4/17/09

As the Summit of the Americas opens today in Trinidad, President Obama faces stark challenges in repairing relations with Latin America. When President Bush came to office, he pledged to engage and prioritize the hemisphere. He did neither. The Bush administration’s highly restrictive Cuba policy and abrasive diplomatic approach meant relations between the United States and Latin America drifted further apart, resulting in the loss of U.S. prestige and influence in the region. Meanwhile, Brazil has emerged as a rising player, populist leaders elsewhere have used anti-American sentiment to gain and hold power,, and, as the New York Times noted yesterday, while the U.S. has been on the sidelines China has often stepped in, investing significant amounts in the Hemisphere. It is now essential that the U.S. engage the region with a new tone of partnership, rather than the paternalism that characterized the approach of some past administrations. The Obama administration’s lifting of certain travel restrictions against Cuba, its efforts to assist and partner with the Mexican government, and the indications that the Administration will seek to address our broken immigration system are all positive and important steps toward building a new partnership with the region. Although frustration with the US is intense, and progress will be slow, the Summit of the Americas provides an opening to build on these efforts, by seeking a coordinated approach to the global economic crisis and by beginning to address the common challenge of energy security and climate change in the Hemisphere.

Obama seeks new tone in U.S.-Latin American relations after eight years of neglect and drift under the Bush administration.  The Center for American Progress writes , “This is an important moment for the president to set the tone of his administration’s policy toward the region, as well as reengage with a region that was largely missing from the Bush administration’s foreign policy radar screen.” The Bush administration’s relationship with Latin America is best exemplified by the scene that the New York Times describes at the last Summit of the Americas in 2005, “On Friday in Mar del Plata, an Atlantic City-like vacation spot of high-rises, brown sand beaches and a big casino, Mr. Bush could be seen walking alone, while other leaders moved in noisy knots, toward the spot on a seaside plaza where participants in the Summit of the Americas posed for a group picture.” Sebastian Edwards, a UCLA professor and former Latin America economist at the World Bank, told the LA Times: “The Bush administration has virtually no legacy in Latin America.”  Riordan Roett of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies added, “Certainly, there is no consistent pattern of interest or concern in the [Bush] administration for Latin America.” It appears that the Obama administration recognizes the drift over the past eight years and the importance of the relationship. World Politics Review writes, “‘the perception coming up from the South [is] that in recent years, the United States has turned its attention elsewhere, has neglected its relationships in this part of the world,’ Jeffrey Davidow, Obama's principal adviser for the summit, told reporters this week. ‘I think this summit will give him the opportunity to meet with all the heads of state, listen to them, exchange views, and come away with new ideas.’” [Center for American Progress, 4/15/09. NY Times, 11/7/05. NPR, 11/5/05. LA Times, 11/13/08. McClatchy, 3/1/08. World Politics Review, 4/15/09]

The Obama administration has already signaled its desire to improve relations with Latin America.

• America’s policy towards Cuba is central to repairing relations with greater Latin America.  A report from the Brookings Institution says, “U.S.-Cuban relations have disproportionately dominated U.S. policy toward the LAC region for years. Tensions generated by U.S. policies toward Cuba have affected the United States’ image in the region and have hindered Washington’s ability to work constructively with other countries. For this reason, addressing U.S. policy toward Cuba has implications that go beyond the bilateral relationship and affect U.S. relations with the rest of the LAC region more generally.” And the Economist writes, “Latin America is now united in wanting to end the diplomatic isolation of Cuba, and many would like the United States to lift its long-standing economic embargo against the island.” President Obama’s use of executive power to allow Cuban-Americans to visit Cuba as often as they like, lift restrictions on remittances to family members, and permit telecommunications providers to seek licensing agreements and provide services in Cuba was a positive first step towards a realistic and reasonable Cuba policy and repairing relations with the entire region.  However, the leaders President Obama meets will be united with many in the US in urging the president to go further.  A recent letter to the president from 12 retired senior military officials says in part, “The congressional initiative to lift the travel ban for all Americans is an important first step toward lifting the embargo, a policy more likely to bring change to Cuba.” [Brookings, 11/08. The Economist, 4/8/09.  National Security Network and the New America Foundation, 4/13/09]

• President Obama is already on his way towards a better relationship with Mexico.  Yesterday’s meeting between Barack Obama and President Calderon of Mexico – the third time they have met this year – demonstrated the Obama administration’s commitment to develop a new partnership with Mexico. The Washington Post writes “President Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderón, outlined a common approach Thursday to combating drug violence, climate change and trade disputes.” In addition to increased assistance to the Mexican government to fight drug trafficking and efforts to crack down on small-arms trafficking from the U.S., Obama yesterday announced “he will push the U.S. Senate to ratify an inter-American arms-trafficking treaty.” [Washington Post, 4/17/09. Washington Post, 4/17/09]

