Nearly every Latin American country opposed the U.S. war in Afghanistan in 2001. Most also opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Why is the region more divided on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today? Despite the Latin American consensus opposing unilateral uses of force against weaker states, governments across the region have refused to impose sanctions on Russia to respond to its invasion of Ukraine. There are even some countries, like Brazil, whose diplomats in U.N. forums have condemned Russia while the executive ponders whether to help Vladimir Putin’s administration economically. Does Latin America solidly condemn interventions only when the United States is the intervener?

Read the rest at War on the Rocks

What were some of the challenges of this particular project, and what excited you about this work?

Lucas: The challenge with this work was to demonstrate two critical components of our theory of change: 1) that the energy DPV and energy efficiency investments were sufficient to offset the initial cost of the loan within a reasonable time period for MiPyMEs and 2) that we could successfully de-risk lending to applicants with minimal or no credit history through this alternative credit mechanism.

Pastor: It definitely took a while for us to land on the root cause of the energy access issue in the Peninsula, and we did a lot of technical scoping work early in the process, and those co-creation workshops where we got input and feedback from partners on the ground was critical for us to finally read that, “ah, ha” moment.

We eventually realized that the key issue was not a lack of technical options, but rather a lack of access to affordable finance to invest in these interventions. We also realized that most businesses are connected to the grid and as such, while some will benefit from distributed solar generation systems, this will not be the case in general. Instead, focusing on bringing awareness and introducing energy efficiency and conservation measures is key to helping more businesses lower their electricity bill burden. The cheapest megawatt, after all, the one you don’t use.

In the year you’ve been working with NREL, how has this project grown and changed? What’s are some of the victories? What areas are you still working to make better?

Pastor: When we started this project, we had no idea what it would turn out to be. It was a class project, a challenge that we had to come up with a solution for. I don’t think any of us thought we would get to actually implement our idea. But today MIPyMEs in the Yucatan are able to get a free energy audit and apply to MicroYuc Verde for an affordable line of credit that enables them to both reduce their energy consumption and grow their business.

Lucas: I also see the multi-stakeholder coalition we’ve built as a major team victory – working with local government leaders, researchers, and changemakers in this space is really encouraging.

Pastor: We are also working to scale up the program and develop energy audit training modules that other local institutions across Mexico will be able to use to offer free energy audits to businesses. Receiving the endorsement of the Governor of Yucatan was a great win for the program. And as Hallie mentions, the multi-stakeholder coalition we have built is a true victory, and something that makes me confident that the program will continue.

How do you hope to see this project continue to develop in the coming years?

Lucas: In the next phase of this project, NREL, IYEM, and ITSP are working to develop a robust technical training curriculum for university students to conduct energy efficiency audits for local businesses seeking to reduce their energy consumption. Student and university-led technoeconomic analysis will support data-driven decisions on investment and lending and will equip students with the advanced skill set they need to succeed in a clean energy futures workforce. These targeted training materials and analytical tools will be made publicly available when complete.

Pastor: I would love to see this project grow in its pilot phase to offer more audits and microloans to MIPyMEs in the Yucatan, and even go beyond Yucatan to other Peninsula states, as I truly think it can make a different.

And at a higher-level, I am really looking forward to seeing whether our theory of change is legitimate – if we can prove that SMEs can leverage affordable financing to access clean energy that would be consequential for broader energy transition efforts around the globe.

How did having the chance to work on a project like this as a Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy student impact your studies and how you think about your role and future in the world of policy and international development?

Pastor: Getting the chance to work on a project like this has definitely shaped the type of work and impact I want to have. I am currently working in the sustainable finance space, as I really believe that part of the key to achieving our climate goals lies with closing the mitigation and adaptation finance gap, and especially focusing on bringing financing solutions to those who are often left behind by the system.

Lucas: I’ve been prompted to reflect more about institutionalized and systemic barriers to energy equity, as well, and to think more critically about what inclusive clean energy transitions look like in practice. The next several decades are humanity’s most critical – as the entire world mobilizes to combat the climate crisis, global energy and economic structures will be fundamentally transformed. In this, we have an unparallel opportunity to choose – and create – a better, more inclusive, more sustainable, future.

What are each of you hoping to do next in your careers?

Pastor: I hope to keep growing my knowledge of climate finance and to keep working to make an impact and accelerate climate transition efforts around the world. It’s been so moving to see the passion and commitment everyone we have worked with has shown. The fact that some of the Yucatan participants would take two days out of their busy schedules to come together to discuss what could be done to solve this problem is very inspiring. And even since our initial investigations have ended, they have continued to show up for the project, and are very much driving it forward at this point. It is truly great to see them believe in our vision for a clean energy future

Lucas: I agree. I want to keep doing what I am doing now!

Abstract

Latin American foreign-policy elites defend the principle of non-intervention to shield their countries’ autonomy. By 2005, however, most Latin American foreign policy elites accepted the easing of limits on the use of force in international law. They supported the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which regulates the use of force to protect populations from mass atrocities. The paper presents a comparison of the Brazilian, Chilean, and Mexican positions in the R2P debates to understand why they supported this norm. During the debates leading to the emergence of R2P, these elites questioned a central premise of liberal internationalism: the idea that great powers would restrain their use of military force as part of their commitment to a liberal international order (LIO). Using Republican international political theory, I argue that these Latin American foreign-policy elites viewed a restricted humanitarian-intervention norm as a new defence against great powers interfering in developing countries. Instead of trusting that great powers would restrain their actions, these elites advocated for a humanitarian-intervention norm that would prevent uncontrolled humanitarian interventions.

