Council on Hemispheric Affairs

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1975. The organization can draw on a large number of interns of graduate and undergraduate students, who gain experience in different fields additionally receiving academic credit from their home institutions. COHA also attracts retired government employees who support COHA in preparing monographs on a variety of topics including regional development, trade policies, and the international lending agencies' controversial development strategies. Further support is provided by a number of COHA senior research fellows of different nationalities including the United States and Latin America, who are experts in their respective fields of engagement. 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 and is not part of political alliances. It supports open and democratic political processes and continues to condemn authoritarian regimes 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. In the past, the COHA has expressed criticism of US policy towards Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and of neo-liberal social reforms in Latin America.