Good review and many thanks!



cc/bcc colleagues…



Be well! 😊





David et al

www.cpccaribbean.org<http://www.cpccaribbean.org>





Dr. David E. Lewis

Vice President

Manchester Trade Ltd. Inc.

International Business Advisors

1629 K Street NW – Suite 300

Washington, DC 20006

Cell 301-775-7336<tel:301-775-7336>

Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

Web: http://www.ManchesterTrade.com<http://www.manchestertrade.com/>

Skype: ManchesterTrade.Lewis



 [cid:d53917e5-4396-4b81-9468-c3920036ee2d]



The Inter-American Dialogue’s



LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR



Thursday, March 23, 2023







To access today’s edition on our website, click here<https://advisor.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LAA230323.pdf>.







FEATURED Q&A







How Much Is Caribbean Tourism Bouncing Back?







Tourism to the Caribbean soared last year as 28 million people visited the region, a jump of more than 50 percent as compared to 2021, the Caribbean Tourism Organization announced March 7. The number of visitors to some Dutch and U.S. territories in the Caribbean even surpassed arrivals from before the Covid-19 pandemic. What are the main reasons behind the strong rebound of tourism in the Caribbean? How damaging was the fall in tourism during the pandemic, and how important is the bounce-back for the region’s economies? How likely are the current tourism levels in the Caribbean to be sustained, and grow, in coming years?







This Edition’s Commentators:







Andrea M. Ewart, CEO of DevelopTradeLaw







Anton Edmunds, former ambassador of Saint Lucia to the United States and the Organization of American States







Peter Cerda, regional vice president of the Americas at the International Air Transport Association (IATA)







Wendy McDonald, regional vice president for Caribbean government relations at Royal Caribbean Group







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TODAY’S TOP NEWS







Number of Displaced People Soars in Colombia: Red Cross







Clashes among armed groups fighting for control of rural areas in Colombia has led the number of internally displaced people to soar last year in the South American country, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Confrontations between Colombia’s army and rebel groups declined last year, but fighting among rebels has continued to take a heavy toll on the population, the organization said. More than 123,000 people were forced to flee their homes last year, a 60 percent increase as compared to 2021, the Red Cross said in a report. Additionally, some 39,000 people were confined in their villages for periods of days or weeks because of threats posed by armed groups, the organization added. “Unfortunately, the deterioration of the humanitarian situation continued in a large part of the country during 2022,” Lorenzo Caraffi, the head of the organization’s delegation in Colombia, told reporters, according to Reuters. “It’s a particularly complex context, of reconfiguration of armed actors, of struggle for territorial control, the social control that [armed] actors exercise against the civilian population, which finds itself in a particularly difficult situation,” he added. At least 450,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced during Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict. There are currently seven fronts in the conflict in Colombia, according to the ICRC, Reuters reported. The number of people injured by landmines also rose last year, the organization added. Caraffi said that a cease-fire between the government and some armed groups had calmed the situation in some areas, but he also called on armed groups to allow access to humanitarian groups in conflict zones. Caraffi added that the current state of the conflict in Colombia “is not comparable” to what the country saw two decades ago when rebel groups regularly attacked police stations in small towns and regularly carried out bombings and kidnappings in large cities such as Bogotá and Medellín, the Associated Press reported. [Editor’s note: See related Q&A in the Feb. 6 issue of the Advisor.]







Former Executive Sues Citgo Over Venezuela Detention







A retired Citgo executive who was detained in Venezuela for almost five years is suing the company for $100 million, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Tomeu Vadell is alleging that the company conspired in his detention, and then abandoned him in the South American country over a crime he did not commit. Vadell was one of six executives at Houston-based Citgo who attended a meeting with its parent company, Venezuelan state-owned company PDVSA, in 2017 shortly before Thanksgiving. They were hauled out of the conference room by masked security guards. A Venezuelan judge proceeded to convict the six executives of embezzlement and sentenced them to eight to 13 years in prison. The trial of what became known as the Citgo 6 was marred with delays and irregularities, and Vadell’s lawyers allege the executives were used as “political pawns.” One of the men was freed last March and the remaining five were released in October as part of a prisoner swap. U.S. officials have accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of using the detainees to extract concessions. “We suffered a lot and continue to suffer,” Vadell said in a statement about himself and his family. Citgo denies Vadell’s allegations. “The Citgo 6 were our senior-most executives, and neither they nor Citgo, the company they led, are responsible for the arbitrary acts of Maduro’s repressive regime,” the company said in a statement.







Colombia’s Petro Sends Lawmakers Pension Reform Bill







Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday sent lawmakers legislation to reform the country’s pension system, Reuters reported. Petro said the changes would expand benefits to more people, but some banking analysts say the measure could threaten public finances and pose risks to capital markets. “It is time for a reform if we want to make [the pension system] sustainable,” Petro told the Senate, saying the current system struggles to make its monthly payments, Reuters reported. “This isn’t about annulling markets ... it’s about again building the thesis that without the state it is not possible to guarantee rights,” Petro added. Only a quarter of Colombians have enough working weeks in formal jobs in order to secure a pension, the government has said. Under the legislation, workers earning up to three times the minimum wage, or approximately $724 per month, would have to pay contributions to state pension fund Colpensiones. Workers earning more than that amount would be able to pay excess amounts to a private fund, and those earning more than four times the minimum wage would be required to contribute payments to a so-called “solidarity fund.”







Panama Reports Jump in Number of Migrants Crossing Darién Gap







Panama’s government said Wednesday that the number of migrants attempting to cross the dangerous Darién Gap, which links it to Colombia, soared by five times in the first two months of this year as compared to the same period last year, the Associated Press reported. In January and February of this year, approximately 50,000 migrants crossed the area, the government said.







Honduran Foreign Minister Travels to China







Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled Wednesday to China to “promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations,” said President Xiomara Castro’s press secretary, Ivis Alvarado, Reuters reported. Honduras’ move to switch recognition to China led Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu to say today that the island sees obvious Chinese involvement in Honduras’ decision to sever relations with Taiwan. Honduras has denied claims that it sought $2.5 billion in aid from Taiwan ahead of its announcement to seek relations with China.







Chile Will Require New Lithium Projects to Use Water-Saving Technique







Chile’s government will require new lithium projects to draw on a seldom-used production technique in order to save water, Mining Minister Marcela Hernando said Wednesday during a presentation, Bloomberg News reported. The requirement may inhibit the extraction of the mineral, crucial to the production of electric-vehicle batteries, at a time of growing demand. Chile is the world’s second-largest lithium supplier. “For us, any future development has to be done with direct extraction,” Minister Hernando said.







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About the Latin America Advisor: The Inter-American Dialogue publishes the Latin America Advisor every business day for its distinguished network of global leaders and subscribers who are invested in Latin America's development and future. Many of the world's most respected and fastest growing companies subscribe, including Apple, BMW, Chevron, Citigroup, Google, Merck, Mitsubishi, Oracle and Walmart, to name a few, as well as the libraries at Berkeley, Dartmouth, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Notre Dame, among other universities, and government ministries on four continents.







About the Dialogue: The Inter-American Dialogue engages our network of global leaders to foster democratic governance, prosperity, and social equity in Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 18 former heads of state are members of the Dialogue. Together, we work to shape policy debate, devise solutions, and enhance cooperation within the Western Hemisphere.







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