Americas

By Imran Garda in Americas on February 4th, 2012
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not yield to the pressure of sanctions imposed by the West. [AFP]

A few months ago I had an email exchange with the former Deputy Director General of The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Bruno Pellaud. 

By Imran Garda in Americas on January 30th, 2012
Phillip 'The Cat In The Hat' Black sells newspapers in Washington

"I know them all. This one on the wheelchair, with everybody around her. She sells heroin. That guy who’s looking at you like that - he’s high on crack. Don't take a picture of him or you might not get home to your daughters alive."

I first met Phillip Black on a corner of cosmopolitan F Street in Washington, a few stops away from Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was shot, and almost within earshot of the White House.

By Teresa Bo in Americas on January 30th, 2012
People walk beside a mural in Havana, Cuba [Reuters]

By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 29th, 2012
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich cheer as he arrives at a rally in Florida [Reuters]

The Florida primary is always an important point in the presidential nomination process in the US.  But after Newt Gingrich’s surprising turnaround win in South Carolina, it now takes on added significance.

It is here – in what will be a key battleground state in November’s general election – that the sudden emergence of the former speaker of the US House of Representatives as a genuine contender may be validated. Or it will be where Mitt Romney will try to rebuild the aura of inevitability around his nomination, which was so dramatically punctured just a week ago.

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By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 27th, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Gingrich, left, reaches to shake hands with fellow candidate Romney [Reuters]

There have been 19 televised Republican debates. They have been boring in parts, and repetitive, with the same old arguments and lines trotted out again and again. But they have been hugely significant in shaping the battle for the nomination.

Most people don't follow the day to day movements of every campaign, and so the debates become the touchstone, the place where people tune in, sit back and make their judgements. Here strengths and weaknesses are exposed and campaigns are strengthened or diminished as a result.

Texas Governor Rick Perry was a Republican front-runner, a favourite with the right of the party and a good campaigner. But his candidacy unravelled in 53 seconds during a debate where he stammered and stumbled as he tried to recall the third government department he would close down. 

By Al Jazeera Staff in Americas on January 26th, 2012
Four Republican presidential candidates are facing off in their 19th debate [EPA]

Our producer in Florida, Roza Kazan, keeps you up to date with the latest from the debate and ensuing reactions.

11:25pm: Jennifer S Korn, the Executive Director of the Hispanic Leadership Network told Al Jazeera that she too thinks the economy remains very important to Latino voters. “It's the number one issue, whether you are Hispanic or not,” Korn said. 

She said illegal immigration is a “huge problem” for the US and won't just go away. But the way to solve it, she said, is to solve the problems of legal immigration in order to “eliminate” illegal immigration. “Most people would love to come to work here in a legal way, but right now it practically does not exist," Korn said. 

By Sam Bollier in Americas on January 24th, 2012
Obama's State of the Union address is expected to focus on the economy [Reuters]

Tonight at 9 PM, US President Barack Obama will deliver the annual State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress. He's expected to focus on the economy, proposing tax reform that would require the very rich to pay more taxes; initiatives that would create more manufacturing jobs in the US; and changes to the troubled residential mortgage market.

Because 2012 is also an election year, the address will also likely double as a campaign speech. Expect Obama to draw sharp contrasts between himself and Republican policies.

After the speech, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will deliver the Republican Party's response.

10:55 PM: Cain calls on Obama to "stop the class warfare" and - vaguely - to have Obama's surrogates stop "the racial innuendos".

By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 23rd, 2012
Gingrich has proclaimed himself the 'best debater' of the GOP candidates [Reuters]

Newt Gingrich likes to talk. He's a smart guy - a professor of American history and a former speaker of the House of Representatives. It's his love of debates that has thrown him to the front of the field of candidates hoping to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

He gives emphatic answers. He makes promises. He rightly addresses the format of the debates when he suggests that some of the issues raised, such as the economy or US relations with Pakistan, can't be summed up in a one-minute response and a 30-second rebuttal: that the world is slightly more complicated than that.

His message that Washington is broken, President Obama is awful and the "liberal media" is trying to alter America, resonates with Republican voters. Gingrich appears to have an intellectual depth missing from some of the other contenders.

By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 22nd, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may have to change tactics for Florida [Reuters]

It’s been a bad week for Mitt Romney. Seven days ago, he was looking at virtually tying up the Republican Party nomination with victory in South Carolina and moving on to Florida for the coronation.

But then things started to go wrong.

He discovered he didn’t actually win the first contest in Iowa. A recount of the votes handed victory to his rival Rick Santorum. His performances in the latest two candidate debates in this process, where he has been steady if unaccomplished, looked shaky and uncertain. Asked if he would release details of his tax returns, he joked and dodged and avoided, leaving many people to question what he was trying to hide. He said if he received the nomination, he would release them then. That didn’t go down well – so he suggested he’d release them when they were completed, which would be in April. The demands still persist that he release them now.

By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 19th, 2012
Perry entered the race in August and briefly was at the front of the pack of Republican candidates [Reuters]

The departure of Rick Perry from the contest to be the Republican presidential nominee is not hugely surprising. It probably just came 72 hours before everyone expected.

The Texas Governor was a late entrant into the race – some people insist he had to be talked into running by his wife – and immediately surged to the top of the opinion polls. As a social conservative, strong on issues like abortion and gay marriage, he appealed to the right wing core of the party. He is a smooth political operator. I’ve witnessed him work and charm a room and connect with people on an individual level. He is an impressive politician.

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