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Latin America Sends Obama Congratulations
- and a Piece of its Mind
Laura Carlsen | November 7, 2008
Americas Policy Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
Pundits have said that the election of Barack Obama to the
presidency of the United States will not change the nation's world
image overnight. But in Latin America , it already has.
Congratulations have poured in from Western Hemisphere leaders,
press, and citizens. Most celebrate how the United States "has
broken racial barriers" by electing the first African-American
president. In countries struggling with issues of diversity and
discrimination, this is major news—and news they didn't expect
to come out of the inertial U.S. political system. Afro-American
populations in Brazil and elsewhere greeted the occasion with added
enthusiasm.
But fascination with the 2008 U.S. elections in Latin Americans
goes beyond race. After watching from afar as Americans elected
George W. Bush amid accusations of fraud that were buried by the
courts, and then did it again in 2004, any suggestion that the U.S.
electoral system could generate change in that country would ordinarily
be met with skepticism. For many, the election of Barack Obama showed
a capacity for changing course and a level of citizen participation
not thought possible.
Latin
Americans really despise George W. Bush. There, Bush popularity
hit some of its lowest marks in the world. Obama has a tremendous
leg-up in Latin America simply for not being George Bush—or
of his ilk. Most believe that the president-elect will at least
to some degree turn away from the radical foreign policy of unilateralism
and U.S. hegemony in the region.
While
Bush policy did not include military interventions, it did consist
of relentless bullying to force nations to accept Washington economic
models, as codified in Free Trade Agreements, and Bush foreign policy,
as expressed in the counterterrorism paradigm and the invasion of
Iraq . When nations like Bolivia or Ecuador refused to toe the line,
the Bush administration applied measures designed to economically
and diplomatically isolate those nations, divide the continent,
and promote domestic opposition. The inflexibility and unwillingness
to enter into real dialogue deepened resentments, even among allies.
Congratulations—With Conditions
An improved U.S. global image is not the same as on-the-ground policies
and actions. Although statements from the region welcome change
and the new profile in the White House, Latin American leaders still
aren't running to the mountaintop to proclaim the dawn of a new
era in U.S. relations. The response can be characterized more as
hope seen through the ever-leery eye the continent keeps on its
northern neighbor. The U.S. government has a long way to go to undo
the damage done to its relations and its reputation through decades
of both Republican and Democratic presidencies.
Latin
American leaders placed conditions and qualifications on their congratulations.
Lula in Brazil and Evo Morales in Bolivia called for an end to the
"unjustifiable" embargo against Cuba . Morales added a
demand for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region. Mexico 's
Felipe Calderon sent a brief congratulatory note, calling for strengthening
bilateral relations and emphasizing the role of Mexican-Americans
in the elections and the U.S. economy. This was his way of insisting
on action toward legalizing the status of Mexican immigrants and
creating legal frameworks for future immigration flows.
Argentina's
President Cristina Kirchner called Obama's election "a great
moment on the journey against discrimination and for equality of
opportunities" and urged the new president to commit to multilateralism
in confronting the financial crisis: "... those who faced the
challenge of the world war understood the importance of multilateralism,
and we should also ... deepen the needed and urgent changes so multilateralism
can respond to the complexities of our realities."
Hugo
Chavez stated his hope "to build a constructive bilateral agenda"
with the new President Obama, while getting his last digs in at
Bush. The U.S.-Venezuela relationship embodies the major challenges
facing regional foreign policy, and has been particularly fractious.
The two nations are critical to each other's economies as trade
partners, and Venezuela oil imports play a key role in U.S. energy
security. Yet relations between Hugo Chavez and Bush deteriorated
to the point of breaking off diplomatic (but not economic) relations
last September. Chavez has spearheaded a move to regional integration
sans Uncle Sam that the Bush administration considers a threat to
its interests, and espouses "socialism of the XXI century."
Obama
has offered to sit down and talk with Chavez and Chavez says he's
ready to reciprocate the offer, "and work together against
the evils of the world, hunger, AIDS, poverty, malnutrition."
He hailed Obama's promise to "close the torture center at Guantanamo
, withdraw troops from Iraq , and converse with the presidents who
have been pointed to as the evil axis" (a tongue-in-cheek allusion
to himself and other world leaders so designated by President Bush).
