Policy Priorities

  • U.S. Leadership in the Hemisphere
    We work to guarantee the United States remains the leading economic, political, and military power in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Hemispheric Security is National Security
    Our strategy begins with the principle that the safety of the U.S. depends on the stability of our neighbors—security must start at home and next door.

  • Border Integrity and Homeland Defense
    From stopping illicit flows to dismantling cartel-state alliances, we push for decisive policies that secure the border and reinforce our internal defenses.

  • Push Back Against Chinese Influence
    China is expanding its influence across Latin America—we’re exposing it and pushing back with policy and partnerships that protect U.S. interests.

At the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), we believe that safeguarding the homeland starts with securing our own neighborhood. The Western Hemisphere Initiative was launched to reaffirm and strengthen America's role as the undisputed leader in the region. Guided by the America First vision, we are committed to countering foreign adversaries—such as Communist China—who seek to undermine U.S. influence and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This initiative isn't about short-term fixes—it's a long-term strategy to secure our borders, assert U.S. dominance, and build strong alliances across the hemisphere. By uniting policy, research, and action, the Western Hemisphere Initiative ensures America leads from a position of strength, rooted in sovereignty, and focused on the security and prosperity of our people.

In a fast-moving world, the Western Hemisphere is a front line. Our team is actively engaged—on the ground, in the room, and leading the conversation. We’re tracking critical developments, forging key alliances, and driving the ideas that keep America in command. Because if the United States doesn’t lead here, someone else will—and that’s a risk we won’t take.

Team

The Honorable Chad Wolf

Chair, Homeland Security & Immigration Policy and Chair, Western Hemisphere Initiative

The Honorable Robert Wilkie

Co-Chair, American Security Policy

Joshua Treviño

Senior Director, Western Hemisphere Initiative, Senior Fellow for Europe, Senior Advisor to the President

Melissa Ford Maldonado

Director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative

Peter J. Brown

Senior Fellow, Western Hemisphere Security and Maritime Affairs

Kristen Ziccarelli

Fellow, Civilizational Action

Latest

News Release | August 19, 2026

AFPI Releases Research Report on Cuba and the Fight for the Western Hemisphere

This week, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) released a new research report, The Dictatorship Next Door: Cuba and the Fight for the Western Hemisphere, under AFPI’s Western Hemisphere Initiative. This report outlines the history and threat of the Cuban regime, particularly due to its deepening ties with China, Russia, Iran, and other hostile regimes, and provides policy recommendations for treating Cuba as a central front in confronting threats to American security across the Western Hemisphere.
Op-Ed | August 19, 2026

Havana’s Long Shadow
Fact Sheet | August 19, 2026

FACT SHEET: The Dictatorship Next Door: Cuba and the Fight for the Western Hemisphere

Cuba sits just 90 miles from Florida at a strategic crossroads in the Caribbean. As the island enters its most precarious period in decades, Havana has deepened its dependence on China, Russia, Iran, and other regimes hostile to the United States who are working to undermine U.S. interests, expand authoritarian influence in the Western Hemisphere, and threaten American national security.
Research Report | August 19, 2026

The Dictatorship Next Door: Cuba and the Fight for the Western Hemisphere

Cuba remains the Western Hemisphere’s longest-standing authoritarian regime and a major strategic concern for the United States. More than six decades after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the island continues to operate under a centralized, one-party political system in which the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) is constitutionally designated as the “superior driving force of society and the State.”

Op-Ed | August 3, 2026

Ortega’s ‘Revolution’ Threatens America And We Ignore It At Our Peril

On July 19, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega commemorated the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, which brought him to power in 1979. To celebrate, he publicly declared that there will never again be elections in Nicaragua.

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Restoring Sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere: The Venezuela Roundtable

April 20 - 23, 2023 Fort Worth, Texas

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