- have been put on lots of things. we are snobs and we are lucky. my wife is an english woman whose father was a judge and a law professor and i think we tend to dismiss latin america too quickly because we were established by anglo-saxons in the sport south americans were established by latins, forget haiti which had a revolution 200 years ago. countries they stun magna charta have an advantage and the relevant point is the one that was touched on by diana and hernando. it's changing because brazil -- which is probably something different but the truth is it is changing. as a lawyer probably bruce sees it the latins have the system

rather like the french the judge is control proceedings which americans and brits did not like particularly americans but it's changing. you go to latin america to chilly into mexico they are slowly picking up the adversary approach. i feel sorry for them in this endless discovery of increasingly rich lawyers but it's happening. diana touched on i met lots of young latins women and men and their changing profoundly that i think america has a powerfully beneficial influence on many parts the world. america has always been the model for the world since world war ii and even before since 1786 and 87. even though latins call us gringos they come to school here and the truth is the world is changing to one of the things that comes across to me again and again on our program is the abiding, two things the enthusiasm of americans and our influence and i think we really

have to get out of that to see what's actually happening in these places and hopefully it's happening broadly but we have to focus on that. >> thank you. my name is ron taylor and i'm with george washington university and i'm an enthusiastic but ignorant about traveling the world and learning everything i don't know. certainly you all archers immensely educational and expert in legal matters and governmental matters. i'm going to ask you a different question because you know that so well. one thing latin america, and this may influence post-castro latin america. one thing latin america in particular with regard to safety security and well-being in particular among just the populations that is different in the world today as they see it -- from latin america and that leads me to ask the simple question what is the role of

faith-based organizations? what is the role of faith and hoping for a better latin america or actually not hoping that enabling a better latin america because that's a big change. >> ron taylor you raise a very interesting question and one that is really -- rarely discussed. the traditional ideology religion of latin american is catholicism. and it was dominated by a church with a very clear hierarchy but that has faded. it has faded because the abuse of power and i might practicing roman catholic so i'm talking about my aunt eighth but the abuse of power by the leadership of the catholic church in terms of its land ownership and abuse

of human beings has led for a search for an alternative in the protestant religions are now making steady headway particularly in central america because instead of saying if you sin you are doomed to hell, they say you will be redeemed. god is loving a loving and forgiving god and i'm bringing health care hospitals, education or furnishes to help you. [inaudible] >> thank you for what you are various movements are bringing there. a company that we have talked about the growing middle class, and middle-class which is not only economically more independent but psychologically more willing to stand up to the old religious ways that are no

longer necessary in germany and therefore prepared to be a more independent tanker and that's having an impact also on the political thought. thank you. >> in one footnote there where the church is having an influence now ironically as cuba because the church was instrumental in intermediating the thought between the u.s. and cuba. the regime now has allowed the church to do a number of things. for instance there is something called come print a which is an organization that tries to help people learn how to be proprietors. they haven't had that in cuba and because the church has been

relatively diplomatic, the regime allows these programs to go on and so they are doing all kinds of training on a very basic level but they are also doing some outreach for the indigenous and you would think the regime wouldn't like this because they don't want people to say that the state can't do that again there aren't a lot of people in cuba so they are allowing the church quietly to do some of those programs. i think it's a very interesting development that is ongoing. >> just a footnote initially asked about latin america the

security and the global interests to advance the cause of space and now at a time of christmas and the christmas spirit around the world to provide the leadership that is so related to this time when we see all these processes around the world. so the spiritual contribution of latin america which is very extraordinary should be appreciated and recognized. now we will take some more questions and then we will have concluding remarks. >> hi. a lot of buzz art ignorant about

what's happening in latin america and part of the reason is that the media doesn't cover as much as they cover other regions of the world, conflict or no conflicts. it's nice -- not eyes and headline news. do you believe and what is your opinion that at this point we see advances in technology particularly facebook, whatever you want to call it that much of what you are saying is going to be more exposed and do you see any influence on it going in any particular direction? >> some of our panelists have other of the patients. we are very grateful to you for coming. thank you.