Rafael
Correa offered declarations regarding his moderate expectations
for new relations with the U.S. government. "I think that the
foreign policy (of the United States ) will be more reasonable,
more human, less imperialist; I believe that there will be more
attention to Latin America , but I don't believe there will be radical
changes," he said on a television interview.
Even
Pres. Alvaro Uribe of Colombia tagged petitions on his congratulations
note. And Uribe is painfully aware that he's in no position to ask
for favors. Uribe openly supported John McCain for the presidency,
hosted his visit to South America, and bitterly criticized the Democratic
candidate for his refusal to support the Free Trade Agreement now
stalled in Congress over Colombia 's dismal human rights record.
In
spite of being the nation most dependent on U.S. aid, Uribe painted
himself into a Republican corner just as the Democrats were poised
to gain control of the White House and Congress. Analyst Daniel
Garcia Peña quoted by AFP notes, "(In these elections)
President Uribe also loses because he took on the ideological and
bellicose agenda of George W. Bush, a politics that was defeated
by U.S. citizens ... Obama has a very different set of priorities
from Bush in the agenda with Colombia." Uribe's "asks"
included continuation of funding for Plan Colombia and passage of
the FTA, citing dubious statistics on reduction of the Colombian
cocaine flow to the U.S. market, and ended stating that given the
successes Plan Colombia "... must be considered before it's
abandoned."
The
phrase indicates he's really worried about the future of the controversial
military aid plan. Unless he knows more than he's letting on, it's
hard to understand exactly why. If there is one point where Obama
has followed in the Bush footprints, it's security issues. He supports
Plan Colombia and extension of the regional drug war under Plan
Mexico (the Merida Initiative). For Colombian human rights activists,
indigenous protesters, and union leaders, Uribe's expulsion from
the haven provided by his primary financial and political supporter
in the hemisphere offers an opportunity to seek more peaceful solutions.
But so far Obama's campaign statements give them mostly just hope
for a different attitude in Washington .
Correa
said his real dream is that "the day will come when Latin America,
really, doesn't have to worry about who is in the presidency of
the United States , because it will be sovereign and autonomous
enough to stand on its own two feet." In the meantime, Latin
America remains highly dependent on what happens in the United States
. The interconnectedness of not just markets but human lives, make
U.S. politics more than a game of idle speculation.
President
Obama rides in on a wave of enthusiasm from the South and the North.
He has a huge agenda awaiting him. He should quickly appoint new
ambassadors in Latin America , diplomats with greater knowledge
and sensitivity to the region. Currently Bolivia and Venezuela have
no ambassadors at all and other Bush appointments represent old
and repudiated ways of doing business.
By
far the most important challenge will be to listen. Bush imposed
an agenda that sought to divide the continent in the narrow pursuit
of the economic interests of transnational corporations and political
interests of his own administration.
When
Mexicans say: "If you don't develop a fair and legal immigration
system, you push migrants into the hands of human smugglers and
feed organized crime. We have to do something differently."
When
Bolivia says: "Our constitutional process is a long-overdue
historical reckoning with an indigenous majority suffering poverty
and discrimination. It deserves a chance."
These are messages worth listening to.
Latin
America is a good place to start to lay out a new foreign policy
approach of non-intervention, multilateralism, and mutual respect.
The region poses no real threats, and is not a hotspot for war or
international terrorism. Democratic societies there are on the cutting
edge of redistribution efforts aimed at what Obama tepidly suggests
with his theme of dismantling policies that "help Wall Street
but hurt Main Street ." A good neighbor foreign policy could
create more horizontal relations directed toward shared objectives
like peace, justice, stability, security, and well-being rather
than the pursuit of the narrow interests of the rich and powerful.
This
is the kind of change many people down here are hoping for under
an Obama presidency.
Laura Carlsen (lcarlsen(at)ciponline.org) is director of the Americas
Policy Program (www.americaspolicy.org) in Mexico City , where she
has been an analyst and writer for two decades.
To reprint this article, please contact americas@ciponline.org.
The opinions expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily
represent the views of the CIP Americas Policy Program or the Center
for International Policy.
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