Our Brothers to the south, not the east

The United States has an opportunity to build stronger relationships with the nations of its own hemisphere.

David DeMay | October 12, 2026

In the early 1980s, while traveling through Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama, I encountered something unexpected. There seemed to be more young European travelers than Americans exploring these countries. What struck me was not simply their numbers but their apparent comfort with the societies they were visiting.

They seemed to recognize something familiar. The languages, religious traditions, political histories, architecture, and social customs of Latin America carried unmistakable European influences. For many of these young travelers, Latin America was not an alien civilization. It was a distant relative.

Indeed, I had the impression that some felt more culturally at home in Latin America than they did in the United States.

I understood something of that attraction myself. I had spent three years in Liberia with the Peace Corps. Yet I eventually chose to settle in Miami. Its Latin American character and........

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