i'm sorry about this. again and you want to restate your question one more time? >> i just want to know whether the advanced come technological advances like the internet and so one opens up the world more and will it affect any of the situation in latin america? positive or negative? >> i think latin america is very much part of the internet revolution for good and for bad, for good and for bad but it does have access to media here so they know what's going on and the united states unlike the coverage in our country. i said i would have to subscribe to more newspapers to get the

information and the best one on latin america as the financial times. it's a us-based newspaper but i think the well-educated class is very much aware of what is going on and i would say the one thing that is not addressed in that degree that i believe it ought to be our studies about united states studies as we do latin american studies in our universities. it is hard to find a program in latin american universities that really focus on the history, the politics, the functioning of institutions in the united

states and this is something that is sorely lacking. headlines, they know and they are very slowly programs and classes that are working on addressing this lack of understanding and a following of u.s. history and functioning. >> okay, thank you very much. we have time for one more question. >> hi, thank you. i'm from working substitution and i was curious sort of a loaded question but i wanted to hear your thoughts on whether or not president-elect trump will roll back -- towards cuba and if he does what you think you would do and what the results of those policies would be?

>> i am not sure that he knows yet. [laughter] we don't know. >> he has made a couple of comments that have said unless cuba gives a better deal than he is going to change things but other than that nothing has been said and we don't even have yet secretary of state or assistant secretary of state for inter-american affairs so we really don't know. >> i would say that the u.s. as i mentioned in terms of latin american policy has had a much better reception from a number

of governments because no longer does the u.s. have to confront the fact that it's isolating cuba. in addition a lot of the organizations that have grown up as an alternative to the oas like all the have been as a result of you know the policy of cuba and the relationship between cuba, nicaragua, venezuela, bolivia and with normalization that will no longer be as much of a threat. in addition i think probably the biggest thing is mr. trump is a businessman and increasingly in this country whether it's the agriculture group in the midwest or the tourist industry, americans want to do business

with cuba. and so, and also there is no longer the political majority in florida that is anti-cuba. it's pretty much split so there is no longer a political advantage which they used to also drive a lot of u.s. policy towards cuba so i would say normalization has a lot of advantages. even though mr. trump doesn't like a lot of the political economic human rights policies in cuba they will probably improve with normalization because that will take the pressure off of either the current or there will be a new regime in 2018.

>> once again it's time to wrap it up if we are already over time so well done, yonah. on behalf of the potomac institute in all of us that want to thank this panel. you have just been great and we hope to get you back soon. we want to talk about latin america some more. i am the eternal optimist of course and i just want to say that i have been in all the latin american countries and spend considerable time in a number of different capacities. the latin american people are good people. some aren't just like in this country and we need to remember that. a number of latin american countries stuck with us in world war ii like brazil and the like. i had the dubious distinction some years ago just before if the falklands war downing camp

which earned. my division trained the argentine marines and the royal marines from england so we had a big bat going on as to who is going to win. appointed want to make is there was some reference to the military side and don't underestimate the military side and the military relationships. these relationships are long-standing. there are many many young officers in latin america who have trained an have trained in army school of the navy schools and the like and the relationships are what you would expect. it's not just all military. it's a personal people-to-people kind of thing. even in the case of the marine corps all the latin american countries have marine corps and the like except for cuba. the relationships they are, you

just can't explain it. they are there forever and so, and the thinking that goes into this, it's much more than just military and the like. so we have a great opportunity to make things better. i think in terms of policy and the like with a new administration he is picking people who understand what's going on. he is picking people who are very, very knowledgeable about latin america for example in the kinds of challenges they face and so on. we need to be optimistic here. we need to move forward and we need to understand it's a little bit of a different culture and maybe the american people would be wise in learning about other cultures and other regions and other thought processes and the like.

and the treatment of women is a good example. that has gotten much, much, much better. 20 years ago when i was still in active duty in the commandant i never sent women marines on security duty in latin america or in the mideast simply because the people there didn't treat our women the way they should be if you want to get in trouble with me treat our girls with anything other than dignity. that's changing over time. >> when the argentine army began to take women into the army one of the generals commented that the thing to note is that the women are infinitely more qualified and prepared than the men. of course this was a new

opportunity for leadership for those women who have not had opportunities. they have the education and so forth and didn't have the opportunities for leadership. >> we weren't as prepared as we are today if women didn't make their contribution but when you talk about women doing infantry or something like that, that's where i draw the line and we will talk about that another time. the one i want to make is that the young people, they loose with the young people hoping to change. it's going on in this country and it's going on all over the world. ..

>> you're watching book tv with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. book tv television for serious readers. >> tonight on c-span 2, a special night of book tv by biographies. next up deirdre bair with al capone. a biography of elinore roosevelt. clint hill on five presidents. and diane guerrera wrote a book with her immigrant parents i