Council on Hemispheric Affairs

According to the group's website, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs was founded in 1975 to promote the common interests of the American hemisphere, to take regional issues into focus and to reinforce the importance of inter-American relations. One focus is the development of a constructive US policy towards the Latin American countries. COHA decided in 1982 to also observe Canada's relations with Latin America. Since its inception, the leadership of the COHA is made up of representatives of major trade unions, organizations, and religious groups, and also includes important civic and academic figures. COHA supports representative democracy and pluralistic institutions. COHA is non-partisan{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} and is not part of political alliances. It supports open and democratic political processes and continues to condemn authoritarian regimes{{cite web | url=https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/02/31-us-organizations-denounce-the-brutal-repression-in-bolivia/ | title=31 US organizations denounce the brutal repression in Bolivia | last= | first= | date=2 December 2019 | website=Evening Report | accessdate=14 January 2021}} of whatever political orientation, that subject their populations to their own political agendas, curtailing economic growth and development, disregarding social justice and the right to physical integrity as well as withholding civil rights.{{cite web | url=https://www.coha.org/cohas-history/ | title=COHA's History | last= | first= | date= | website=Council on Hemispheric Affairs | accessdate=14 January 2021}}

In the past, the COHA has expressed criticism of US policy towards Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and of neo-liberal social reforms in Latin America.{{cite web | url=http://www.coha.org/about-coha/ | title=About COHA | website=Council on Hemispheric Affairs | access-date=16 March 2015 }} It also criticized that the US entered into the NAFTA with (Canada and) Mexico while Mexico was rife with endemic corruption, its institutions lacking true democracy and its trade unions lacking equality rights. Their credo was that it should have never been entered into until Mexican institutions were truly democratic, its trade unions could freely negotiate as equals, and the government had been cleansed of endemic corruption. COHA also continues to bring to light the random application of structural adjustments which badly affect the poorest of the poor of the Latin America population.{{cite web | url=https://www.sciencespo.fr/opalc/sites/sciencespo.fr.opalc/files/NAFTA_0.pdf | title=NAFTA ́s impact on US-Mexican border security: drug, trade and migration | last= | first= | date=December 2017 | website=SciencesPo | accessdate=21 January 2021 }}

COHA has investigated issues such as unproductive U.S. pressure on President Aristide of Haiti which ended in him being overturned and Washington's installing an ill-fated interim regime in his place.{{cite web | url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0401/S00118/washingtons-vendetta-against-president-aristide.htm | title=Washington's Vendetta against President Aristide | last= | first= | date=16 January 2004 | website=Scoop World | accessdate=26 January 2021 }}{{cite web | url=https://canada-haiti.ca/content/council-hemispheric-affairs-suppression-democracy-haiti-0 | title=The Suppression of Democracy in Haiti | last= | first= | date=17 October 2011 | website=The Canada-Haiti Information Project | accessdate=26 January 2021 }}

Larry Birns was the director of COHA from its founding in 1975 until his death in 2018.{{Cite news|url=http://www.coha.org/message-from-the-board-and-friends-of-coha-on-the-passing-of-larry-birns/|title=Message from the Board and Friends of COHA on the Passing of Larry Birns|date=2018-09-04|access-date=2018-11-09|language=en-US}} Birns was a former defense researcher, strategist, and member of the Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and a member of Oxford's All Souls College. Birns was also a senior grade public affairs officer for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America in Santiago, Chile during the Allende government. Birns taught and lectured for 15 years in the fields of Latin American studies, comparative government, and international law at a number of U.S. and British colleges and universities.

The Boston Globe describes Birns as a lobbyist and a Leftist liberal critic of U.S. policy,Stephen Kinzer, Globe Correspondent. Coping with Latin America; At issue: how should we deal with leftists. Boston Globe Boston, Mass.: Jul 15, 1980. pg. 1 and The New York Times says the Council on Hemispheric Affairs is a liberal research group specializing in United States-Latin America relations.{{cite book | last=Treaster | first=Joseph B. | date=2 June 1983 | title= Man in the News; Latin Envoy: Mr. Simpatico | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/02/world/man-in-the-news-latin-envoy-mr-simpatico.html | location=New York | work=The New York Times | page=A.7 }} The Los Angeles Times describes the COHA as a liberal think tank.{{cite book | last1=Miller | first1=T. Christian | last2=Ixer | first2=Stephen | date=21 February 2003 | title=A Top Chavez Foe Jailed for Role in Strike; Renewed protests are possible as the regime targets two business and union leaders. | work=Los Angeles Times | page=A.3 }}

The Heritage Foundation stated that the Council on Hemispheric Affairs had a leftist positioning, would exaggerate negative publicity about right-wing governments in Latin America.{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1984/10/the-lefts-latin-american-lobby|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322112845/http://heritage.org/Research/Reports/1984/10/The-Lefts-Latin-American-Lobby|url-status=unfit|archive-date=March 22, 2011|title=The Left's Latin American Lobby|last1=Frawley|first1=Joan|website=The Heritage Foundation|access-date=20 February 2015}} The council was also described as a leftist lobby by Ofira Seliktar in Failing the Crystal Ball Test.{{cite book|title=Failing the crystal ball test : the Carter administration and the fundamentalist revolution in Iran|last1=Seliktar|first1=Ofira|date=2000|publisher=Praeger|isbn=0275968723|edition=[Online-Ausg.]|location=Westport, Conn [u.a.]|page=44}}

The conservative Heritage Foundation has alleged the Council on Hemispheric Affairs was founded with assistance from Orlando Letelier and Richard Barnet of the progressive think tank, Institute for Policy Studies. It has been funded by the Judith Loeb Chiara Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-950DE4DD143AF93BA25752C1A9669D8B63.html|title=Paid Notice: Deaths CHIARA, JUDITH HELEN LOEB|date=18 November 2010|via=NYTimes.com}}

• United States and South and Central America

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.coha.org}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:United States–South American relations

Category:Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States

Category:Organizations established in 1975

Category:1975 establishments in the United States

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.

Category:Organizations based in Washington, D.C.