Recent Publications

China-Argentina Space Engagement
May 23, 2024 — This work examines China - Argentine Space Collaboration, with a focus on the PRC Operated Deep Space Radar Facility in Neuquén. It argues that in interest of national development, and in the context of hopes for benefit from Argentina’s broader relationship with China, in an era of less pronounced strategic competition between the PRC and the... MORE

China-Argentina Space Engagement | R. Evan Ellis
Background photo of China and Argentina’s deep space ground station antennas from Wikimedia, April, 2022 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Estaci%C3%B3n_de_Espacio_Profundo_de_la_CLTC-CONAE-NEUQUEN_en_abril_2022_02.jpg)

Argentina: Security Challenges and the Government Response
May 13, 2024 — Summary: In addition to Argentina’s profound economic crisis, the nation faces serious security challenges. These include use of the country as a drug transit zone, including cocaine from Bolivia and Peru bound for Europe and marijuana from Paraguay. Such criminal activities have caused violent struggles between groups for transport routes in... MORE

In addition to Argentina’s profound economic crisis, the nation faces serious security challenges. These include use of the country as a drug transit zone, including cocaine from Bolivia and Peru bound for Europe and marijuana from Paraguay.

Paraguay: A Promising Government Navigating a Perilous Path
May 1, 2024 — The greatest gift that Cartes can give the country and President Peña is to empower Peña to take the real and symbolic steps to frontally tackle corruption. Paraguay, a land-locked country at the heart of South America, is strategically important for the region, the U.S., and even the Indopacific, in ways that exceed the attention given to it by Washington D.C. Larger than Germany, Paraguay’s geographic centrality means that the country’s commercial and political dynamics... ... MORE

Paraguay: A Promising Government Navigating a Perilous Path
The greatest gift that Cartes can give the country and President Peña is to empower Peña to take the real and symbolic steps to frontally tackle corruption.
https://globalamericans.org/paraguay-a-promising-government-navigating-a-perilous-path/

Argentina Political and Economic Challenges
March 12, 2024 — From February 24 through March 2, I traveled to Argentina to speak with government, business and academic experts regarding the situation in the country, including 27 interactions involving some 300 people. Argentina is at a pivotal moment, as its new libertarian President Javier Milei seeks to turn around the country’s unfolding economic collapse... MORE

Argentina Political and Economic Challenges | R. Evan Ellis

Is China Cornering the Green Energy Transition in Latin America?
March 6, 2024 — A key element of China’s economic advance over the past four decades has been the government’s promotion of its companies’ acquisition of capabilities and market share in sectors seen as strategically important to the country. In recent years, that emphasis has increasingly focused on digital technologies and green energy.The advance of the... MORE

Is China Cornering the Green Energy Transition in Latin America? | R. Evan Ellis on Diaglo-American

The Impact of the Middle East Conflict on South America
March 6, 2024 — How are the Middle East and South America connected, and what does it mean for the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere? From geopolitics to economic repercussions, diplomatic relations, security concerns, global energy markets, humanitarian efforts, and more, R. Evan Ellis discusses the far-reaching impact of events in the Middle East... MORE

China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
February 26, 2024 — An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving. China’s activities in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small but strategically significant portion of its engagement with the region. Beijing has openly acknowledged its interest in engaging with the region on security matters in the 2008 and 2016... MORE

China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving.

SSI Live 108 – Latin America and Caribbean Outlook for 2024
February 15, 2024 — SSI Live 108 – Latin America and Caribbean Outlook for 2024 – What is the outlook for security, defense, politics, and economics across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024? How do far-away conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza impact the region? And what’s on the agenda(s) of extraterritorial actors like China, Russia, and Iran in Central America, the... MORE

Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America
February 6, 2024 — The nine most terrifying words in the English language are:I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.— Ronald Reagan - Aug. 12, 1986Most Argentines did not elect eclectic libertarian Javier Milei in November 2023 because they understood his economic philosophy.Rather, they were exasperated by the economic disaster of the leftist Peronist... MORE

Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America | R. Evan Ellis

Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order
February 2, 2024 — The multiple crises currently playing out in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Taiwan straits, and even Guyana’s Essequibo region, reflect a deterioration of the rules-based international order that has served as the foundation for economic growth, technological progress, and the limitation of interstate conflict since the end of the Second World War... MORE

Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order | R. Evan Ellis

Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling
January 22, 2024 — The takeover of Ecuadorian TV station TC in the middle of a widely watched news broadcast, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s declaration of a state of internal armed conflict, and his deployment of the military as part of the response dominated international news and captured the attention of Washington policymakers last week. Ecuador’s homicide... MORE

Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling | R. Evan Ellis
Background image from United Press International via Global Americans Article (https://theglobalamericans.org/perspectives-on-ecuador-the-sky-isnt-falling)

China’s Growing Strategic Position in Nicaragua
December 21, 2023 — R. Evan Ellis | The October 2023 announcement of multiple major infrastructure projects to be performed by Chinese companies in Nicaragua highlights China’s deepening strategic position in that country, with significant implications for the United States and the region. Nicaragua’s December 2021 recognition of China and its corresponding... MORE

China’s Growing Strategic Position in Nicaragua – R. Evan Ellis in The Diplomat
https://thediplomat.com/2023/12/chinas-growing-strategic-position-in-nicaragua/