• The Obama administration is seeking a sensible approach to immigration reform.  Establishing a sensible approach to immigration reform will help strengthen U.S. relations with Latin America and would allow the U.S., as the New York Times in an editorial argues to “begin regular discussions on migration issues with the countries sending those migrants. That would do much to improve relations and find solutions to key problems like human rights abuses against immigrants.” While many expected the President to avoid such a politically divisive issue, the Washington Post writes, “Obama plans to start addressing the thorny issue of immigration reform this year, including the search for a path to legalize the status of millions of illegal immigrants.” The New York Times writes, “In broad outlines, officials said, the Obama administration favors legislation that would bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by recognizing that they violated the law, and imposing fines and other penalties to fit the offense. The legislation would seek to prevent future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the legal immigration status of new workers.” [NY Times editorial, 11/28/08. Washington Post, 4/9/09. NY Times, 4/09/09]

The Summit of the Americas’ full agenda reflects the importance and complications of U.S. relations with its neighbors. The Summit of the Americas, starting today, contains a full agenda but as the Washington Post puts it, “he [President Obama] will face a group of leaders far less forgiving than their European counterparts were about the United States' central role in the global financial crisis.”  The Center for American progress says, “President Obama enters the summit with several policy challenges and opportunities on the horizon. Capitalizing on the opportunities while avoiding potential pitfalls will be the main task for him and his Latin America policy team... Indeed, a large amount of attention at the summit will be dedicated to the current global economic downturn. During Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva’s trip to Washington in March, Obama and Lula made it clear that the hemisphere must work to avoid protectionism. The stumbling blocks here for the Obama administration are the uncompleted ratification of two bilateral free trade agreements signed by the United States and Panama and Colombia. Then there is Brazil’s biggest grievance with the United States—the tariff placed on Brazilian sugar ethanol imported into the United States—which remains unresolved after the two heads of state first met. President Obama will have to ensure the summit is not consumed by these issues if any consensus is to be made on how to confront the key issues slated for discussion—energy security and environmental sustainability.  Another challenge looming for the administration as it approaches the summit is U.S. relations with several countries that have adopted an increasingly confrontational attitude toward the United States. Three of these countries have expelled top U.S. diplomats in the past year. Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez threw out U.S. ambassadors assigned to both countries, and Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa expelled two top U.S. embassy officials from Quito. Morales has also barred numerous U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Agency for International Development officials from operating in Bolivia’s territory, claiming that the United States was using these agencies to conspire with Morales’ political opposition.” The Washington Post adds, “Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader who battled the U.S.-sponsored contra insurgency through the 1980s, will be there.”   The Obama administration’s objectives are limited, given the hole the administration finds itself after the last eight years. “He is not going to Trinidad with a plan for the hemisphere. He is going to Trinidad with the intention of listening, discussing and dealing with his colleagues as partners,” said Jeffrey Davidow, a former ambassador to Mexico and Obama's special adviser for the summit. [Washington Post, 4/15/09. Center for American Progress, 4/15/09]

What We’re Reading

President Obama released Bush era memos from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Council authorizing the CIA to use waterboarding and other techniques widely accepted as constituting torture.  One of the more chilling memos was written by Jay Bybee, who served as the OLC’s Assistant Attorney General and now serves as a judge on the ninth circuit court of appeals. Dafna Linzer at Pro Publica points to one of the memos that mentions Hassan Guhl, a so-called ghost detainee whose whereabouts and detention status have been uncertain since his arrest in 2004.

President Obama visited Mexico and pledged that the U.S. would be a better partner in the drug wars, but stopped short of promising an assault weapons ban.

President Obama said that Cuba has to make the next move in working towards better relations.  Raul Castro says Cuba is ready “to discuss everything” with President Obama.

A U.S. patrol ambushed a group of Taliban fighters, a shift in tactics that has rallied American forces in the area.  The Taliban exploit class rifts to gain ground in Pakistan.

Secretary of State Clinton visited the beleaguered nation of Haiti which continues to be afflicted by widespread poverty.  She pledged further aid, though less than what the Haitian government was hoping for.

A Somali pirate captured by U.S. officials will be brought to the U.S. for trial.  The international community looks at Kenya as a possible location for piracy trials.

Spain’s attorney general opposes prosecuting Bush administration officials who authorized torture.

At an aid conference in Tokyo, international donors pledged $5 billion to stabilize Pakistan, with $1 billion from both the U.S. and Japan.

The lone surviving Mumbai gunman retracted his confession, saying it was coerced.

George Mitchell, special envoy to the Middle East, said that a “two-state solution is the only solution” for the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Gunmen attacked a prominent Thai political leader but he survived the hail of bullets.

Two earthquakes struck Afghanistan, killing at least 22.

Commentary of the Day

Bush administration officials, former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, criticized President Obama’s release of the torture memos. The Washington Post called the move “courageous.”

Philip Stevens says President Obama needs to further loosen Cuba restrictions after half a century of failed policies.

Iranian scholar Changiz Pahlavan has advice for the U.S. on Afghanistan.