Read the rest at Cambridge Review of International Affairs 

On Veterans Day last week, I was reflective of my relatives and friends who are veterans of U.S. wars. My parents were migrant farmworkers and sharecroppers before and after World War II and several of my relatives are veterans of World War II. I also grew up as a farmworker, and most of my co-workers were migrant laborers from Mexico contracted through the Bracero Program. The Bracero Program was a 22-year initiative started in 1942 that allowed the United States to recruit temporary guest workers from Mexico. The laborers, called braceros, or individuals who work with their arms, were mostly concentrated in California. I attended school with many children of braceros.

Several of my classmates and family friends—including some children of my bracero co-workers—served in the Vietnam War, referred to by Vietnamese as the American War. A family friend, John Nishimura, died of wounds on April 4, 1968 sustained from hostile gunfire that left him as a quadriplegic on December 10, 1967 in the central highlands province of Kontum, Vietnam. Like other Asian Americans who served in Vietnam, he faced race-related challenges during his service. This topic is covered in the PBS series, Asian Americans, for which SPICE’s Waka Brown developed a teacher’s guide.

During my freshman year at U.C. Berkeley, 1972–73, I witnessed anti-Vietnam War protests and took a course in Chicano Studies (now Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies). Because of my childhood, I felt more Mexican than Japanese in many ways. In the Chicano Studies course, I recall a lecture on Chicano veterans of U.S. wars. The informal learning (observing the protests) and formal learning in Chicano Studies marked the first time in my life that I had been introduced to perspectives on the Vietnam War that were not included in my high school U.S. history textbook.

After graduating in 1976, I entered a teaching credential program at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education that was called the Black-Asian-Chicano Urban Program or BAC-UP. One of the students was Charley Trujillo, a recent graduate of U.C Berkeley who majored in Chicano Studies. I felt a closeness to him because of my upbringing, and also recall how much I appreciated what we would now call “global perspectives” that he shared. We completed BAC-UP in 1977 and I went to teach in Japan and lost touch with him.

In 2014, while planning for a SPICE event that honored braceros with Dr. Ignacio Ornelas, the grandson of a bracero, Ornelas asked to introduce me to his friend, Charley Trujillo, and I immediately recalled Charley Trujillo from BAC-UP and wondered if he was the same person. I looked up his name online and was pleasantly surprised that he was the same person whom I had last seen 37 years prior. During our reunion, I learned from Trujillo that he had become a novelist, editor, publisher, and filmmaker. He is very well known for his book and documentary, Soldados: Chicanos in Viet Nam. While in BAC-UP, I didn’t know that he was a disabled Vietnam War veteran and that his father was a veteran of World War II. After hearing about his experiences in Vietnam, the global perspectives that he shared during BAC-UP became even more poignant. I also recalled how he sometimes challenged our professors—something that I could not do—on topics related to the “master narrative” of U.S. history.

Prior to my reunion with Trujillo, my former colleagues, Dr. Rennie Moon and Dr. Kenneth Koo, developed a SPICE curriculum unit, Legacies of the Vietnam War, which I encourage high school teachers to use as a supplement to the information about the Vietnam War in their U.S. history textbooks. The five lessons in the curriculum unit are described below. Someday, I would like to add Trujillo’s documentary as the foundation for a sixth lesson.

• Lesson One examines the political and economic aftermath of the Vietnam War. Students learn about the political situation following the war, Vietnamese emigrants known as the “boat people,” and post-war economic development.
• Lesson Two examines the impact of warfare on human health and the natural environment. Students learn about tools of warfare, including Agent Orange and landmines, and their harmful consequences on the ecosystem as well as on generations of civilians and veterans.
• Lesson Three combines a number of neglected and hidden themes in the Vietnamese war literature, including the experience of Vietnamese Amerasians and the involvement of non-U.S. soldiers who fought in Vietnam.
• Lesson Four gives voice to different categories of Vietnamese who have migrated abroad in the decades following the war: Vietnamese Americans, the Montagnards, and Vietnamese brides in Korea.
• Lesson Five investigates the idea of history as competing narratives. Students examine three representations of the Vietnam War—the war as depicted in American history textbooks, the war as exhibited at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, and the war as represented in an effort to build a monument to the U.S.–South Vietnam alliance by the Vietnamese American community in Wichita, Kansas.

Trujillo and I are in periodic touch and he continues to expand my perspectives on the Vietnam War and its legacies by sharing his riveting and heartbreaking yet inspiring story. Most recently, we met at the San Jose Vietnam War Memorial. He is in the midst of producing a film based on his book, Dogs From Illusion, a Vietnam War novel on the Chicano war experience. Ornelas, a social studies (including ethnic studies) teacher at Willow Glen High School in San Jose, is currently enrolled in the Principal Leadership Institute at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. It’s very gratifying to know that Ornelas, Trujillo, and I share similar cultural histories that are not usually included in U.S. history textbooks at the high school level, and also share similar academic experiences that were only made possible by those who came before us. I am eternally grateful to Trujillo, Nishimura, and other veterans who sacrificed so much to make our lives better. I feel that it is essential for us as teachers to include their unique perspectives in the teaching of U.S. history.