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Casimira Rodríguez spent decades organizing her fellow domestic workers into a union, which she founded in 1985. When Bolivian Evo Morales was elected president of Bolivia, he tapped Rodríguez to become the nation's Justice Minister, a post she held for year. She spoke with Nancy Romer about her experience in government, the opposition to the government, the president's relationship with social movements, and even offered advice to U.S. workers.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), launched in 2005 by the NAFTA countries, aims to securitize the “shared economic space” of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This has profound implications for Mexico, whose shaky democracy could regress to presidential authoritarianism, with explicit U.S. support.

Opinion divides sharply on whether the Democratic candidate's platform for U.S. policy in Latin America is really the stuff of "Change We Can Believe In." Looking at it closely, the picture gives reasons for hope, but also some important points to work on. Electoral posturing aside, the cards have been laid out for a first reading on the hemispheric future. Obama's approach, more than the policies themselves, gives us much to work with in turning disaster into a genuine good neighbor policy for the region.

Latin America, once thought of as the U.S. "backyard," has been moving further out of the orbit of the United States. As the testing ground for Washington-imposed neoliberal policies, Latin America has now become the locus for a series of left-wing leaders who are contesting these policies, and as they do so, they have been turning towards allies in Europe, China, and the Middle East as a counter to U.S. hegemony. Europe, in particular, has begun sketching out alternative policies that make the U.S. seem increasingly isolated in its approach to Latin America.